By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq
The English poet William Wordsworth defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquility. Poetry is the most profound genre of literature, appreciated for its themes and literary devices. There are poets who've shaped our lives.
Richard Ntiru's "Song of the Common Man" is iconic. Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" packs a punch. Oswald Mtshali's raw emotion hits hard. Jared Ngira's "No Coffin, No Grave" is haunting. Kofi Awoonor's "Songs of Sorrow" and "The Cathedral" are impactful. Wole Soyinka's poems, mostly in free verse, are a testament to his mastery.
In _Abiku_, the persona says: "In vain your bangles cast, Charmed circles at my feet, I am Abiku, calling for the first And the repeated time". Note that Professor John Pepper Clark also wrote "Abiku", just as he wrote "The Casualties", "The Nigerian Railways", and "Ibadan".
Worthy of mention is the satirical monologue, "The Telephone Conversation" by Prof. Wole Soyinka, which lampooned the needless recourse to racism and white supremacy.
Talking about satires, who would forget Prof. Niyi Osundare with his profound satire, "They too are the Earth", from his anthology "Songs of the Earth", where he asked the rhetorical question: "Are they of this Earth? Those who harry the hills And fritter the forests?" He also deprecated the epileptic power supply in Nigeria orchestrated by those who run the power sector when he stated in his untitled satire: "A desperate match stabs the dark in Nepa's darkdom".
The poems in different regions of Africa had their different motifs based on unique historical experiences. East African poems dwelled on the paradox of independence. Poems like Richard Ntiru's "Pauper", Henry Barlow's "Building the Nation", etc.
In Southern Africa, most poems depict racism and colonialism. Poems like Oswald Mtshali's "The Washer Woman Prayer", Dennis Brutus' "Night Fall in Soweto", and Dennis Brutus' "A Troubadour I traverse", et al.
In West Africa, the motif of the poems dwelled on cultural reawakening. You have poems like Olokun by J.P. Clark, where the persona said: "I am jealous and passionate like Jehovah, God of the Jews". It was J.P. Clark who gave an incredibly rendition of the poem "Ibadan", thus: "Ibadan, running splash of rust and gold, sprung among seven hills, like a broken china in the sun".
Christopher Okigbo, even in death, resonates with life in his poem "Hurray for Thunder".
You had a short but profound poem by Kofi Awoonor called "The Cathedral", where the persona posited: "On this dirty patch a tree once stood shedding incense on the infant corn, its boughs stretched across a heaven brightened by the last fires of a tribe. They sent surveyors and builders who cut that tree planting in its place a huge senseless cathedral of doom".
We have lovely poems like: "Two Looks at Two" by Robert Frost, "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne, "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, William Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much With Us" and "The Solitary Reaper".
Let me end this write-up by taking an excerpt from my poem "You will die one day", which depicts the futility of our struggles, the transience of life, and the finality of death:
When you snitch and lie for illicit gain, and through this bring people perfidious pain,
When you lie and cheat to be in power, and act as if you will live forever, remember, you will die one day!
When you tell people that the kingdom of God is not on Earth, and you are establishing a kingdom for yourself on earth, all with people's sweat,
When your sermon is centred on "Can a Man Rob God?" When indeed you are the one that robs God,
When you preach, and at the same time cheat, remember, you will die one day!
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The Author is the Founder of Benin Writers Society.
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