FulaniPoet

Poetry in Anger!

2007-12-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get angry at situations you can do nothing about except to pray? What do you do when your leaders spit on your face? What will you do when you are slapped or beaten up and then be issued with a command not to cry out?

Write a poem!

Poem 6: The Making of a Tin God

Take a mild man in military mode
Prop his dourness in Dodan Barracks
Retire him to mingle with chickens
Then let his kind put him in prison
Get him elevated to Aso Rock heights
And surround him with sycophants
Force hyenas to laugh at righteous jokes
Bag the souls of self-serving senators
Make him send puppies to bark at lions
Finally, add a dose of docile Nigerians

Poem 5: The Pull of the Street

Parents consigned to poverty
Seek religion through their kids,
Boys with bowls in their hands
Girls with goods on their heads.

Ladies of easy virtue
Men of insatiable lusts,
All swallowed up in the dark
Blanketed by costly pleasures.

Hoodlums, armed and masked
Portend danger day and night,
Killing for money and whims
Living and dining with danger.

Politicians and men of honour
Harlotry in alleys and by-ways,
Vendors of the poor man’s bread
Inequity and iniquity on our streets.

13 January 2007/Maiduguri

Poem 4: Problem Has Changed Names

‘Never expect power always’
And we held unto darkness,
We were good at that
So politicians took our money,
Sold our expectations and said
‘Please hold candles nearby.’

But I remember the general
In messianic splendour
Stepping onto the corridors of power,
I remember the ex-general in agbada,[1]
He said water will flow showai![2]
And in our homes and industries
Light will not blink again!

Now water is rarer than gold,
Generators out-sing crickets at night
And the price of candles kisses the sky.

These are the seven lean years, he says,
And all we can do is pray,
‘Oh God, let there be light!’

[1] A flowing 3-piece dress worn by men
[2] The sound of way flowing from a tap

Poem 3: Third Term

He was a soldier
From barrack to state house,
He took his place in history
Content to count his chickens,
He became a modified civilian
From the prison to Aso Rock!

You know the animal called man,
It pleaded for baba
As the only sage in Naija,
The assembly said ‘babu,
Go back to your farm,’
All the ranting before the TV
Did not deceive Nigerians!

Poem 2: Ode to Neck

Hail, oh crooked neck!
Once you were whole
But you inbred to a mere stump,
A sit-tight laid claims on you
He declared ‘I, Neck!’
And elections were rigged.

Hail, oh stiff neck!
Your technologies fail
Yet you uphold an agenda
As Nwosu held onto B’gida,
You only talk di walkAnd pee di pee.

Poem 1: Debt Relief

For the cancellation of debts,
We thank smart alecs from the World Bank
Who led us into the woods and sapped us?
We thank Nigeria’s ‘wisest’ president
For paying back with Ota funds?
We thank Paris, London and Washington
For returning what belonged to us?
We thank the politicians of the land
For having more money to loot?

What a Read!

2006-11-17T04:37:00.000-08:00

Below are some of my recent readings that have contributed to the development of my writing talent. I have numbered the books in the order in which I have read them. I intend to keep updating the list as I read more books.

6. Saunders, J., 1994, How to Write Realistic Dialogue, Allison and Busby Ltd, London

I have always thought that a bit of dialogue in a poem is good, but this one fired my desire to write prose. I have since began to dabble into short story writing!

5. Matson, G. J., 1991, Writing Articles that Sell, Nationwide Studies Ltd, London

Practical. Challenging! Lots of business sense!

4. Richards, I. A., 1929, Practical Criticism, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, London

My best introduction to criticism. This book has become my coach!

3. Sansom, P., 1994, Writing Poems, Bloodaxe Books Ltd, Northumberland

Recommended by a friend. Easy to read and very practical.

2. Ojaide, T., 2005, A Creative Writing Handbook for African Writers and Students, Malthouse Press Ltd, Lagos

Contains lots of technical and practical advice.

1. Ike, C., 1991, How to Become a Published Writer, Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria plc, Ibadan

Very useful for an aspiring writer in the Nigerian context.

Upcoming Publications

2006-04-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Corssing Borders, a collection of poems, due date: January 2007

Every Rambler Knows, a collection of poems, due date: October 2007

Publication History

2006-04-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

Pyramids, an anthology of poems from Northern Nigeria, edited by Ismail Bala Garba and Abdullahi Ismaila, Kraftgriots, Ibadan, Nigeria (2008), contributed 1 poem

'African Song' et al in the Crossing Borders magazine Issue 6, a virtual literary journal. See http://www.crossingborders-africanwriting.org/magazine/issue6

Dance the Guns to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken saro-Wiwa, edited by Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Kadija Sesay (flipped eye pubishing limited, UK, 2005), poetry anthology, contributed 1 poem

Five Hundred Nigerian Poets: Volume One, edited by Jerry Agada, (Aboki Publishers, 2005) poetry anthology, contributed 4 poems

Passport to the New World, edited by Sunny Ayewanu (Apex Books Limited, Lagos, 2001), poetry and short story anthology, contributed 1 poem

The Man Lived, poetry collection, (winner of 1999 ANA Poetry Prize) Kairos Productions, Abuja, 2004

25 New Nigerian Poets, edited by Toyin Adewale (Ismael Reed Publishers, USA, 2000), poetry anthology, contributed 1 poem

Vultures in the Air: Voices from Northern Nigeria, edited by Zaynab Alkali and Al Imfeld (1995), short story/poetry anthology, contributed 2 poems

The Signature Poem

2006-04-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Fulani Migration is my signature poem. It was written in the early 90s and how I loved to perform it in full Fulani regalia! This poem is part of my published collection of poems, The Man Lived, which won the ANA Poetry Prize in 1999. It started a new chapter in my writing, thanks to Professor Zaynab Alkali!

FULANI MIGRATION

He takes his whole clan:
The bulls, proud and forward,
And cows, a harem of them,
The sheep and goats follow
Like shrubs in a forest of beasts,
Then clan dogs and chickens.

Children and feeble old women
And young pregnant wives
Ride the backs of broad cows,
Tall men, slender and weather-beaten,
And boys ripening to men
Constitute the vigilante band.

Through savannahs and forests,
Over hills and drying rivers,
Day and night they migrate,
Following wherever pastures bid,
Caring little for ease and comfort,
Living and moving for their cattle.

The Fulani Poet

2006-04-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

It all started in the dusty, semi-desert town of Maiduguri (North-eastern Nigeria) where I performed my poems for the first time in 1995! After sharing Fulani Migration, participants at that one-week Poetry/Short Story seminar started to call me 'The Fulani Poet'. And the name has stuck!

Well, I am actually, unofficially, of Fulani stock hidden in the home and culture of the Bura people. And I like to share my life in simple poems. Every poem I share with you on this blog allows intrusion into my life! Let me try and explain that with this ultra-short simple poem:

POETIC!

What it is, I know not,
The majesty of words,
The beauty of sequence,
The force of eloquence,
Poetic!

What it is, I care not
So long as it’s a heart
That’s splattered over the scroll,
Heroic!

He dared intrusion into his life,
He bore the wrath of disapproval,
He carried the threat of rejection,
Poetic is heroic!

Kabura Zakama, Abuja, 4 October 2001