In a society where wisdom is associated with the old, the young need
not to draw diagrams and geometrical figures to prove points. They need
not to scream or stage showdowns to render their notions relevant. No.
The old know truth once they see it. So the young know nothing that the
eyes of wisdom have missed. A woman who started cooking early boasts of
many broken pots. Achebe opines.
I am not a poet of any distinction. I may not even be a poet. See? But sanity has taught me to accord everything the honour they deserve. As a believer, I accord God the honour he deserves. As a child, my parents I accord the honour they deserve. As a learner, my teachers I accord the honour they deserve. And as a master of the word, I accord poetry the honour it deserves. Why should you not?
Poetry, like other words in scriptures, is sacred. Undressing and wrapping it in filth and rudimentary emotional tendencies is an abomination unforgivable. Every god feels it the bone. But do we care? Time has changed indeed. And poetry too has to. But it should only do so to capture and represent our reactions and responses to societal issues. As J. C Echeruo puts it, works of young writers should have a message; poetry is not simply the beauty of language or phrasing but the quality of the soul! This is influenced by what the body experiences.Moreover, these are neither Nerudian nor Shakespearean ages. They aren't colonial ones either. Oyoo Mboya argues that this is a contemporary age. What we lace poetry with should therefore be current. However, I would like to clarify something. The best African poets, according to Arthur Gakwandi, have not written odes, elegies and sonnets. They have invented new models to embody their encounters with modernity. This is evident in the way they have exploited folk traditions of their people and created new dramatic forms of expressions. These lie abundantly in the works of most Euro- Modern African poets like Chris Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, Okot p'Bitek, J. P Clark etc etc. This questions the nature of our poetry. Is it African? What is so African in our poetry?
Ngugi posits that a writer does not write or live in a vacuum. There is the society. Rich and poor. Happy and sad. A poet who fails to capture these-- societal issues, is irrelevant. Damn!
Herein, there are poets, pseudo-poets and masquerades. The latter outnumber the former. Indeed they are starving us with dry, senseless and filthy stuff. Texts or poems? Sadly, most of them are allergic to criticism. None is willing to learn. How then will we paint the world beautiful again?
Poetry is serious business. Damn. Only the spirited few can run it. It is not the mere scribbles we display to gather 'likes' and invite idle comments. Whoever can't bear its dictates should try prose or just opt out, sit and scratch their bottom and smell their fingers! Other genres also entertain no mediocrity.
Lastly, many a times some fellows here argue that poetry is just playing with words and also one can write about anything. I detest that. Verily, poetry is not language. It only uses it. Moreover, everytime a poet holds a pen, there is something on their mind. A human experience to be captured. See? It is not all about anything. Nonsense! The ' how ' and the ' what ' are at the heart of every poem.
(c) Wafula p'Khisa.-Thigh of an Elephant.
I am not a poet of any distinction. I may not even be a poet. See? But sanity has taught me to accord everything the honour they deserve. As a believer, I accord God the honour he deserves. As a child, my parents I accord the honour they deserve. As a learner, my teachers I accord the honour they deserve. And as a master of the word, I accord poetry the honour it deserves. Why should you not?
Poetry, like other words in scriptures, is sacred. Undressing and wrapping it in filth and rudimentary emotional tendencies is an abomination unforgivable. Every god feels it the bone. But do we care? Time has changed indeed. And poetry too has to. But it should only do so to capture and represent our reactions and responses to societal issues. As J. C Echeruo puts it, works of young writers should have a message; poetry is not simply the beauty of language or phrasing but the quality of the soul! This is influenced by what the body experiences.Moreover, these are neither Nerudian nor Shakespearean ages. They aren't colonial ones either. Oyoo Mboya argues that this is a contemporary age. What we lace poetry with should therefore be current. However, I would like to clarify something. The best African poets, according to Arthur Gakwandi, have not written odes, elegies and sonnets. They have invented new models to embody their encounters with modernity. This is evident in the way they have exploited folk traditions of their people and created new dramatic forms of expressions. These lie abundantly in the works of most Euro- Modern African poets like Chris Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, Okot p'Bitek, J. P Clark etc etc. This questions the nature of our poetry. Is it African? What is so African in our poetry?
Ngugi posits that a writer does not write or live in a vacuum. There is the society. Rich and poor. Happy and sad. A poet who fails to capture these-- societal issues, is irrelevant. Damn!
Herein, there are poets, pseudo-poets and masquerades. The latter outnumber the former. Indeed they are starving us with dry, senseless and filthy stuff. Texts or poems? Sadly, most of them are allergic to criticism. None is willing to learn. How then will we paint the world beautiful again?
Poetry is serious business. Damn. Only the spirited few can run it. It is not the mere scribbles we display to gather 'likes' and invite idle comments. Whoever can't bear its dictates should try prose or just opt out, sit and scratch their bottom and smell their fingers! Other genres also entertain no mediocrity.
Lastly, many a times some fellows here argue that poetry is just playing with words and also one can write about anything. I detest that. Verily, poetry is not language. It only uses it. Moreover, everytime a poet holds a pen, there is something on their mind. A human experience to be captured. See? It is not all about anything. Nonsense! The ' how ' and the ' what ' are at the heart of every poem.
(c) Wafula p'Khisa.-Thigh of an Elephant.
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