ON DAYS SUCH AS TODAY by Elujulo Oluwatobiloba

ON DAYS SUCH AS TODAY by Elujulo Oluwatobiloba

by | Jul 11, 2017 | POEMS

ON DAYS SUCH AS TODAY

by Elujulo Oluwatobiloba

On a day such as today
When it rains as though it would never stop
And then stops as though it never rained.
We laugh and we talk
Wasn’t it the other day we saw the girls
Playing and talking and laughing
Doing their best to play and talk all they could
Like they knew just how short time could be
Like they knew what we also now know
That soon, the rains will come again
And in that moment, I paused
They reminded me so much of us
Back then when our chests were flat
Just before we were made to know
That time in this world is not measured by
Days when it rains and when it doesn’t.
Then I look at you
This day as it rains
As you continue your narrative
about how the blue- black battered eye became yours
And it occurs that we still don’t know what measures time in this world
I stand up wiping the dust off my dress
“Nnamdi will soon be home”
We both understand what I did not say.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Oluwatobiloba is a Law Student at the University of Ibadan. She is a daughter, a sister, a friend, a colleague and many other things. She loves watching Nickelodeon while sitting on a brown couch at home. She knows she is deeply loved by God and that gives her the courage to face life. She believes if she was not reading Law, she would be reading English. She loves people and their stories.

On Days Such As Today

by Elujulo Oluwatobiloba | POEMS

“I am a realist. I write fiction that is as close to ‘life’ as possible” – Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu

“I am a realist. I write fiction that is as close to ‘life’ as possible” – Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu

by | Jun 23, 2017 | THE TABLE TALK

TABLE TALK

“I am a realist. I write fiction that is as close to ‘life’ as possible” – Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu

Ifeakandu is one of the five writers shortlisted for the 2017 Caine Prize for African writing, arguably the biggest competitive literary award on the continent. With his story, “God’s Children Are Little Broken Things”, he became the second-youngest person ever to achieve such a feat at age 22.

He is an alumnus of the 2013 Farafina Creative Trust Workshop. Prolific in his diversity, he was also a 2015 BN Poetry Award finalist. In this talk, he speaks to us about his background, literary style and influences.

KD: Who is Arinze Ifeakandu?
 
Arinze: He is a guy who over-thinks things, so much that his best friend calls him Mr Sensitive, just to shut him up.
KD: Why do you write, and what audience do you put in mind?
 
Arinze: I write because I really enjoy doing it. It gives me great pleasure to write. I do not have an audience in mind when I write.

Arinze Ifeakandu

Photo accessed via Facebook

KD: What impact has being on the CainePrize Award shortlist brought to you (and your writing)?
 
Arinze: It has exposed my story to a new audience, a ‘home’ audience. The story was published by the US-based A Public Space magazine, and so it pleases me that Africans, Nigerians, are getting to read it now.
KD: When did you start writing and how?
 
Arinze: My entanglement with writing began very early in my life. My siblings and childhood friends used to enjoy the stories I told when we were all young. When I learnt how to read I became such an obsessed  reader, infringing on people’s privacy by reading letters and texts that were not meant for me, and so it seemed only natural that I soon began writing the stories I used to tell.
KD: What informed your choice of the story you submitted?
 
Arinze: When I was writing the story—I wrote it in 2014 and it won me an Emerging Writer fellowship in 2015—I did not have the Caine Prize in mind. I did not have any prize in mind, for that matter. So it was not written to be ‘submitted’. I cannot say so much that I chose the story as much as that the story followed me wherever I went, and I had no choice but to write it.

You can follow this link to view the full list of the nominees and also get an access to the published story that got Arinze shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize Award.

“I am a realist. I write fiction that is as close to ‘life’ as possible, although the matter of what is ‘real’ remains a question.”

KD: Mentors/influences/writers you admire
 
Arinze: I adore Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is everything that I believe a writer should be; the clarity with which she delivers deep and often complex thought, that is phenomenal. Buchi Emecheta, I love, because of The Joys of Motherhood, the first book that awakened something in me that has yet to go to sleep.
KD: How would you describe your writing style?
 
Arinze: I am a realist. I write fiction that is as close to ‘life’ as possible, although the matter of what is ‘real’ remains a question.

Arinze Ifekandu, one of the five writers shortlisted for the 2017 Caine Prize for African writing.

Photograph accessed via Facebook

KD: Reclaiming one’s own body is a recurrent motif in the short story God’s Children are Little Broken Things. Could you briefly comment on this?
 
Arinze: Ah! I’m not sure I want to become a chief critic of my own story. There are certain bodies in this world, in my country Nigeria, that have been designated unholy, unacceptable. But was it not God himself who reprimanded Peter: How can you call what I created unclean? LGBT people in this country are faced with so much violence in this country, and even though the story does not deal directly with violence, we sense the struggle the major characters go through in situating themselves properly, in loving without shame or fear, in a space that is hostile towards them.
KD: What is the most attractive thing about fiction that makes you keep writing?
 
Arinze: The fact that I can be lost for hours and hours and forget about the morbid exercise of living.

 

KD: Thanks for your time. Best wishes.
 
Arinze: Thank you.

 

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THE DYSLEXIA CREED by ‘Bukola Ibirogba

THE DYSLEXIA CREED by ‘Bukola Ibirogba

by | Jun 9, 2017 | POEMS

THE DYSLEXIA CREED

by ‘Bukola Ibirogba

I am dyslexic     

     It is neither a walk in the park, nor a picnic

This is what the world says I am.

In my heart however is deep calm.

I refuse to be ashamed

For this, I cannot be blamed.

I refuse to be overcome by words,

I have strived to be free from its cords.

Letters, dancing alphabets,

The harder it gets

To learn anything except new languages,

Forgotten instructions and muddled images.

I refuse to be defeated by not

Knowing which is left or right,

Or not telling which is dark or light,

Which is before and after,

Is it the first or the last chapter?

Cognition, recognition, recollection,

Are not the brands of motivation,

That help me grow, understand,

Learn, be fulfilled or boldly stand.

 

I am dyslexic,

It is neither a stroll in the park or a sweet picnic,

That is what the doctor told me at the clinic,

Please, remember that my inability is in fact an ability

To see the world differently,

To touch lives differently, but more intimately,

To change situations more constructively,

My eyes see the wonder in the world,

Even when others have their senses dulled.

The perched flies, the shining sun, the blooming flowers,

Sandcastles, even the mighty towers,

All the wonders of creation,

Things that make great a nation.

My greatest gift; my imagination.

I refuse to be ashamed,

For it, I cannot be blamed!

I am not defeated,

Despite the failures, repeated,

I stand tall amidst all pains

Of being different, and I reap the gains

Of uniqueness and distinctiveness.

 

I am dyslexic,

I accept who I am,

In my head is quiet and calm,

I refuse to be ashamed,

Yes, I cannot be blamed!

I am the definition of creativity.

My head filled now with dreams of what could be reality,

My mind is such a wonder to behold,

My hands building legacies to hold

On to, for generations yet unborn.

Einstein, Whoopi, Da Vinci, Beethoven.

Dyslexic; all they could have been,

As their teachers vowed; was a waste to the world,

A shame to education, wisdom and knowledge.

Over others, their gifts, their hands gave them a greater edge,

Their minds, their creativity; became legacies to hold,

Onto for dyslexic generations yet unborn to be proud and bold.

They refused to be defined by their inability,

Their disability which was in fact; an ability.

                                 To turn the world around differently,

And change the status quo, greatly.

 

I am dyslexic,

I am assured that it is neither a frolic in the park or a romantic picnic,

It is far beyond if I am Western or if I am ethnic.

I refuse to be ashamed,

I definitely cannot be blamed

So, I refuse to be defined by not,

Knowing the difference between cold and hot,

Or left and right,

My intellect, brawn, will and might,

Directed now more realistically,

Towards blessing lives differently,

Changing things more creatively.

I am you,

A part of the fortunate few,

The ones who get to see each day through eyes born anew,

The lucky ones for whom great ideas come like the morning dew.

Dyslexia is what gave me my name,

It is what will grant me my fame.

I am all that the textbooks named

I know I should never be blamed.

I am dyslexic, proud and unashamed.

#DyslexiaIsTheNeWCool

                                                                                                              

 

 

 

The Dyslexia Creed

by Bukola Ibirogba | Poems

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bukola wants to live in a world filled with delicious food, constant power supply, amazing people, beautiful music and interesting books that are carved out of the stereotypic academic setting.
As a recent law graduate, five years of legal presentations, research and assignments at the University of Ibadan, have taught her how to put her thoughts into words and express her imagination in writing. She is a part-time sound engineer, artist and a regular contributor to Kreative Diadem; a creative writing website. She is also a social media enthusiast.
When Bukola is not writing, saving the world in her daydreams or having series of conversations with God, you can find her singing along to Bethel Music, Lucky Dube, Nathaniel Bassey or Omawumi.

WHERE I COME FROM by Nome Patrick

WHERE I COME FROM by Nome Patrick

by | May 30, 2017 | POEMS

WHERE I COME FROM

by Nome Patrick

—01
I’m a little flute player who hangs the memories of home in tunes
and let them dangle gently on the neck of meek melodies
So each time I sneak into silent nights to weave a song
I find shards of memories littered everywhere on notes…

 

—02
I’m from a town where children sleep to wake into beautiful dreams
And their laughter plants hopes in the soil of every clan
Like the light fingers of our gods planting fire in the hearts of the wicked
And throwing them into a bed of skulls and bodies of witches and wizards
Whose death offerings mother earth never accepts, so they are left
to the economy of wild vultures and weird flies.
—03
I’m from a town where parrots lend Old women their tiny voices
So they sit under the spread hands of Ogbono trees to tell tales
of Okonkwo, the Axe of War and Amalinze, the cat that never cries…
To blooming angels and sprouting archangels as fireflies swap
into the body of the night where crickets draw an art of chirps.
So we all sit silently and soar into the hearts of the tale-teller
to pluck didactic leaves from the tree of her wisdom.
—04
I’m from a town where Nightingales lend us sonorous voices
to chant canticles of heroes hovering in spirit lands
And sing folksongs to the widened ears of the night,
Where moon swirls up above our heads, like we could touch it,
And stars wink to the plays of children,
and tear into night discourse of the elders,
and peep into the smiling face of women’s pot soups.

 

—05
 I’m from a place where small clans are a big family
finding lives in epistles of pastorals and episodes of traditional cultures.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nome, Chukwuemeka Patrick is a poet, writer, deep thinker and incipient editor who’s crazy about women, children and art (for the mysteries surrounding their natures). He’s a sophomore studying English language and literature in the University of Benin. His works have appeared or forthcoming in magazines like, Kalahari review, Poets in Nigeria(PIN), Parousia magazine, African Writer, Praxis magazine, Kreative Diadem, WRR, Dwartonline, Tuck magazine, Antarctica journal and several others.

Where I come from

by Nome Patrick

I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER by Kariuki wa Nyamu

I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER by Kariuki wa Nyamu

by | May 22, 2017 | POEMS

I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER

by Kariuki wa Nyamu

—01
I’ll always remember
admiring your gorgeous eyes
embracing warmness of your character;
Enjoying we charm of our friendship
Me, cuddling you; you, tickling my fancy
Eating we lovely jokes for breakfast
as lie we on the couch
Me, soft-twisting your arm on lawn
You and I mental-screening our tomorrow
in a family, an envy of many
reiterating that I wouldn’t make vows I’d break
Yes, I’ll always remember
You in my world, me in yours

 

—02
I’ll always remember
the days I’d write myriad love epistles
to your cheerful heart
those that lived with me for years
My mouth unable to confess terms
unable to delete lovely pages from mind
unable to shed leaves of pleasure from heart
My soul never exhausted of carrying love’s load
Yes, I’ll always remember
storing tanks of relentless love, 
Keeping it intact in my mind, heart and soul
in honour of the most irresistibly gorgeous lady I’ve ever met
Yes, I’ll always remember
You in my world, me in yours
I’ll always remember
often reminding you how you opaque all 
Me, reassuring you that
no simile or metaphor befits your comparison
I’ll always remember
vowing that my heart will hold you dearest
till End of Time
hence I’ll love, and cherish you my morning star
since the walls of my heart
over and over again testify power of our solid love
as flames of love remain ever on
reminding us we’re meant be one love
forever and ever!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kariuki wa Nyamu is a passionate Kenyan poet, radio playwright, editor, translator, literary critic and educator. In 2012, he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts (honours) with Education, English Language and Literature of Makerere University, Uganda. He has won creative writing competitions at school, university and national level. Apart from poetry and radio plays, he also writes film scripts, short stories, satirical essays and fiction for Children.

His poetry is published widely both in print and online, such as in A Thousand Voices Rising, Boda Boda Anthem and Other Poems, Best New African Poets 2015 Anthology, Jalada Africa, Praxis Magazine, The Wagon Magazine, Poetry Potion, Experimental Writing: Volume 1, Africa Vs Latin America Anthology, Best New African Poets 2016 Anthology, and also forthcoming in Multi-Verse: Kenyan Poetry in English Since 2003, among others. He is presently pursuing a Master’s in Literature at Kenyatta University, Kenya.  Poetry is certainly his territory.

I'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER

by Kariuki wa Nyamu

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