Book: Questioning Voices Author: Olalekan Ajayi
Pages: 153 Publisher: Kachifo Limited Reviewer: Taiwo Adeniyi
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The exquisite delivery of the 79 poems in this collection justifies the six-years wait. The poet, in this five-section 153 pages takes up rape, social injustice, embezzlement, election fraud, gender equality, police brutality, colonialism, flood, love, bravery and several issues that resonate with the average Nigerian. As one painstakingly flip the pages due to the time needed to ponder on the words that strike a chord in the readers, the imagery created by the poet gets clearer and better.
The first section, Conversations has 27 poems while the second, Voices has 10 which included Voices, the longest poem in the collection. Homeland and Love Themes, the third and fourth section has 25 and 11 poems respectively. Six poems make the last section, Tributes.
This collection is rich and thought provoking. The anthology buttresses the need for peace, unity and love in the face of the growing insecurity and hate ravaging the country. He went further with Lamentations of an exile to address the craze for migration adding that the land might not be greener in foreign countries that Nigerians are leaving en masse for rather the need to unite and understand the ‘sweetness that is in our native soil.’
Just like the painful-joy of an expectant mother, flipping the pages comes with a relieve that someone is somehow talking about societal ills but the pain thereof can be likened to that of the The Madman
But no one cares because
A madman rarely makes sense
Regardless of the madman’s mental state, he, just like Olalekan Ajayi, still roams freely and seeing all, sane and free are blind to. This creates a nostalgic feeling of Take me to yesterday where the things less appreciated now takes greater value.
The literary style and technique used by the poet in delivering this masterpiece is quite commendable. The ‘diverse societal questions requiring answers’ are captured in a narrative style which resonates with the readers.
Ajayi addressed several burning issues with glistening literary devices. Some lines from Bliss and Abyss put to rest any attempt at questioning the poet’s literacy appreciation.
The man sees, as Divine, his right to be head
The woman, her undeniable right to be heard
In terms of literary devices, while personification and other literary devices were used synecdoche was also used in some poems to pass crucial messages. While in some cases it was used as a part to represent a whole in other instances it was a whole that represented a part.
For instance, The Parliament captures the shortcomings of the lawmakers in championing the cause of the oppressed while the poet also alluded to what the readers already know.
Due to the narrative and free flowing style, several sentences run from one line to the other in the collection of poems. This use of enjambment ensured a good delivery of the probing questions in the author’s mind. In Bliss and Abyss, he said,
Men cringe at being called equals
And women go to war to be called equals
Both recruit ignorant foot soldiers
In vain pursuit of ephemeral vanities
Unaware that these mortal titles will mean nothing
When and where souls enter retirement.
The above lines from the Bliss and Abyss capture a recurring societal issue that has attracted global attention. The poet captured theatrical manifestations of the hustle for gender wquslity. Unlike other poems in the collections with more questions than answers, the 50-line poem ended with a possible way out of the imbroglio:
When they return to the folly of contention
The next generation shall validate what I write.
When foolishness from all eyes evaporate
The mortal warriors from both cliques will realise what
Has been there since Eden:
Spirits and souls have no sexes.
While history will never forget the alleged killing at the Lekki Toll Gate, Ajayi joins the league of people that lent their voices to the inhumane treatment of Nigerians during the protest against police brutality.
In The March, he said
They all trudged out to join the leaderless march,
The sister whose brother felled by bullet
Fired in peacetime by a coward.
The brother whose sister was fondled
By accursed hands against her will.
The friend whose companion was chased to death
By a pack of hounds who robbed the dead.
For people fanning the embers of war, secession, ‘At the foot of the unknown soldier’ comes handy. It captures the pains of a mother letting her son go to war and the anguish of comrades dying in battles during the Nigeria civil war. He painted a vivid picture of the carnage during the civil war focusing on the need to stop spilling of blood and avoid a reoccurrence especially by the youth.
The generation born after the surrender
Speak of fanning the embers of war
And lacing the drums hung for decades.
They say war is the only path to freedom,
Unknown to them that
Men fall like cattle in battle
Where rifles rattle in senseless rage,
And men long to return home to
Laugh with families and neighbours,
For the gory sight of blood and torn flesh
Is not worth the hopeless glory
The commanders seek.
No doubt Voices is the longest poem in the collection with 102 lines. The sleeplessness of the poet occasioned by societal ills demonstrated his patriotism and concern for the nation. And he is not alone as there are several Nigerians that the events in the country take sleep far from their weary eyes as their hearts probe several policies and decisions from their immediate family to the First Family. How do one sleep without Voices when an ‘innocent’ person is made to leave his bed for prison ‘awaiting the politician’s pardon?’ How does one sleep without Voices in face of the rising insecurity?
Ajayi also questions Nigeria’s preparedness for independence in Unprepared and explains in Four Years the vicious political cycle. While serious societal vices are central to the collection, the poet decision to blend these with love-themed poems create balance. Ajayi showed his versatility not only in burning national issues but also in matters of the heart. His descriptive expertise was evident in the fourth section of the book as one cannot but wonder how do you tell her Before the vows that ‘he has made a vow to another and that the love he now professes is on the lips?’ But then the poet would rather ‘utter it now than to hold my peace forever.’
Love is a universal language that the 11 poems in this section encapsulate. Interestingly, this section of the collection has lesser questions as the poet sought love.
The quatrain of Unloved showed unreciprocated love despite several sacrifices.
I climbed mountains and swam rivers.
I fended off princes that obtained inheritances
And those who slew their way to fortune
To earn the title of being your husband.
I owe no price and have performed all rites
Yet consider you not a spoil of war.
But the cruelty of your voiceless love
Suffocates my pride like salt on an earthworm.
The love from the fourth section translated to admiration and respect in the fifth section as the poet pay tributes to fallen heroes and heroines. From his teacher that became an antidote for the poison infused in the knowledge he ate to Tolulope Arotile, the Nigerian Airforce officer that was killed in a car accident and transited to be with winged generals, Ajayi once again buttressed the price that all would have to pay while eulogising the departed.
By the time, one gets to the 153rd page, you would not but agree that the wishes of the poet in his introit were granted. The invocation which is best likened to the traditional breaking of kolanut at the beginning of a significant event in Nigerian showed the depth of the poet’s cultural appreciation. Starting the collection with the invocation in presenting readers with his desires and aspirations.
I beseech you to fill my vacant mind
With ancient secrets
Open my eyes to that
Seen only by the initiates of the court
Kindle un my bones noble fire
To make me burn like bards of old
Take me to the fields where
My forebears communed with the gods
Let me feel the flame that drove
The poets of old to weave words
Olalekan Ajayi with this collection not be silent in the face of societal evils. While the average Nigerians would appreciate this work, same could not be said of the ‘usurpers of our customs.’
Moreover, to someone that is drifting into the modern trend of electronic books, this collection of poems is the best rebirth to feeling, once again, the unexplainable satisfaction that comes with reading a printed book. As always with printing is the devil as also showed on page 42 denying readers the beginning words in the last four lines of They seldom remember.