Photograph by Roseline Mgbodichinma
In his essay “A Laughing Large,” Wale Lawal writes, “What the grasp of a individuals’s humour measures is the power to specific oneself technically and, extra importantly, socially.” This grasp is exactly what Oyindamola Shoola masters in her newest poetry assortment, “Face Me I Face You.” The gathering brings to life characters whose hilarious flaws reveal the chaotic great thing about on a regular basis human interactions. Oyindamola, a real architect of phrases, crafts poems which are accessible, refreshing, and wealthy in which means. She is culturally attuned and deeply conscious of the norms, values, and dynamics that form on a regular basis Nigerian life.
Studying Oyindamola’s assortment is like listening to a full comedy set by your favorite comic or a no-skip Afrobeats album you’re keen on. The duvet of the gathering of 32 poems is superbly designed and characterised by strategic illustrations that show a typical Nigerian “face me, I face you” blueprint. The intentionality evident within the general put-together of this ebook exhibits that we’re studying a author who really understands her tradition and craft — a poet who is aware of the shape and all of the unconventional methods it may be used to inform a narrative. The ebook even features a scanned playlist of songs that share the characters’ names within the poems. It’s extremely enjoyable and mentally connecting to take heed to the music as you learn.
“Face Me I Face You” provides readers a sensory expertise. It depicts the sights, sounds and smells of life in a face-me-I-face-you residence. Oyindamola portrays individuals’s vibrant, interconnected lives throughout generations, highlighting the hilarity of human relationships in communal areas, particularly within the Nigerian/African context. Whether or not it’s Maami’s marital ambitions, Aunty Sola’s busybody antics, Baba Ade’s extramarital affairs, Sade’s plot to entice John with Efo Riro, Delilah’s sexcapades, Broda Samson’s hypocrisy, Bimpe’s delulu materialism, Iya Basira’s comforting meals, or Folake’s limitless gossip, readers will discover echoes of their very own experiences.
This poetry assortment is a satirical trilogy divided into three components: Palava, Face Me I Face You, and Water and Garri. In Palava, the poems ship unfiltered drama via an omniscient narrator, whose eccentricity is revealed in “How I Received This Ring,” the place we be taught that they’re each “single to stupor” and a shirt thief. In “Iya Ijo,” the narrator humorously exposes the endurance required to resist noise air pollution masked as midnight prayers. Many ladies will relate to the expertise of dodging a married man’s advances, like Baba Sade in “Baba Sade’s Jalopy,” or empathise with Mama Sade as she tirelessly tries to cease her husband’s philandering. Sade, the central character on this part, bends over backwards to maintain a person, solely to be left heartbroken. On a private word, only a few issues have made me chuckle as a lot as Sade’s determined prayers in “Father” or the hilarious illustration of her lifting holy fingers. “A Naija Christmas” evokes nostalgia, reminding us that Christmas isn’t the identical in all places—that residence usually defines the vacation. Because the poem completely places it: “What’s Christmas / however death-sentenced chickens / and the aroma of long-throat occasion Jollof rice?”
Within the second half, Face Me I Face You, Delilah, a intercourse employee, is launched in her full glory. Within the poem ‘‘Madam Koi Koi,” we see “Delilah, / whose skirt won’t ever be lengthy sufficient / to cowl her black nyash.” Delilah clothes to kill and from the poem ‘‘Delilah Took My Breath Away,” it’s clear that between her Gucci fragrance and dangerous breath, she means enterprise. We additionally witness BroDa saMson want Delilah on the expense of his salvation. Within the poem ‘‘Good Husband Materials,” we meet single Pringle Bimpe who says ‘‘I don’t communicate to / ugly, brief, and broke-ass males,” whereas eyeing Broda saMson. Bimpe, amongst different issues, prefers 666 – 6 packs, 6 figures revenue and 6 ft tall. Extra husband materials factors for him if he has “a Canadian passport, British accent, and an American checking account.” Bimpe is all of us within the poem ‘New 12 months, New Me’ we’ll all go once more subsequent 12 months to start out our health journey.
The final half ‘‘Water & Garri’’ explores romance authentically, tells you the way love shouldn’t be mechanic and the way there are not any manuals or guidelines for it. The poem ‘‘Love Doesn’t Value a Dime’’ sparks an attention-grabbing cultural dialog on love and probably bride value tradition. Is a person prepared for love if he “can’t climb / the Hyperion to attract / palm wine from heaven,” or “hunt for a leopard / with 5 elephant tusks / and lower Aso Oke / instantly from Jesus’ cloak.” We see in ‘‘Maintain Me Shut’’ how ‘I like you’ shouldn’t be the one technique to present the extent of an individual’s love. Like Folake, delicate actions—stealing glances at your lover as they stroll away or shedding tears once they go on dates—might be much more efficient. Many African youngsters will join with the poem ‘Breakfast,’ the place, like Maami, an African mom exhibits her love via gestures like asking, “Have you ever eaten?” or saying, “Do this gown, inform me if it suits,” this too is love. ‘Omo Ibadan Kini So?’ is a poem so deeply rooted in place and tradition. It exhibits that love for an individual will be the fondest technique to honour and bear in mind a spot. For some, the treasures of Ibadan may be reminiscences of Abula, meat, stainless-steel bowls, and brown roofs. However for Folake’s lover, it’s Folake herself, with all of the unmistakable expressions of her Ibadan heritage. Because the lover confesses, “Folake, I used to be requested to explain Ibadan’s magnificence / and all I may consider was you.” In case you have ever fallen in love together with your mumu button absolutely activated, then the poem “You’ll Know it’s Love” is totally you in speech and posture and you can not deny it.
The poems ‘‘I requested Maami the place time went’’ and ‘‘Breaking Up with the Moon’’ are to me, one of the crucial transferring poems on this physique of labor and it is sensible that they arrive on the finish as a result of they carry the ebook to such a heartwarming shut. ‘I requested Maami the place time went’ is coming of age. Time does certainly fly. On this poem there may be progress, a type of metamorphosis from childhood to maturity, the trauma grows in “the loneliness of an absent father” and the potential of beginning a brand new cycle with a lover makes the uncertainty within the final strains all of the extra visceral. ‘‘Breaking Up with the Moon’’ will make you look deeply at among the characters encountered all through the ebook. There may be a lot to chuckle about and we will discover pleasure of their chaotic lives, however earlier than Sade began promoting bum bum bum lotion and Bimpe began fussing about doing match fam and searching for man, they have been as soon as youngsters, youngsters who ran via the evening questioning if the moon ran with them.
“Face Me I Face You” by Oyindamola Shoola engages with severe themes like identification, class and tradition, but it does so with exceptional lightness and wit. Shoola’s assortment is a masterclass in characterisation; a refreshing and vibrant ebook that pulses with life, one learn is just not sufficient. In a Nigerian and African literary scene the place there are a number of sizzling takes on what poetry is and isn’t, “Face Me I Face You” exhibits that no person might be prescriptive about this style, that poetry defies prescription and is room for the appreciation of various kinds and interpretations. Should you’re trying to convert somebody who claims to dislike or not perceive poetry, that is the ebook handy them.
