The Anatomy of Silence (For S.) What do I accept from this silence, this silence that lacerates peace, this silence, anathema to bliss. This silence, pensive, dramatic amping tension, wrecking intention, this silence, violent and vicarious, this silence between two lovers & two phones. This silence seems to say something, my bunny ears cocked at […]
Dami Ajayi’s latest release “Affection & Other Accidents” is his third volume of poems, after his first volume “Clinical Blues” and his second collection, “A Woman’s Body is a Country” which were released to great acclaim. This new release reveals a poet at the peak of his literary powers. Like the title, “Affection & Other […]
Title: A Woman’s Body Is a Country Author: Dami Ajayi Publisher: Ouida Books Number of pages: 69 Year of publication: 2017 Category: Poetry Dami Ajayi’s second collection, A Woman’s Body Is a Country, endeavours to carve a niche in the corpus of Nigerian poetry. In this collection, there are questions of affection and there is suggestiveness, both digging into the subject of […]
Affection and other Accidents is Dami Ajayi’s third poetry collection. The previous collections, Clinical Blues, and A Woman’s Body is a Country gathered critical acclaim and sealed Ajayi’s place as one of the most important poetic voices in contemporary African poetry. This latest collection continues the poetic tradition that has now become Ajayi’s trademark, except that it includes a minor […]
Poetry has thrived, over time, on two contrasting themes: Love & Grief. They are mostly treated as two extremes but masters of the art see beyond the differences, the reality of their co-existence — what was not born cannot die! My wife got me pondering, even before I started reading Dami’s collection, when she asked […]
Editor’s note: First published on Yaba Left, this post is republished here with permission. Read the first part of this post here. Nigeria’s political climate in the 80s was rather turbulent with a succession of coup d’états. The country was not faring well economically. The security situation dealt a heavier blow on the nightlife economy. In fact, at […]
A Book Review of Festus Adedayo’s Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend I. Alhaji Ayinla Omowura was killed in a beer parlour brawl on May 6, 1980 in Ago Ika, Abeokuta. Aged 47 at time of death, he was an apala musician at the height of his powers. He had waxed about 20 […]
In the traditions that established earlier voices in modern Africa poetry, sociopolitical maladies have remained an arch theme. In the words of Omafune Onoge, what rocks African poetry most is the crisis of consciousness. And it is expected. Given the social political terrain of postcolonial Africa and the disillusionment that followed. Most African poets, ranging from […]
Paris-born Nigerian singer Aṣa’s fifth studio album, ‘V’, is already being labelled a classic. Some pundits may find this an early call but a cohort of music critics – and a teeming listening audience – have returned a favourable verdict. This becomes important when we revisit Aṣa’s discography. For context, V arrives barely three years after her […]
When you think of a country, chances are that the words ‘loyalty’ and ‘patriotism’ may cross your mind. Leaders expect citizens to be loyal and patriotic. So, when a woman’s body is equated with a country, it connotes power and influence. In his second collection of poems A Woman’s Body is a Country, Dami Ajayi exercises […]