As we draw closer to the
#Babishai2018 poetry festival, we will feature our #Babishai2018 shortlisted
poets. Here below is Nigerian poet, Boluwatife Afolabi.
Courtesy photo
Boluwatife Afolabi is the
author of 'The Cartographer of Memory' an electronic poetry chapbook published
by the Sankofa Initiative in September2017.
His works have appeared
on Adda, Saraba Magazine, Arts and Africa, Expound Magazine, African
Writers etc.
In June 2017, he was
listed on nantygreens.com as
one of the top 10 emerging Nigerian poets to be read.
He is also the poetry
editor at agbowo.org. He
lives and writes from Ibadan, Nigeria.
Twitter: @oluafolabi
Q: What was the process of writing 'Because Everything Was
Being Swallowed By Memory'
A: I have not been an
alien to grief, neither have I been a kin to it but in 2017, I came
close to understanding the true nature of loss and grief. My uncle's wife died.
I called her Aunty Ebun. I thought I already knew what kindness was but she
made kindness into something that could be seen and touched and felt. And it
stayed with me.
When I heard that she
died, my mind went white and my throat became dry. I wanted to cry but the
tears didn't come running either. I did not know how to perform grief that was
heavy inside my heart.
So, I mourned and
attempted to remember her, the only way I have learned to remember
things, by writing them down.
I waited for the poem. It
was one of those poems that come in trickles but I was patient and the poem
came.
It was my way of
immortalizing her because I was afraid that time in its ruthlessness will soon
turn my memory of her into a blur and I didn't want time and forgetfulness to
take that memory away from me.
Q: What does poetry mean to you?
A: While writing the
introduction to my electronic chapbook, I spent days pondering on the true
nature of my poetry, 'Why do I write?' and I came up with this-
'My poetry bears witness
to the evolution of the human consciousness. To record, to heal, to serve as
triggers of memory. Sometimes, it doesn't heal, and rereading words break me.
But I'd rather become a sea of memory than to have existed without having
written. The delight in the recognition of our shared humanity (in loss,
in suffering, in love) is what spurs me. The desire to become a lens through
which a shred of emotion can be viewed in full detail, absorbed, felt. There is
nothing more glorious.'
Q: What are
your five-year goals with poetry?
A: In the next five
years, I hope to publish a full-length collection of poems. I want to
explore the world more, have more soul-baring conversations with
people from various cultures, write about them and treasure them in my poems.
Q: Which African poets
are you keen on reading?
A: I started writing
poetry in senior secondary school and my early influences were the great poets
from the old generation like- Dennis Brutus, JP Clark, Niyi Osundare,
Kofi Awoonor, and LS Senghor.
In recent years, I
now favour contemporary African poets such as- Orimoloye
Moyosore, Romeo Oriogun, Gbenga Adesina, Warsan Shire, Dami Ajayi, Logan
February and Safia Elhillo.
Q: What are some of the challenges
you face with poetry?
A: Writing in every form
is very tasking and demands discipline and time. Sometimes I get carried away
with my other reality and I am not able to write as much as I will
like to.
Also, there are times
when I am unable to connect with the image of the poem I want to write inside
my head. At times like that, I like to think that the poem is not ready for me
so I wait and let the poem come instead.
The most important lesson
my poetry has been teaching me is patience. That I must not rush the process.
Q: Is there anything of importance you would like to share
with Literature teachers, who are reading this?
A: I will like to tell
Literature teachers to approach teaching Literature from a more soulful
perspective. What I mean is that the students of Literature should be made to
understand all the various emotions that a poet has put into the poem.
They should ensure that
they are not mechanical with the teaching of the subject. When students cannot
connect with the soul of the poem they are reading, it makes learning
Literature more cumbersome for them.
Parting remarks.
I am very grateful to the
Babishai Poetry Foundation for the opportunity they are giving emerging African
poets to showcase their poems.
I will also like to say
congratulations to all the other shortlisted poets and wish them good luck.
Thank you very much.
file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/BABISHAI2018-SHORTLIST%20(1).pdf
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