By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

To dream big makes great poetry happen. Odia Ofeimun is the unapologetic bearer of grand dreams. In his poem, “Lagos of the Poets”, Lagos for Odia represents an entire cosmos bodying the dreams of a nation and a continent. It is not for nothing that the street guys stress always “come to Lagos and be wise”.

Nobody experiences Lagos without somewhat waxing poetic. Lagos of the Poets, edited by Odia Ofeimun, undertakes a sweep that captures Lagos from the words of Nigeria’s first president Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the early nationalist Dennis Osadebay, the breakthrough modernist poets such as Gabriel Okara, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, down to the modern days of Niyi Osundare, Uche Nduka, Ogaga Ifowodo, Nduka Otiono, and so on.

The icing on the poetic cake happens to be the inclusion of my maverick late buddy Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, represented by his songs Confusion Break Bone and Go Slow.

Lagos of the Poets teems with love, angst, tragedy, comedy, farce and all the themes that make Lagos a veritable larger-than-life-and-death project. Dr Azikiwe sets the tone with his celebration of Tarkwa Bay where fun is the major business. The poem was actually written at State House, Lagos on December 2, 1960. What a great Nigeria then when our leader actually wrote poetry! Here are the great Zik’s words on Tarkwa Bay:

Swelling waves and swelling waves

You engulf tycoons and knaves.

Thin clad nymphs, full of fun,

Laugh loud and make a run;

Hefty men with bay windows,

Go and play and have repose.

Osadebay, in one of the poems, salutes the youthful doctor who cures in Yaba. It has to be remembered that Osadebay was yet another great leader who served as Premier of the Midwest. In his poem, entitled “Lagos”, Osadebay writes:

Ariya! Ariya! After the storm-tossed night

The sands of Lagos

And cohorts of bathers

Peace?

Okara’s Lagos poems are well-anthologised and Odia gives the master pride of place through the popular poem, “One Night at Victoria Beach”:

Still they pray, the Aladuras pray

With hands pressed against their hearts

And their white robes pressed against

Their bodies by the wind; and drinking

Palm wine and beer, the people boast

At bars at the beach. Still they pray.

Nobel Laureate Soyinka is represented by his songs taken from the play Beatification of Area Boy, songs that had earlier been given form in a slightly different vein in earlier versions of the long-playing album Unlimited Liability Company:

I love dis Lagos, I no go lie

Na inside am I go live and die

I know my city, I no go lie

E fit in nation like coat and tie

JP Clark was the celebrated griot of deceptive simplicity, and his Lagos poems do justice to his high repute. The contradictions of Ikoyi and Ajegunle are given sharp shrift in the mellifluous lines of Niyi Osundare. Esiaba Irobi turned a prophet in his rumination on water hyacinth for, as if in obedience to his lines, the United States bombed Libya after the poem is written!

Uche Nduka knows the nooks and dark corners of Allen Avenue, and this stands him in good stead in the irresistible poem bearing the title of “Allen Avenue”.

Kemi-Atanda Ilori, Emman Usman Shehu, Afam Akeh, Idzia Ahmad, Maik Nwosu, Angela Nwosu, Lola Soneyin, Akeem Lasisi, Funso Aiyejina, Ben Okri, Unoma Azuah, Wumi Raji, Jumoke Verissimo, Rotimi Fasan, Remi Raji, Ogaga Ifowodo, Godwin Ede, Eddie Aderinokun, Obi Nwakanma, Austyn Njoku, Kayode Aderinokun, Ezenwa Ohaeto, Mamman Vatsa, Olu Obafemi, Ahmed Maiwada, Isi Omoifo, Nengi Ilagha, Maria Antonietta Flores, Femi Fatoba, Ismail B. Garba, Helon Habila, Chiedu Ezeanah, Claire Harris, Tolu Ogunlesi, Simbo Olorunfemi, Adebayo Lamikanra, Bankong Obi, Promise Ogochukwu, Al-Kasim etc bring to bear on Lagos lasting words wounding the heartstrings.

Odia’s evocative preface to the anthology is a grand grounding for the project. The feisty Odia situates the discourse within the ambit of lived life and lofty dreams. He depicts Lagos thus: “Big, boisterous, chaotic, with busy-body propensities in full play, Lagos has always been an all-comers city.”

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.