By
Ismail Bala
Department of English and French
Bayero University, Kano
NOTE: This is a review of one of my earliest poetry collections Litters.
LITTERS IS A collection of about twenty-seven poems by a Geography lecturer and also a poet from Bayero University, Kano. Most of the poems are written between 1997 and 1999. They are not grouped into any discernible (thematic) parts, as such the collection as a whole reads as short excerpts of a fairly long poem written over a period of time; which assures us that there is a common thread to them all.
The poems are not only short, but are, as it were essentially “epigraphic”, in the sense that they are couched not only with an obvious awareness of `every day speech`, but also in their effort to re-energise the genre of poetry once more as a medium of public utterance that lends immediacy and accessibility to contemporary issues.
And perhaps it is this poetic immediacy that, apart from informing the poems also calls for the innovative way in which the collection is published. The poet- it is important to note- started an exciting experiment: what he called “Card Poetry Series”, whereby some selected (shorter) poems are printed in pocket-size glossy cards; which were later collected and published in the same format; (only that the book is a pocket size `pamphlet`).
The size, however, does not in any way belittle the collection’s bold attempt in giving a comprehensive, new picture of life in present day Nigeria. The political, the personal and the religious are uniquely taken on in a lucid style typical of the poet.
The opening poem “faith” tries to mirror faith in a variety of ways: as both a religious concept, and more importantly as a secularized, albeit psychologically and socially determined state of mind of an individual, and by extension the state of the country whose citizens are somewhat `irreligious`, having lost their faith and its ability to redeem their lives as it ought to do.
To the poet, faith is not necessarily a belief in the conventional context; rather it is the “smoothness of affairs/ freedom from want and worries”. It is no more than the “promises [sic] of the daybreak/ [which] gives us peace of mind”(6). When both the individual and the state reach this level of secular faith, a certain measure of spirituality is also reached, which is a realization: “the conviction that/ god exists/ gives us permanent peace” (ibid). The poem (may) only succeed in piling up images that are unconnected by any process of causality, or rationality; but just an arrangement in space- the page- and not as a successful narrative sequence. But this has benefited the reader in the sense that it forces one to explore it carefully, and in depth rather than just read it off quickly and supposedly gets the message.
Being a Geographer by training, the poet throughout the collection seeks to explore the intrinsic, often neglected relationship between literature and the environment. With verve and vigour, we are made to see what lies beneath this, and what it has to offer towards a fresh understanding of life.
With the rapid internationalization and the attendant globalization in the world there is an ever-increasing distortion and dis-orientation in the people’s (Nigerian) sense of place and/or belonging. One such consequence of this is the question often asked: “to what space/ place do we really belong? Am I a citizen of the world, the nation or the locality?
It is in this that the poem “geography” achieves significance as subsumed in its effort to offer a stable representation or what Edward Said would call maps of meaning with which making sense of the world becomes possible. The poem therefore tries to, in a subtle way, through what can be called `geographical imagination`, as Said would say, captures the dilemma of belonging, by attempting to answer the questions raised, and by so doing extends them. And it does so through the presentation of geography – not as a word which is a natural image of what it may means – but as a somewhat fixed and stable representation that would allow making sense of the world. The poet asks:
what is where?
here, there
somewhere
elsewhere
east, west
north, south
erosion, deposition
highland, lowland
mountains
plains
seas, rivers
ridges, valleys
forests, deserts
cities, villages (13).
And later affirms “where shall we be / if there is no geography?” Despite the overt emphasis on the physical and spatial entities, the poet’s imagined geography seeks to underscore the interdependence and intermingling of both people and places. And it is in this that his geography emerges as perhaps `an account` designed to immerse us both in space and time. But it fails to establish the fact often raised under the influence of post-structuralists and post-modern theory that the language we use to represent geography among other has not truthfully, (whatever that may mean) reflects that geography. Here the poet is also a Geographer who attempts to reveal or uncover the truth of the world, without shifting attention to ways in which language is used to construct and constitute the world. In “Geography” the concept and the discipline are after all construction with all the attendants’ rhetorical features.
From such poems as “ancient egypt”, “history”, “truth” to “litters” (the title poem), “fuel scarcity” and “hope”, the poet restricts himself to the free verse style, as indeed in the rest of the collection for an effect. This is seen in his marked simplicity, which at the same time does not betray his calling as a poet very much conscious of his art and its possible effect.
Litters is not only about geographical meaning mapping, it is also about what I would call excessive poeticism: there is no capitalization throughout the book; not even in the titles of the poems for no clear reason. This practice appears poetic somehow, but apparently it serves no clear function, stylistic or otherwise: it makes no change to the poems other than to make them look different and probably draw attention to themselves.
Yet Litters is surely going to – if not anything- litters the Nigerian literary landscape with new leaves, the blooming of which would perhaps be enough evidence to show the level to which exciting new trends of both poetry writing and publishing are taking shape. It is indeed a compendium of various leaves whose variety and virtuousness call for attention.
