Today’s book is a collection of 13 poems. It is titled, A Song of Endless Flames (2021, Liberetto), written by Nosakhare Collins and Usman Karofi. Co-author Collins is a poet, editor and publisher. His poems have appeared in both national and international magazines and anthologies, and in 2018, he published his poetry chapbook, ‘a pilgrim of songs’. Usman Karofi studied Botany at Bayero University, Kano, and he is the programme officer of Poetic Wednesday Initiative.
The first section of this collection contains the title poem, and it is a chain of 20 poems. This section is penned by Usman. In these lines, we see the poet persona in perpetual oscillatory bouts, being compelled to make choices from seemingly unsavoury experiences. The mind of the poet persona is here befuddled by the prevalence of dark death and its accompanying hopelessness that hold his people down.
The poet is seen here longing for the fingers of dawn to usher in some respite from the docility of his comrades and fellow citizens. So here is a metaphor of pervasive blindness that envelops the people, making them unable to see the reality of their situations.
In this long chain of poems, the poet is frustrated by the inability of his people to perceive the pain that lurks in the horizon if they refuse to shake off their inertia and the bondage imposed on them by blind religiosity which preaches the message of hate.
The poet persona solemnly states that rather than protect the people against their murderous oppressors, their supposed protectors only preach patience, and according to the poet, this patience has now become impotent in the face of unending bombardment. The poet chimes (p4):
“’i belong to everybody and i belong to nobody’
that’s what they say in verses
to give us hope in an unending sputter
but now we are doomed
by the wounds of these boom.”
But the poet, as if jolted to life by the boom of guns, raises the hope of his comrade with the assurance that his new song “of resistance in candour of great poetic spirits” will bring victory for the people.
In this work is a song set in movements or tropes. Here you see the poet persona at one time in a lamentatory dirge, at another time, he is hearty and hopeful of rousing his people into hopeful songs of victory, and yet at another time, the poet is heartbroken, as he sees the plunder visited on his people by the same people who promise salvation to his people.
In the second section of the collection, A Song of Endless Flames, there are 12 poems, attributed to Nosakhare Collins. And in this section, the imagery of darkness, silence, and sadness still pervades the horizon.
For instance, the poet persona sings a dirge about his current state of depression now occasioned by the departure of a lover in the poem, “where i am” this way:
“tell them
my heart drowns
in a frolicking ocean
tearing up the brain
with memories of clinking mugs
last summer i kissed my lover
now i share the drum’s frailty
without a shining smile
since then i have sung
a song for no one.” (P14)
And immediately, as if drawing strength from the void left behind by the lost lover, the poet wakes up with renewed strength to move on to victory. So he pens “a short note to survive” (p15) and quickly raises his voice:
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“first, i do not come to weep and say farewell to death
i came to hold on to what makes us love each other
and why we need to stay and survive
second, i do not come to mourn a departure
i came for us to appreciate each other’s benevolence
and drink pressed juice in merry-go-round…”
So in this collection, we see a desire of the poet persona to stay alive and hopeful, to also see his people getting respite from those who trample on their freedoms and strangle life out of them.
In the collection, A Song of Endless Flames the poet writes about his fears and hopes and aspirations to see a bright future. The poet also pours out his pains about Borno where ‘death has a traveler’s song’, and Benue which is no longer a home of peace, but ‘a home of cemetery’, and about the Coronavirus pandemic which is ‘spreading farther than the wings of an elephant’.
Finally, the poet shakes off the melancholy that has pervaded the collection, with a song of hope and cheer. The poet thus signs off the collection (p25) this way:
“… say we spend our last days on earth staring
at each other, arms cuddle up
touching every side of our bodies, watching the night sleep,
watching the moon fickle
say, we shall never agree to swerve.
say we live. say, we continue to be ourselves
say we shall live on earth
to enjoy what we are born to enjoy.”
The collection is indeed a potent addition to the literary sphere and it is a strong pointer to the dexterity of the co-authors.
Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via 08023517565 (SMS & WhatsApp only) and email molatunbosun@splashfm1055.com
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