Wahala (Narrative Landscape, 2017) is a collection of poems written by Kunle Shittu, a brand communications expert, entrepreneur and graduate of Communication and Language Arts and International Communications. It contains 60 well-crafted poems of varying lengths, each a potent burst of emotion, and a vivid representation of the poet’s perception of himself, his nation and his environment.
In the collection, Wahala, Shittu breaks from the hold of silence and solitude into a state of revolt, refusing to be held down.
The poet thus begins this revolutionary concert by stating his mission. He writes in the very first poem ‘Uprising’ (p1): “… i now rear out my lips/to sing/i rise, this second/from the dungs of solitude/to limp to the skank of brass bells,/and dust up the embers of moth-eaten glories…”
In this work, the poet persona gives the reader a quick peep into his mission, for from the outset; the battle line has been drawn, that is, a battle against the forces that dwarf the people. For instance, the poet persona addresses the deceptive designs of the political class, their lives of reckless abandon at the expense of the people. He expresses this in the poem titled ‘Of Rabble-Rousers’ (p3): “their/pauky pounds of flesh –/a tailor’s nightmare!/their/greasily rotund cheeks/an artist’s sickly graffiti!/on glistening floors/they sit/yawning/and scratching/scabies-infested bums/in and out/of red light Bars/they swap sweats/with sleazy sluts,/handsomely/their vaults are stashed/yet matter that touch millions/tango with dust/and lie untouched.”
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In this work, Kunle addresses the prostituting tendencies of the political class and their cohorts in power. Kunle condemns the lies, the ineffectual service and neglect of the people by the political elite in the land. He is also angered by the lordly attitude of the political class who would rather oppress the people in their domains. This is played out in the poem, ‘Mr Guvnor’ (p7) in which the poet suggests that what we practice is militocracy, rather than democracy because the people have to be chased from the road or prevented from moving because “scoundrels” with horsewhips are shouting “commot for road, Guvnor dey come.”
The poet persona laments the inequitable distribution of justice in the nation. He decries the death of justice in a nation where a hungry thief is jailed for life for stealing a loaf of bread. The poor thief is locked up (p9) and “His frail hands/Dangle hopelessly/He mutters a prayer/For justice/That exists not.” But in this same country, where the small thief “is a forgotten case”, a big thief walks away untouched, unscathed and a way of escape is provided for the VIP thief. “He pukes/Over tales/Of potbellied goons/Who steal/But never/Get locked down.”
The poet appears not only to lament the rot and mis-governance occasioned by the recklessness of the elite in society. He denounces in equal measure, the unending looting, perversion of justice and corruption in the land. In this poem titled ‘It Never Ends’ for instance, the poet persona muses (p36) that the plundering of the land continues in cyclic fashion, and the plunderers continue to attain unprecedented precision in the business. The poet chimes: “A/lot/of foolishness/has come to pass/…Looting hounds/have chewed crispy flakes/With/machine precision/they/have emptied our bans/And/this madness/never ends,/only the form changes.”
In the same vein, the poet wonders aloud, asking why the many approaches proposed, and theories propounded have not been able to cure society (p41) of the ailment of corruption. Ultimately, the poet submits regrettably that corruption has become a way of life.
In the title poem, ‘Wahala’ (Pp13-17), the poet sings a dirge for a land characterised by neglect everywhere. He sings about corpses abandoned to decay on roads, under bridges. For the poet, it is utterly regrettable that corpses of the homeless are “[L]eft for days/To reek/And/Rot” (‘Wahala I’, p13) by the government without recourse to the dignity of their dead bodies.
Yes, the poet sings a song of lamentation about the reverberating waves of confusion, chaos and anger in the land (‘Wahala II’, p14). He sings about the deceit and heartbreak that the people experience after every season of elections on account of unfulfilled promises of the political class. In ‘Wahala III’ (p15), the poet pictures the people who queue, snake-like, across the nation to vote. But the electorate defy the unfavourable weather condition to vote in “another charade that breeds nightmares.”
The lamentation of the poet does not stop there. He also laments that instead of good governance (‘Wahala IV’, p16) the dividends that accrue to the electorate are nightmares. In fact, each new electoral cycle, what the people get is “mediocrity, fresh and undiluted” which is now flaunted gleefully and proudly by the elected elite. In the end, the people in government do nothing but increase the poverty of the people who elect them. So what the people get the day after (‘Wahala V’, p17) is “Same routine, same beggardom.”
In the introduction to the work, Kunle Shittu writes that the work is “a bearded and bespectacled young man’s revolt against conformity, a search for meaning, a toast to love, a damnation of increased fees and draconian policies…” With that, he effectively set the tone and whets the appetite of the reader. In other words, the poet is not all about a revolutionary with stinging shots at politics or the political class misgoverning the land. The poet also possesses the humane side. So he gives us a peep into his romantic side as well. And you will read and appreciate the moment of outpouring emotions and catch the love bug in this work.
In this work therefore, Shittu gives us a glimpse into his love closet. In the poem, Hey, Jacaranda! (dedicated to Atinuke), the poet persona tickles his object of adoration. He writes of the sun (p18) rising and splitting “into rimless rays at the tip of your sensuous lips” and being healed by the “sweetness of every touch that throws my nerves into a wondrous spell.”
Also, the poet delicately deploys vivid imagery sourced from nature to romanticise nature itself, beauty, love, and his lover in this work. And he finds space for his heroes, mentors and influences, both dead and living. Thus in the work Wahala, you find poems dedicated to or written for personalities like Wole Soyinka, Nelson Mandela, Odia Ofeimum, Alfred Rewane, Kudirat Abiola, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Moshood Kasimawo Abiola, Bola Ige, and many others.
Ultimately, with this work Wahala, Kunle Shittu shows that he is a force and voice to be reckoned with in the global literary world.
. Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via molatunbosun@splashfm1055.com and on X @miketunbosun.
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