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AUTHOR: OKINBA LAUNKO
PUBLISHER: KRAFTBOOKS NIGERIA LIMITED
REVIEWER: MUDA GANIYU
OKINBA LAUNKO ‘S HUES OF LOVE AND TENDER TALES FROM “ZE OZA ROOM”
Renowned playwright and poet, Prof Femi Osofisan, otherwise known as Okinba Launko is out with two volumes of poetry.
‘Remember tenderness’ and ‘The Jeweller of the Night’ are compilation of the best poems in some of his already published collections and some new additions, updating and reflecting the realities In the thematic areas that have engaged the literary scholar in the past decades.
INVOKING THE SPIRITS
‘Remember tenderness’ is about love in its different shades and hues with Osofisan weaponizing it to pass critical social and political commentaries.
The book opens with a prologue entitled – ‘Invocation and prayers’ – that foretell the arrival of new songs on a new age in the life of the author. And like a musician priming his instrument for a performance, the poet thunders, “Once again the season is ripe/for the renewal of our songs.”
It consists of sub theses such as ‘Mother of fishes’ wherein the poet pays obeisance to masters before him and also makes ‘supplication’ to them in the tradition of our folk musicians; and ‘Awake’
The first part of this collection, entitled “Silk and lilacs: the beginning”, captures the tender awakenings of love with “Iwapele (gentleness)” as he “went seeking” love and weaving in some politics along the way as they “walk by the sea” in “exultation”, making promises.
Part Two is devoted to the ‘Goddess’, and it opens with “Your skin” which is “soft and dazzling” while her eyes are “large like a gazelle’s” and “more loving in their silky look/Than the ardour of fur.” The poet goes on to give an account of his meeting with the ‘Queen’ which happened “like a clapping of hands-startling…”. He salutes Olokun, Yoruba goddess of the sea in ‘Olokun I & II. Olokun and another water goddess, Yeye Osun.
Part Three of the collection entitled, ‘Magic,’ is made up of six poems of uneven lengths.
In ‘Woman of Promise’ he continues to sing to the goddess The title of this while ‘Magic’, the second poem talks about how love creates magic between lovers. In ‘Ask for a gift’, we see the poet promising his lover the world, nay, the impossible…
“If you ask me
I will bring you the rainbow
And make it talk to like a friend…
“I will make you
Watch your arms change into wings
On a summer flight to lofty towers…”
This particular poem is one of the most beautiful and lyrical in the entire collection.
In the next poem, the poet is now a fisherman casting his net to catch his love. One of the longest poems in the collection also features in this section. Entitled ‘She thinks in song’, the poem talks to the “woman of Africa/dream on in song” for a better Africa of not just flag freedom. Each stanza of the poem contains refrains in what sounds like a Ghanaian language that gives it an unusual rhythm like the beating of the drum. ‘Silk V’ rounds of this section as sequel to ‘Silk II’ being ode to love.
Part Four is composed of eight poems. ‘When the tears come’; ‘A goddess cries’, ‘Fidelity’, in which latter he advocates commitment to altruism – not to betray the struggle for a better society; not to join the bandwagon of the oppressors. The poem is an admixture of love and politics as he admonishes his love to “refuse to lick the sweet, infectious/sophistry of fallen companions/against corruption.”
‘Your embrace’ talks about the beauty of friendship and the embrace and laughter shared while ‘In these times’ sounds as if it was written for these times – the current situation in Nigeria. It laments:
“and the struggle for living has become
a struggle among lunatics and
reptiles
“in a jungle of terror!”
‘Reflections’ is a sad one that pulls at the strings of our hearts – it’s about partings and returns, not to unite but a return to emptiness and to hurt.
The last three poems, ‘Wedding anniversary’, ‘Your generosity’ and ‘Just remember’ are, deeply personal to the poet. ‘Wedding anniversary’ talks about a marriage that skeptics did not expect to last because they said “That poets are bohemian” but he exalts in triumph that here they’re celebrating their wedding anniversary probably many decades later.
In ‘Your generosity’, the poet appreciates the generosity of spirit of his woman while in ‘Just remember’, the poet wants his woman to know that he loves her despite all the vicissitudes of their union.
Part Five of this bounteous harvest celebrates friendship, with nine poems dedicated to some of the poet’s many friends. Notable among them –
Niyi Osundare, Biodun Jeyifo (BJ), who together with Launko form the three musketeers of the Southwest literarydom.
To another anonymous associate he wrote: “Make me a song, she said/an original song never heard before/and I’ll swear my life to you:” which gives an indication that “she” is most probably his wife.
Odia Ofeimun, another leading poet in Nigeria and a former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), a certain Richard Joseph, and Ken Saro Wiwa, another great Nigerian writer, Ogoni environmental activist and former ANA president, were not left out in the rain of tributes to friends with whom he had drunk, “The wine of friendship” that’s is “sweet to the taste” that he drinks “greedily.”
These poems are not just singing the praises of friends, they also speak to the conditions in Nigeria over the years. Thunders the poet:
“Trees wilt around us, flowers hourly fall; moths
And butterflies get scorched in the adoration of flames;
But even as the storks alight and go, we are never bereft.”
Of the nine poems in this section, the one dedicated to Osundare is the longest – all of four pages and in six parts. That perhaps tells us about the kindred spirit that the poet shares with his bossom friend, fellow essayist, poet, and prose stylist.
Part Six – ‘Of scars and loss and sea-change’ has seven poems. As the title suggests, this section is about the scars sustained in the course of life’s battles, the losses suffered, and the changes witnessed in the sea of life. The section talks about creation and loss, about separation, about middle-age blues, about parting and painful departure, and about scars. One recurring character in two of the poems is “Iwapele” which means gentleness or gentle character. This character features in Part One as the title of the first poem; and also on Page 68 in the poem, ‘Just remember’ (Part Four).
Part Seven, ‘The wine of healing: remember tenderness’, also contains nine poems. The title of this volume, ‘Remenber Tenderness’, comes from this section. This section opens with a motivational poem, ‘Believe’ which urges readers to “Believe in the coming of healing hands” and “in the imminence of light”, among many other things to believe. ‘Guitar’ talks about love and sinful sex while ‘Loneliness’ reminds us of “soldiers and firing squads.”
Other poems sing of the month of May, the month of rebirth when flowers and crops bloom, and ‘A song for a birthday’ capped this section with a beautiful birthday song for Nigeria and Mark Nwagwu, a fellow writer and distinguished emeritus professor of cell molecular biology. In ‘Welcoming the new year’, the author offers prayers for the new year and again features Iwapele.
A generous soul that he is, the poet gives a bonus section, ‘Epilogue: Benediction’ which comprises two poems, ‘It is raining’, where he called for the unity of Nigeria, and ‘Nire Nire’, where he paid tribute to his own creative genius.
Most of the poems contain powerful imageries and personifications even though they are prosaic in nature.
The book is remarkably well-edited. I didn’t spot a single error, whether of spelling or grammar. Hardly surprising seeing that the book came off the stables of Kraft Books Limited
It is certainly an important addition to Nigeria’s literary corpus, and it’s such a pleasurable read I urge all lovers of poetry to add it to their library.