Omatsola’s Rhythmic eyes, watching and telling

Poems are not very easy to review. In fact, literature is not. There are rules in poetry, and then there is poetic licence. But beyond this licence, this author’s veto to meander in a sea of words leads him to history and politics and an elegy to Dele Giwa, a journalist killed in 1986 during […]

Poems are not very easy to review. In fact, literature is not. There are rules in poetry, and then there is poetic licence. But beyond this licence, this author’s veto to meander in a sea of words leads him to history and politics and an elegy to Dele Giwa, a journalist killed in 1986 during the reign of military president General Ibrahim Babangida. The poem ‘Elergy to Dele Giwa reads in part:

Excellent a golden name in the pen annals
Alas. Corpuscles run for us in canals
Sure indelible the sacred name becomes
When with the black ribbon we cry; the spirit returns
Yearning to visit the Robots in Brutaldom
And your blood singing sonorously from martyrdom

And of course, where there is politics lurks dictatorship in a country like Nigeria – although remembered as past, there is always the reminder when a democratically elected leader rears his horns. In ‘The Rhythmic eyes,’ someone is always watching, telling the story the way it is, starting from the beginning when Nigeria fell into the hands of crafty leaders – the fate of Moshood Abiola and the memory of June 12, 1993. Hints are dropped here and there and it is clear the culprit is the dictator, when there is one wearing goggles and giving orders.
One would wish the editing of this work were perfect because a word like playwright is spelt ‘playright’ on the back cover page. This is not a good sign for such poetry that reads like a history book. Here, there is success in the play with words, poetry’s greatest weapon manipulated to hold attention and win the reader’s love. The love poem, ‘Woman Power’ is an example:

Her balls like magnet
And voice Nectar
And lips hypnotic
I argue and grumble
The battle I lost.

Some of Omatsola’s poems are lengthy and run into many verses, others short and in single verses. In all these, he treats matters bothering Nigeria, from hope to misery and violence. The poem ‘Stray Bullet’ reads in part:  

The cloud darkens the face of the sun palefully
There is a rumbling among the cosmic forces
The sun indicts the cloud but the cloud becomes darker
And the celestial
Bodies are hungry
The sky grumbles and tells the cloud to relieve him of the heavy burden
Suddenly, people are running where to? Followed by clattering
Followed by bang! Bang!

The poet leaves nothing out. He trashes the evil of social vices in the poem ‘Gossips.’

Cross-legged they sit,
Under moonlight and sunlight
They are always
And problem abound.

Some write to entertain, others perhaps to test their skills with words. This poet succeeds in educating, informing, as well as correcting the ills in the society. From one page to the next flow the issues of life.