If you are a lover of literature especially the poetry genre, then you have to read these five selected books by Nigerians. If you want to stretch your linguistic faculties in ways that pay off later; and you are a lover of rhyming words and you want your ability to understand and articulate deep lines to improve, then these five poetry books in no particular order are for you. They are as follows;
I AM MEMORY BY JUMOKE VERISSIMO
I Am Memory is a poetry book written by Jumoke Verissimo. It was published in November 2008. The 64-page book is a themed collection of poems arranged in four movements and centered on the broad theme of remembrance, expressed mainly through emotions of loss, dispersion and despair. The book highlights the human condition as remembered in lucid moments, added with a measured control of line and verse by the poet. I Am Memory was shortlisted for the 2009 ANA. It also won the 2009 T.M. Aluko Prize for First Book of fiction and came second place for the Ibrahim Tahir Prize for fiction.
CLINICAL BLUES BY DAMI AJAYI
Clinical Blues is a poetry book written by Nigerian poet Dami Ajayi and published in 2014. The book is a moveable feast of ideas, recollections, aspirations and apparition of desire in the collective consciousness of a new Africa. Clinical Blues was shortlisted for the 2012 Melita Hume Prize in manuscript. It was also shortlisted for the 2015 ANA Prize for poetry.
SUNBEAMS AND SHADOWS BY SADDIQ DZUKOGI
Sunbeams and Shadows is the third collection of Nigerian Poet, Saddiq Dzukogi. It is a collection of 86 poems spread within three subtitles that include Continuum, Silent Pixels and Homage. The 110-page book is published by Origami. The poem talks about love, pains, philosophy, uncertainties and the absurdities of life. The collection’s romantic ambience is as effective as the lamentation therein. The well designed book is nice quality and the poems gush with ripe innocence, a quality of true beauty.
YOUR FATHER WALKS LIKE A CRAB BY TOLU AKINYEMI
Your Father Walks like a Crab I the first book in the ‘Poetry For People Who Hate Poetry’ series by author Tolu Akinyemi. It is fresh, vivid, whimsical, somewhat cheeky and sprinkled with wit and humor. It is about relationship: familial, platonic or romantic, and also general day to day experiences and observations of the poet. The book contains topics such as; To The Girl Across The Street, The Beautiful Question, To Cook A Stone, Two Kisses Too Late and so on.
WOMAN VS MAN; A COLLECTION OF POEM ON GENDER AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BY SANDRA ADEYEYE ET. AL
Woman Vs Man is a collection of poems by six of Nigerian poets. Poems in this compilation were originally written for this collection across Nigeria, Africa. It is a collection that boasts of three women and three men slugging it out in words on the issue of gender and cultural differences. The poets namely; Sandra T. Adeyeye,JB Mairubutu, Dorcas Andrew, Fasuyi Tolulope Samuel, Anwuli Roseline and Uviase Frank has 10 topics each on the theme. This collection features the good, best, bad and the worst moments, thoughts, feelings, opinions that have existed between both genders for ages. It is not an attempt to stir or fuel any war or bias between genders. The aim is to accept the already existing divide and create a working equilibrium for the society.
