Emerging Northern Nigerian Female Poets to watch: A Prognosis (II) ~ Paul Liam

Aderemi Raji-Oyelade in his equally pioneering 2008 bibliography of Nigerian Women poetry entitled, ‘Notes toward the Bibliography of Nigerian Women’s Poetry (1985-2006)’supposes that women’s poetry in Nigeria is just about thirty five years old. Raji-Oyelade submits that Nigerian Women’s poetry has come of age and deserves serious critical attention from critics who appear to have been paid less attention to it. He asserts that,

Interestingly, the increasing publication of poetry by Nigerian women authors has not been met with a commensurate critical study of the emergent works. It might well be repeated that the available poetry collections by Nigerian as well as African women writers in general have been rarely engaged as subjects of analytic discourse in contemporary literary criticism.

Raji-Oyelade comments on women’s poetry in Northern Nigeria thus, “it is also useful to point to the relatively new tradition of anglophone poetry by women from the northern part of the country, with the first notable collections being Maria Ajima’s Cycles (1996) and Hauwa Sambo’s The Genesis and other poems (circa 1996)”. Both Bala and Raji-Oyelade in their separate works have drawn attention to the need to give more attention to women’s poetry in order to appropriate and accelerate its development. Clearly, a lot has happened to Nigerian and Northern Nigerian women’s poetry since the publication of their studies more than a decade ago.

Unoma Azuah in her 2015 “Reshaping Obliterated Faces: Ten Female Nigerian Poets” essay, draws attention to the exclusion of female poets by Uche Umez in his ‘Eight Young Poets Whose Poems Delight’ describing it as silencing “the fundamental contribution made by women’s work by excluding them from what he intends to be regarded as a compilation of good flavor.’ Azuah’s re-echoes Raji-Oyelade’s charge that Nigerian women’s poetry has been neglected by critics. She asserts that by excluding women in his list, Umez further “perpetuates the impression that women writers would need to work harder to appeal to the patriarchal palate”. However, the poets listed in this essay have been distinctively identified by male critics as mentioned earlier, to have exhibited uncommon poetic brilliance which delights all.        

I didn’t set out to write a bibliography of Northern Nigerian Female Poets like Bala and Raji-Oyelade have done. I simply set out to introduce to readers some of the remarkable Northern Nigerian female poets whose works have been found to be delightful by critics and academics. These bards remind us of what it means to be uniquely different and poignant. Their proven artistry is an affirmation that they answered the right call by answering to poetry. It is therefore my hope that readers of Northern Nigerian women’s poetry in English would find this list handy and resourceful as an initial introduction to the metamorphosing literary tradition and poetry of the North. I hope you find them thrilling like I did.

Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu

 1.       Hauwa Nuhu Shaffii

 ash

(for g)

afterwards,

when you tell him of how, with

the soft of his breath,

he torched your body

into flames stark as a moan

and wild as thick hair that will not be tamed,

you say nothing of the ash that will remain

when he leaves

but like all revolutions,

love is a protest against silence.

to the light that left before dawn:

i am thinking of you, wondering

why chicks break away from eggs,

and wander far

into blind roads

leaving shells discarded and crushed

to blend eternally with earth.

the landmarks

that define the city of loss?

the hills, and slopes,

and curves,

they reveal themselves day after day

to me, in acuity

making a tourist of me,

as they lead me

to a ditch where parts of me have slipped into.

there is the slope that leads to a spring

another leads to the ditch above

another leads infinitely 

there is the curve that ends in the groin of a wall

there are others that empty into dark corners

where demons prowl

i know the smell of death

have known it since the day you left

i carry it in my eyes

as it shrinks me into the distance

between voice and self

Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu is a poet and essayist whose work has appeared in The Republic, Jalada Africa, African Arguments, After the Pause Journal, The Rising Phoenix, Ake Review, Eunoia Review and elsewhere. She's a 2018 fellow of Ebedi Writers Residency. She holds a law degree and is currently pursuing a BL at the Nigerian law school.

Maryam Gatawa

2.      Maryam Gatawa

      ...And tell the stars

Then tell the stars

To take their leave too

For within our breasts

Shines the inward light

To sail us through

These fields of darkness

Why wait for the gardens to

Bear you sweet roses

Or rent the cloaks of your hope

To greedy mighty whales

Go forth with your hoe

And till the fertile land

Plant upon its face

Sweet corns and grapes

And when the winter knocks in

Tell her to stay

You have enough grains in your home.

UNTITLED

Tell me

How do you do it

How do you look into the

Sun’s eyes and dare it

Like the oceans live in you

How do you clap when

You have thorns growing

On your palms

How easily you wear ten souls in one

While I’m battling to wear one

Just this lanky one

Why do you love the mountains more

When you know the seas dwell in my heart

When every shore begs for the prints of my heartbeat

Why do you sing the songs I abhor with my soul

When the canaries kneel to hear the

Tambourines seeping from my soul

Why stride across this land when I’ve waited for you

With my breath spiked and suspended

To walk through the thorns majestically with poise,

Hand in hand with you

With poise and stand close to my restless shadow

Why let the Birdie fling you off your flight

When you know and I know

That the road is a path that leads home

And in my heart is comfortable a heart for all,

But most of all, for your tired feet?

Now

I am afraid of the ashes

That’ll settle on my heart.

Like howling breeze of Sahara

Spreading dust on cacti

I’m scared of the sighs that may suffocate

My shrunk lungs

I’m afraid that if I wake me within me

Hurricanes will slap tornadoes

And the seas I love, will taste the warmth

Of handshake with the sun rumbling inside me

So I say the farewell words

As I bid bye to the seas

I love and world thawing before my eyes

As I bid bye to the enchanting

Hues seeking for feeble drops of

My tingling rosy smiles

“That I dare the sun this time

To get into the ring with me

I dare the moon to rest in its cave

For the nights would be illuminated

By the fiery fireflies dancing

On the field of my forehead

I dare me to tread west, behind

Those hills and nest my ribs in that cabin

That cabin where me is waiting again

To wake me up and give me

Another compass where I shall sail North

In my ship with my heart enclosed in a green locket

To cruise the path where HOME awaits

Where it’s warm and cozy

Where my heart belongs

For I have dared that rickshaw to carry me

To the sun and I’ve dared you to be my company”

For If I wake up Tomorrow

I shall bask in the midday sun

That roamed and settled tonight

For if I wake up tomorrow

I shall bask under the glowing moon

And the timid stars pretending to shine

During the day

For if I wake up tomorrow

I’ll find me home, Gida, which

Even you know so well.

Maryam Gatawa is a graduated of Economics, Bayero University, Kano. She lives in Kano and is a passionate lover of the Arts.  Some of her works have been published in the African Writer Magazine, Praxis Magazine, Ink Sweat and Tears, First Writer Magazine, 1Dollar Publications, PIN Quarterly Magazine, Tuck Magazine, Better Than Star Bucks, Anthology Of Best New African Poets 2017, Anthology of Arts and Nature of Free Poetic Universe 2016, The Arts-Muse Fair, Kalahari Review as well as in local papers. She edited a poetry anthology titled "Songs of Zamfara." When not writing poetry she plays snooker, or reads other poets.

To be concluded.

*******

Paul Liam is a poet, author, Critic and Associate Editor at The Arts-Muse Fair