The Arts-Muse Fair

Ni: Virginity Before you call a woman a slut, do some work to find out where she belongs. Don’t get it twisted. For most women, earthly, there are three categories. Yes three, built by comportment of the mind. And these cannot be determined by mere sight, a look at the garment or visible ornament. It is not social or economic, it is neither cultural not genetic: it is the feeling; unwavering, stern, grit, tenacious and rooted to the woman phenomena. Her identity.
We are talking virginity.

The second edition of the Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival (HIASFEST) opened this morning in Minna, Niger state. The 4-day Arts festival would see secondary school students from across Nigeria compete for prizes in singing, painting, poetry, spoken word, short story, nonfiction, cultural dance, craft, and quiz.

This year, participating students and their teachers would get the opportunity to also win individual awards endowed by Hajiya Maryam Aliyu in the following categories: Most Valuable Contestant (male and female) and Best Teacher Award (male and female). The best behaved School shall also receive an award. The 2020 HIASFEST Star Prize shall be presented to Adamu Garko, an exceptional Nigerian Teen writer. The organizers shall also present Golden Awards to two Arts Patrons, Engr Yahaya D. Daudu and Barr. Ahmed Maiwada.

Named in memory of late Hajiya Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu, the festival is organized by the Hill-top Creative Arts Foundation and sponsored by Alh. Bala Abdullahi …

Of Trust Betrayed
Sons of Jezebel! With honey tongues On first attempt Beckon to the gatekeepers To worship at the sacred grooves Patient and sly in their supplications Victims become relics of their worship

I See Her
Not knowing Not seeing Yet I see her
In dreamland Endless lush green meadow Stretched beyond reach


Son of the Wind
You howled the hurricane To the threshold of locked-up desire You unlatched the Safe treasure Stored up On the fringe of pledged loyalty With thy tsunamic strength You left adrift the daughter of the sun
Arise you must From the darkened sky Breathe thy fertileness on the Fringes of sterile sky Undo the strength of the wind Shine forth thy blazing flame

Untamed
He untamed The beast of passion He floats by every curvaceous body
He untamed The volcanic passion Treading through forbidden magmas To a mass treasure of forbidden laurels

Odoh Diego Okenyodo is a poet and editor who serves as Country Director of the Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation. A former National Publicity Secretary (North) of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), he was appointed into the National Electoral Committee of the ANA at the Annual General Meeting held in October 2019 in Enugu, the place of birth of the foremost literary association. The AGM ended in chaos, as for the first time in the Association's 38-year history it did not elect an EXCO. Okenyodo, author of the collection ‘From A Poem to Its Creator’, and a former literary journalist has played a key role in the events that have unfolded after the Enugu debacle. In this interview with Paul Liam, Odoh Diego Okenyodo sheds light on some of the actions he and some other members of the ELCOM took and why he thinks ANA should explore appointing a Caretaker Committee before holding an election:
Thank you for accepting to speak with me despite the very short notice, sir. Thanks fo…