Book Review | Our Country Holds A Whip Against Us | Poetry
Our Country Holds A Whip Against Us: Requiem for a lost country
Book
Title: Our Country Holds A Whip Against Us
Author:
Abdullahi Ismaila
Publisher:
Kraft Books Limited
Pages:
60
Year:
2017
Reviewer:
Paul Liam
Abdullahi Ismaila’s new poetry
volume, Our Country Holds A Whip Against Us is a requiem
for a lost country, Nigeria. This anthropomorphic collection is a dirge that
re-enacts the depravity of social justice, maladministration and the
trivialization of humanity by the political class who hold the masses in
contempt; the same people who elect them into power under the tiring slaps of
the sun. The country has turned its back
on the people and in consequence they no longer consider her home because she
no longer holds promises of a brighter future.
The title therefore captures the
decay of a country at war with itself and encapsulates the dysfunctional state of
the system of things and the hopelessness that hovers above the land. And
perhaps the country’s symbolic holding of the whip represents the current
administration with its high handedness and intent of beating sanity into the
public’s consciousness.
This collection in its every
breath is reminiscent of Osundare’s ideological pontification on the
functionality of poetry as reflected in his phenomenal Meta poem “Poetry is” in
which he sets the precepts of what should constitute a poem that bears true
allegiance to society. In this volume, unlike in the poet’s previous works, the
poet’s commitment to the state and its social concern is akin to the
socialists’ renditions of the second generation poets.
Poetry’s capacity to
function, uplift the spirit, to unravel the innate mysteries and x-rays man’s
clever-folly is brought to bear in this volume. Ismaila emerges in this
collection as a sage that ingenious poets are: the sublimity of his rendition,
effortless diction, philosophy, lyricism and language is aesthetically
phenomenal. Poetry in this collection achieves artistic depth and meaning. The poet show that poetry could be used as a
means of social engagement with the state, her actors and still retain its
artistry, elegant erudition and metaphorical ingenuity.
The volume is an elongated
poem in three parts with subtitles including “Season of Baleful Banalities,” “Season
of Toneful Wailing” and “Season of Wakeful Laughter's” and a glossary explaining
unfamiliar words and phrases. The sixty page collection is so slim that it
passes for a pocket book; it is light and easy to carry about. It slimness however
is not a true reflection of the philosophical depth and conscientious pontification
on the ugly state of affairs of the country metallically x-rayed.
This is a
poetry collection that speaks for the ordinary folks caught between the
quagmire of living and dying in a country that no longer belongs to them but
has become an expansive prison in which the majority are chaperoned by a
minority group of wardens who hold the whip.
In the opening stanza, the
persona announces the travails of the land and who the victims certainly are
where he asserts: “Our country holds a
whip/Against us, drawing rivers of
blood/Drawing ocean of tears/Damning our throats with hemlock” (10). In
what appears like an epic narration, the persona takes a journey through the
various facets of life as he bewails the rust and loss of humanity’s essence of
being, painting a gory picture of the ugliness that has befallen the country.
For example in this stanza the persona declares; “This is a season of baleful banalities,/Of sorrows weaned/On bileful
narratives” (11).
In a paradoxical depiction of the state of despair in the
land the persona draws a profound analogy using the hen to symbolize the
helpless and hopelessness of the masses even in the face of evident surplus
yields. He enthuses, “Of the seething sadness/Of the hen which watches/the corn
in sealed bottle;” (12). If the yields of the land are unattainable by the poor
then the poor are like the hen that will never be able to access “the corn in
sealed bottle”, for this is the fate of ordinary Nigerians whose communal
wealth is embezzled and stocked in unreachable saves in foreign lands and at
home as well through professionally orchestrated corruption.
In the second part; Season of
Toneful Wailing the persona takes a derisive swipe at the events that both
preceded and heralded the President Jonathan’s administration. The persona
mocks the events of this era as well as the role played by some intellectuals
in the politicking that led to the emergence of President Buhari’s
Administration and the hysteria that trailed President Buhari’s ascension of
office as the president.
This diatribe is particularly targeted at the
opposition describing their grievances as “toneful wails.” The persona
ridicules the position of the opposition who bemoans the economic hardship
ushered in by the Buhari administration, although for the persona this hard
time holds much promises of indecipherable bliss. He enthuses, “In this wailing
season/Throats are slit that hold/Promises of symphonies of laughters,/Nymphets
with wombs of new moon/Are chiboked to wild fantasies” (38). The last stanza of
the second part summarizes the import of the section thus, “In this season/Of
festive goats/Of feasting wastrels/Greed is adopted by lies/In the vault of
padded dreams” (44).
The third part, Season of
Wakeful Laughters is a celebration of victory at last, of restored hope and
elation and joy. Here, the persona becomes embolden to the possibility of
laughter and brighter days which he celebrates in high spirit, he assures that
“Laughter will return/To our clammy cavities/To be laughed soulfully” (46). And
reasserts the certainty of final hour of glory in this stanza, “This is the
hour/Of the laughter we waited for/With trepidation;/Of the light we labored/To
see at the end of the tunnel;/The wakeful moment of our choosing,/Of our
redeeming laughter;” (52). This is clearly appears like a contradictory
allusion to Osundare’s waiting laughters.
The volume comes through with
much newness that smacks of years of tireless toiling and pruning by the poet.
The musicality of the lines, doses of philosophical pontification, rhetoric,
diction and experiment with style in the third part, use of native words,
imagery, metaphor ad unusal collocation such as “Are chiboked to wild fantasies”
add to the uniqueness of the collection.
However, as it is with socially inclined
works, sometimes the lines come through as watery and in some instances blatant
clichés are woven into the body of otherwise elegant lines. The poet’s
capturing of the realities of our times could be likened to the subjective
banters of partisanship.
For example, the poet mocks
the Jonathan era including his political philosophies and party, he even mimic’s
Patience Jonathan’s dramaturgy and whereas the APC led administration of Buhari
is portrayed as the saving grace of the nation, even though the functionality
of the current administration is highly contestable. The evidences are quite
glaring and more prominent in the second part of the collection.
A half told
truth is half a lie because it captures just a single side of the story but
that is what poetry is, a personal reflection and recollection of feelings and
events by the poet. But, a poet that dares to speak for the society must do so
altruistically.
Above all though, this is
perhaps one of the most ambitious collections of poetry in recent times to have
emerged with a clearly defined sense of responsibility and a philosophical
agenda. It is a work worth having by any lover of beautiful poetry.
Paul Liam is a Poet, Essayist, Literary
Columnist and Critic; he is co-editor of the Ebedi Review, of the Ebedi
International Writers' Residency, Iseyin, Nigeria. He is the author of two
poetry works; Indefinite Cravings (2012) and Saint Sha'ade and Other Poems
(2014). His essays are widely published in the nationally dailies and o nline.
He is also a creative writing mentor and former Assistant Secretary,
Association of Nigerian Authors, Niger State Chapter. He lives in Minna.
poulliam@ymail.com
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