Throughout my reading career, I have read eagerly and voraciously African Literature, literary fiction, science fiction, nerdy academic monographs, Young Adult Books, In fact i have read books from all genre but I have ignored contemporary poetry.
My dislike or subtle hate for poetry cannot be explained, I am just tired of reading books from people trying to feign deep with 14 lines.
But last month, everything change miraculously after receiving an ARC of My Father walks like a Crab and I Laugh at these skinny Girls from Tolu Akinyemi.
When I started this book, the rhyme, the meter, and the attention to mundane stuff delighted me.
Basically, I fell in love!
Then i moved on to Dami Ajayi's Clinical Blues the wordplay, the small and surprising turn of phrase, the judicious use of anaphora and parallelism bowled me over.
I finally found my calling!
After these two books, I realised that reading and writing poetry is really good. It’s good for the mind. It stretches your linguistic faculties in ways that pay off later.
I know trying to decode the big words and Shakespearean jargon is hard but trust me it is rewarding. As you struggle, you discover that your mind is firing on cylinders you did not know existed. Your language skills are being stretched, your ability to understand and articulate is taking a huge jump, and that’s an exciting thing.
So in honor of National Poetry Month, here are some beautiful poetry collections that you would fall in love with. I hope they’ll awaken and inspire you too.
1. Through the Window of a Sandcastle by Chijioke Amu Nnadi
Through the window of a sandcastle is a beautiful book on love, magic and how love enriches us and makes our lives more beautiful.
2. I am Memory by Jumoke Verissimo
Named one of the best young contemporary poet in Nigeria right now, Jumoke Verissimo's I am Memory is a magnetic collection of poems that tackles themes like tyranny and dictatorship, hunger and famine, unsolved murders of politicians and unjust killings.
3. Clinical Blues by Dami Ajayi
Clinical Blues is described by Amazon as a moveable feast of ideas, recollections, aspirations and apparitions of desire in the collective but submerged consciousness of the new Africa.
4. A Tributary in Servitude Servio Gbadamosi
This poetry book is full of colours and dripping with African folklore, dark metaphors, and imagery of memories’ truths/untruths.
5. Sunbeams and Shadows by Saddiq Dzukogi
This beautiful collection of poems talks about love, pains, philosophy, uncertainties and the absurdities of life. Saddiq tries to convince us here that if we keep our face to the sunshine, we cannot always see the shadow.
6. Things I Wanted To Tell You In Other Words: A relationships diary by Seye Kuyinu
Described as “an unfiltered, no-holds-barred conversation of a poet” things I wanted to tell you in other words details the thoughts and experiences of a young poet as he embarks on a journey to understand himself, his love life and the world around him.
7. For Broken Men Who Cross Often by Efe Paul Azino
This book is a refreshing and perfect blend of the written and spoken word poetry. It covers themes of advocacy, love, loss, identity and history, the need for a revisit of the inner self.
8. Your Father Walks like a Crab Tolu Akinyemi
For people who hate poetry, this is one of the great books to start with. It is fresh, vivid, whimsical, somewhat cheeky and sprinkled with wit and humour. It is about relationships: familial, platonic or romantic; it is also about beauty and of course, love.
9. The Sahara Testaments Tade Ipadeola
Using Sahara, as a metaphorical portrait of mother Africa, this poem woos the mind into the beauty of the Sahara, the horror of her histories, and the solemnity of her ways.
10. Symphony of Becoming by Iquo Eke
The title of this poem is one of my favorites, because it explains the wonder of childhood exploration with perfect elegance. Reading Iquo Eke calms me. She gives you permission to be your flawed and imperfect self—and assures you that you are still worthy.
In this vein, turn off your phone, ignore those notifications and relax with any of these beautiful contemporary poetry books.
And no don't restrict poetry to when your crush or spouse break your heart, write poetry and read poetry every time.
READ: 10 awesome books by Black writers you should read in April