From ‘Lucidity of Absurdity’ to ‘Akimbo in Limbo’, Olumide Olaniyan looks at social issues and the world of politics with what may best be described as a magnifying glass.
By Nathaniel Bivan
Olumide Olaniyan’s latest offering is nothing like his debut collection of poetry, ‘Lucidity of Absurdity’, published in 2017, yet is shockingly an unofficial sequel. Where the latter focuses on human differences, equality and power relations, ‘Akimbo in Limbo’ tells a completely different story.
But one thing that’s likely to link the two books at a glance is the title. From ‘Lucidity of Absurdity’ it’s now ‘Akimbo in Limbo’. And since this is poetry, and a reader has free reign over interpretation, I am going to be taking liberties.
First is the title (forgive me because I may continue to refer to the debut too). In ‘Lucidity of Absurdity’ you can picture the poet’s features grow ashen at the state of affairs around him. This could be his immediate environment or society or his country. And in Olaniyan’s case it’s Nigeria. Thus, the lucidity of absurdity.
The author validates this interpretation of mine in a 2017 discussion we had in 2017, when he said “I have seen absurd things happening in our society and I think as a people, we are in a better position to solve our problems. This is what I try to pass across in my work.”
So, while Olaniyan finds absurd the state of affairs around him and pours his heart out in his first work, this second collection seems to be saying: ‘Hey! We’re still here. We’ve done nothing about all that. In fact, we are the problem!” This connection I’m making, dear reader, is most likely going to surprise the poet because I can bet my fairly used books, he doesn’t realise it yet.
A quick example: In his very first piece in ‘Akimbo in Limbo’ titled ‘Behind Closed Doors’, this poet writes:
This carnage you see on the streets
The mass murder of pupils for rituals
Was hatched behind closed doors
By some of these sympathisers wailing wildly
Then he goes further in the next verse:
That ten-year old wife
The one who died during childbirth
Was forced to marry the wealthy septuagenarian
Her dowry, her father consented to behind closed doors
Yet here he is, over her corpse, wailing wildly
Olaniyan maintains this tempo and obvious lament in the next three verses with different instances where crap hits the fan and, the same individual or society responsible for sowing lethal seed, ends up yelling, groaning and mourning before a grave dug with the same hands.
It’s sad that as I write this review, Nigerians are mourning Hanifa, a five-year-old girl in Kano who was kidnapped and murdered. Although we weep and trash and point accusing fingers at the alleged perpetrators of the act, we have a government, a system that has failed to secure our land. Terrorism, what’s locally called banditry, is taking over the country, particularly the Northwest, and yet the government appears incapable of handling the situation.
Sometimes we humans sow and later lament about what we reap, totally disassociating ourselves from responsibility. For me, this is the most endearing theme in Olaniyan’s collection. But there’s much more than this.
The book is divided into five parts. And while the titular piece, ‘Akimbo in Limbo’, seems to encourage pro-activeness in finding solutions to societal problems, the fourth part, ‘Yearnings’, explores a world of romance and lust. But don’t be deceived, dear reader, it’s beyond love and lust and hate.
One other aspect of Olumide’s work that’s far removed from his earlier outing is his style. It’s clear the author has become more daring in the way he expresses himself, sometimes literally stringing words like trees on paper. This, however, is the beauty of poetry and Olumide is evolving and is likely to deviate more and more from what early fans of his works used to know him by. But this is a good thing, right?