Poetry as you may know is as old as the spoken word. I believe that
from the moment man began to articulate his thoughts and give vocal
expression to them, in that instant, poetry was also
born. From the days when David first wrote his Psalms through
the days of Homer and Shakespear, and up to the present time,
poetry has in many ways shaped humanity and has itself been
shaped by the same humanity.
My
journey with peotry started kind of early. At no point in my life
did I however think that I would one day sit down to
write a poem. That was the exclusive preserve of poets and I
was not one of those weired people. But all the same,
I enjoyed reading poems and listening to teachers and other read them
to me.
The
early rhymes were especially enjoyable. I remember coming home
somedays and earger to recited the days poem to whoever was willing to
listen.
My
next mile post with poetry came when I was in middle school. I
remember very well listening to my teacher in what was form three in
Nigeria reading to us John Milton's "On my blindness".
I remember the passion and enthusiaism that he poured into
that reading and how that stired my passion and empathy
for the blind poet. I believe that it was that day that the
foundation for my writing was laid in stone.
After
that class, I did not think much of anything about poetry
again. Not even in college when I had to write at least one
poem and do critique on several others in other to pass my
literature class.
But,
the foundation has been laid and waiting for the right time and right
circumstances to manifest. Those circumstances came when I
moved back home in 1995. From the moment I was on the ground,
there was a constant conflict in my mind between what is and
what ought to be. Slowly, I began to articulate those thing in my mind
and eventually on paper. In the beginning it was slow and as
the days went by, it picked up steam. I got to the point where I was
writing several titles in a single day. But those where mostly about
the horrible political situation and abject porverty in the
country.
Slowly,
my focus shifted and my writing to a
more global and general nature.
Some
of the people that have influenced my writing are Nigeria's Niyi
Osundare, Israel's Yehuda Amichai, Rusia's Svetlov and America's
Langston Hughes. I also find South Africa's Denis
Brutus exciting.
I am
now back in the US. I still write poetry and hope to
continue to write. However, I have been considerably slowed down by the
demands of the time.
Thank
you for reading. Feel free to look around. Tarry if you will and return
when you want. I will be adding more titles as time permits. Be sure to
download your copy of idogEzip. Or idogEexe . It is FREE! idogE is a
compilation of some my about 600 titles. All I ask is that you help to
circulate it by sending them to your friends and family. You can attach
the zip file in your email or refer the to http://www.akanett.net/poemaday/resources/idogE.zip
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