Review of OLÓLÙFẸ́ a poem by OLUWATOBILOBA POPOOLA

BY KEHINDE ADEDEJI

This is a powerful love poetry. In each line of the poem, the readers are held grappled and captivated by the words of the poet-persona - a young man, drunk with admiration of his lover, proclaiming and re-proclaiming his love for her, and that he would not leave her ever. 

According to the poet he met her at the king's palace (ojude oba) on a day of festival - "isu tuntun" (New yam festival) in their village. And now that they're together, he is swollen with joy to have such charming woman like her, as her beauty is incomparable to other women in the town.

He is so lucky!. Even the readers are aware of this. In a very vivid imagery and description we see and concur with the poet-persona that his lover is a beautifully-made creation - her skin "black as the ebony and stone washed daily....", "beaded hips..", "white-as-wool set of teeth...", "almond-shaped eyeballs..." et cetera

One of the condiment in this poem is the poet's diction - an hybrid of English and Yoruba (language spoken by over 20 million people in South western Nigeria). This attests to the fact that the poet is still woven tightly in the tapestry of his Yoruba culture in a generation heavily plagued by wild civilization. Apart from the borrowing from Yoruba words, which is so copious in the poem, there are allusions to popular deities of Yoruba - "Orunmila" (which the Yorubas believe to be the leader of other gods) , the poet also alludes to "oshun" and also to "Yemoja" (the water goddess). 

The Yorubas are known for their great veneration to gods and belief in the supernatural. They believe these gods have influence in the affairs of their lives, their everyday events and happenings, and if these deities are on good terms with them everything will be well with them. And that is the reason they mumble prayers and offer sacrifices to them. This is what the poet shows us in the poem - OLOLUFE. As the poet-persona arose from the bed which he inherited from his old father, he "prayed softly to gods of the land" hoping to get leadings from "irunmole..." before he would set out with his bicycle. Although this scenario is brief in the poem it is however remarkable because it agrees to the traditionality of the poem, a trado poetry indeed!. 

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Kehinde Adedeji is a young dreamer, poet and writer.