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By Henry Akubuiro
Some book titles are deceptive, like Echendu Chukwudi’s 48 Thoughts You Should Read, which sounds like a motivational treatise. But it is not. The book, instead, unfurls a bard in full breeding plumage. For a long time, Nigerian poetry has paid witness to socio-political contradictions in our society, nay a celebration of our Africaness. Today, young Nigerian poets are increasingly broadening the canvas thematically. Amid waves of migrations, where many have ventured out of stations, it can be argued that there is almost the same number of Nigeria writers abroad as at home. With this comes the reevaluation of the concept of home, one of the prominent themes that runs through 48 Thoughts You Should Read is home.
For the wayfarer, home is not static. It is a place of birth, growing up, solace, survival or a functional space with a roof above the head anywhere in the world. Chukwudi has experienced urban life in Nigeria and his second home, Scotland, where he has sojourned to. This poetry volume depicts images of home with all its nostalgia, charms, longings, explorations, fascination, and hope and abroad as a place of refuge.
Chukwudi’s 48 Thoughts for You to Read unspools a floodgate of memories, evoking diverse emotions. By letting the poem be a chronicle of memories, the poet points towards shared experiences and lingering residues. His verses are embroidered with luxuriant images and relatable diction. That is not easy to achieve, though. He cleverly strikes a balance between euphony, appealing diction and elaborate meanings. As you relish the felicities of his verses, his messages also catch the eye. The poet doesn’t leave us in doubt about his mission statement.
From the first poem, “Bridge of Dreams: From Festac to Edinburg”, you get a sense of time and space. This is a Lagos boy in search of greener pastures, embarking on “a voyage of growth, of learning a new”. He is not full of condemnation for the world he has left behind –both play good roles in defining whom he has become. He recalls Festac Town as vibrant and alive. His determination for new experiences takes him to Edinburg, Scotland with “His eyes perched on new horizons” (p.3). His memories of Lagos recall sweet palm wine and African star apple; the rhythm of Festac street and the tangy Edimburg’s hills are not things he would like to wish away.
Festac Town, lest we forget, is a festival town built by the Nigerian government in 1977 to celebrate black culture. It later became a residential area, where the voice in this and similar Festac poems lived while in Lagos. He deliberately celebrates the town to show the strong connection between both. In another poem, a sonnet titled “Festac”, he described it as “a town so small, yet gargantuan”; “it is “Big in essence, yet so small” (p.7). Festac is like no other, says the poet – it toughens you. Hence, “If you survive Festac, you can survive Hades.”
To be relevant in today’s society, a poet like Chukwudi believes one must have big dreams. It’s the pursuit and realisation of these dreams that make one stand out. A man without a dream is like a flotsam. The poet realises that, in the heart of Festac, dreams take shape for many. He uses the images of “vibrant drapery of colour and light”, “mirth in the streets”, “magic fumbles”, etcetera, in the poem “In the Heart of Festac…,” to paint a near paradisiacal estate. Without being to Nigeria, Chukwudi’s poems puts you in the know on surviving in the street. One of such representative poems is “Odyssey of Street Orientation,” where experiences garnered from the sea of Lagos to the height of Delta, amid lurking dangers, are heuristic to the youth in life’s many sojourns. Hence:
Each step, an orientation into street knowledge
Emboldened and honed by the whispers of danger
And the impulse to survive; in the heart of the Niger Delta
A tale of resilience and wisdom was woven were
the traveller’s path was not just a feet voyage
but a test of wit and grit.
(p.11).
In this collection, Chukwudi appropriates the journey motif to oil remembrances. It’s connected with seeking, atonement and fulfillment. When the poet is not carolling fancifully about places, he tends to eulogise Grandma. It is a reminder of a deathless filial attachment. The ode talks about unadulterated love and care from the African grandmother. With her night tales, she moulds tomorrow’s people with words of advice and a sense of direction. It’s a nostalgic poem that reminds of how much time has gone by and how deathless those encounters have remained, even when she is no longer there.
Just as he is fascinated with his Nigerian upbringing, the Scottish milieu has come to occupy an intrinsic part of the bard’s development. It is blending the positives in both cultures that have created a cosmopolitan bloke like the speaker. There are many references to Gaelic culture in the collection. In “Gaelic weather”, for instance, the poet sees dislocation in a positive light. Through its hunting weather, a flood of memories about the land of his birth is unbidden: “The craggy moors and the highlands call,/Longing for Nigeria’s bubbly sprawls,/In the embroidery of longing’s hie,/
Scotland’s frost, Nigeria’s refreshing warmth anew” (p.11).
Social issues also echo in this collection, like in “Hold Fire”, a poem predicated on the 2020 EndSARS protests that engulfed Nigeria. The poem depicts a rare moment in history when Nigerian youths, irrespective of sex, tribe and religion, spoke with one voice to enthrone justice. This particular recollection revisits the build up from the Festac angle as it spills into the seat of power in Marina, Lagos; to Lekki, the epicentre of the showdown with the authorities. A socially committed poem, it reminds all about courageous youths standing in unison and hope in defence of the fatherland.
Politics echoes in “Capital Punishment”, a poem that situated Abuja, the nation’s capital, as the ultimate locus of power, which affects every Nigerian. Both justice and injustice, says the voice, are evenly spread from this centre of power: “…From Abuja’s core, (in) justice flows,/ Impacting lives of highs and lows”, and, here, “Laws submerge with sword”. The diversity of Nigeria is captured in “Home my Home.” While the litoral state of Lagos is noted for hustles, the poem depicts the ancient city of Kano as brimming with history, with Edo celebrated for its rich culture. Yet each state of the federation has a unique countryside visitors would relish.
The poet does not only celebrate Nigeria; he also celebrates the ingenuity and sacrifices of its citizens. “Kachifo Radio” revisits the impact of the legendary Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who stirred the soul of the nation with sounds and bites. It celebrates the duality of art as a vehicle for entertainment and protests – a mighty sword that could tear the heart of the society, bringing it to see its failings long after Fela’s melody has faded into oblivion. Thus:
As his music played, the truth was revealed,
Like a disc of soaring emotions
In the heart of the sound, a connection leap.
Through the speaker’s hum, a world is revealed,
Of struggles, triumphs, and wounds unhealed.
Budding with Fela’s tunes in the air is like
The journey of the soul in musical prayers.
Lagos unfolds cinematically to the reader in Chukwudi’s verses. In them, he stamps his authority as a Lagosian with a deep lens. “Hope for Eko” takes you back to 2020 when Nigerian youths revolted against the authorities in an unprecedented way in the EndSARS protests, a pivotal moment in the city’s recent history when Lagosians spoke with one voice against oppression. Nature is writ large in “Lagos Lagoon: A Ride of Sulphur”. Like a deft artist painting pictures with a brush, Chukwudi weaves words with vivid images with his pen to recapture the sights and scents of the lagoon.
He speaks of the azure sky, the river’s gentle flow, a symphony of freshness, morning haze where lakes reflect dawn and the crisp scent of water. The wholesale depiction of the environment include droplets of rain on the ground, the earthly scent of water and a petrichor of memories. In the last verse, Chukwudi recalls: “By the ocean’s edge, waves caress the shore, /A salty scent beclouding everywhere/ The scent of water, adventures from the sea,/ Whispers exploit, wild and free” (p.23).
The poet in “My Africa,” poeticises about the Blackman’s resilience in the face of adversities. One of the Scotland poems, “Black Boy Fly”, depicts an African migrant toiling to make it in a foreign land. To make it, it must be through hard work. It is a journey of self in a shifting world. The poem echoes an audacity of purpose. The Scottish Highland, thus, becomes a place to write a new chapter intended on carving out a pride of place. The rugged peaks can’t be a deterrence to the defiant black sojourner. This poem is another poem that signposts Chukwudi’s nous in the symbolic enterprise. The length and breadth of the poem are lined with seductive images that takes you to Scotland via the pages of poetry.
The poet paints a broader picture of the UK in “Mr Sterling”, with the voice in the poem reminding us of his steadfastness to make a breakthrough economically. What the poet tries to achieve in some of these poems is to celebrate the African can-do spirit. It is a spirit that aspires to the top no matter the clogs on the wheel. It draws attention to the quest for survival, even where there is a little chance to make it across the hill of trials.
Likewise, in “Edinburg is Home”, the poet continues with the theme of perseverance that dominated the UK poems. Contrary to stories he has heard about the hardships in Scotland, the poet sees a different thing – he sees Edinburg as a place to relieve his soul of life’s burdens, wishing he would have made the journey long ago. This collection is so enticing to be ignored.
