Poetry when it matters
Poetry when I’m happy
Poetry when it hurts
Poetry when it rains
Poetry in the storms
Poetry because it sings to the heart that longs for melodies
Poetry because it heals the soul wounded in war
Poetry because it calms the nerves frayed by breaking news
Poetry because it speaks when all loud voices have ceased
Poetry because it shapes and reshapes the village square
Poetry because it connects us to the bards of old and present who faced similar challenges and pulled through
Claude McKay,
Die but don’t decay
Christopher Okigbo
Bard that combats like Rambo
Maya Angelou
Moving verses dance and overflow
John Pepper Clark
Pepper them then shout hark!
Wole Soyinka
Cryptic verses are sure banger!
Niyi Osundare
Making uncanny verses sound clearer and dearer
Joe Ushie
Poetry cooked like sushi
Akachi Ezeigbo
Poetry as an existential gazebo
Johnson Ntene
No Jonsing, keep playing the Ogene
Martin Akpan
The poet who abhors the vices of the Metropolitan
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Leopard of Negritude, race sensor
Kofi Anyidoho
Serves poetry like coffee topped with postcolonial angst and horror
Gabriel Okara
Stewed poetry served with the fragrance of akara
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Eco-kinetic verses that storm like awawa
Kofi Awoonor
The wise poetry governor
Amiri Baraka
The one whose poetry resonates even in Iroro’s Abraka
Okot P’Bitek
Songs so pathetic
Obari Gomba
The drama poet I met in October
Utibe Hanson
Sounding light though crimson
Charles Akinsete
Poetry as the village machete
Akan Essien
Writing with humanity and conscience
Bassey Ubong
Bard who announces human virtues with the village gong
Sophia Obi
Her verses dance like ekombi
Rome Aboh
Revealing the ills the villagers harbour
Wellington Nwogu
His eco-poems echo beyond Port Harcourt and Enugu
Lenrie Peters
Poetry, medicine and life’s bitters
Richard Inya
His is not poetry but ifunanya
Monica Udoette
Poetry of life, love, loath, loss and latte
Eyoh Etim
Enduring verses of activism