The following poems are published in the book Wind of Change an anthology from shortlisted poems among entries for the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest 2016.
Though many of the poets are strangers to me, the theme for the month of March was one we are all too familiar with: God.
Opening with the winning entry by Onwuasoanya Chika Jones, it is quite easy to see why the poem The Pact won. It transcended the Christian term. It linked Christ, Mohammed and Buddha to Agape and the need for religious tolerance. Away from this entry is My Pastor Has Halitosis and though the message is not as powerful as that of the winning entry, Williams O’Seun Alagba thumped me with beautiful word marriage and alliterations, from: onomatopoeia, pun and paronomasia to fictitious, fictive fantasies to phantasm and moving fantasia, it was a beauty to read. In One God, One Creation, we are taken through a dreamlike phase by Emerald Friday Samuel who didn’t hide the fact that he believed in one supreme God.
Iwundu Wisdom like Williams dazzled readers with rhymes in The Dance of Piety, while passing on the message of religion’s fault in man’s history, Really Ridiculously Religious by Abegunde Sunday Olaoluwa like the theme shows points at fanatics and violence in the name of religion and Impact Ayobami Ogedengbe describe how so-called holy men take advantage of their congregation in Holy Man’s Hypnotic Show, infusing end rhymes to add to the work’s beauty. Saint or Stain by Kingsley U. Ayistar comes off like a soul searching poem of if Christianity shown by majority is really genuine or just a façade.
Tell God is as brave as poetry gets, Covenant Chimnonso pours his heart out into the poem like he was saying a prayer, asking God questions in guise of speaking to ‘teachers’. Emuobome Jemikalajah laments man’s ‘lost home’ in The Paradise, the sense of loss in the poem is very strong and Akindbode Oluwatobi Israel uses Bow your Hearts to show what he believes God watches: the heart not the false actions and service of lips.
At least seven of the ten poems all used a similar writing style of rhyming with the last words of each line with rhyming schemes ABAB.
The book was published in 2015 by Words Rhymes & Rhythm.
