Over the past decade, I have read poems that were, in many ways, memoirs of everyday people. Not memoirs in the traditional sense, but little records of ordinary life: poems about growing up, falling in love, losing someone, being broke, leaving home, finding faith, questioning God, navigating friendship, surviving heartbreak, watching a country change. Some […]
On Saturday, January 31st, Kinora Restaurant by the Assembly in Ogbomoso hosted the first-ever slam poetry competition in the city. Branded the Motoni Olodun Slam, the event marked the 4th anniversary of the rebirth of Open Mic Ogbomoso, a community that has steadily grown from casual expression into a more intentional creative space. Hosted by […]
An Open Mic Ogbomoso Anthology: Volume I, Year Four EWĂ âMOSHO is the first official anthology from Open Mic Ogbomoso, curated in its fourth year. It documents poems that have lived on the micâworks spoken aloud, tested before a listening audience, and shaped by live performance. ELIGIBILITYOpen to poets who have performed at Open Mic […]
Four years ago, I was out of a job and had just relocated from Maiduguri to Ogbomoso. It was a difficult season. In the middle of that uncertainty, I returned to spoken word poetry, something that has steadied me in my darkest moments. Through Vic’Adex Concepts and Aesthetic Resources, I scraped together Open Mic Ogbomoso. […]
Young Vic’Adex, 2009 There are parts of my childhood I can only understand backwards. At fifteen, understanding wasnât available to me. Only rebellion. I had lived lines like, âI was 13 when I chose death over my father.â I meant it. Everywhere I turned, people insisted that honouring my father and mother was the secret […]
âGrant me chastity and self-control â but not yet.â â Saint Augustine, Confessions Tweet There are books that tell you what a man feels, and there are books that tell you what a man believes about himself when no one is looking. Poetry Has All My Pain belongs firmly to the latter. It is not simply […]
Men, Not gods – Vic’Adex I see men dangling Upon the pikesOf a sentence called lifeMan treating her like a despicable imprisonment And in prison good behaviour gets you paroledMaybe that’s why good people die early Too often we pray to a god to pay our priceWhile we poise poignantly to proclaim the PrizeWe trade […]
The 12th edition of #BB Poetry & sundry Talents event has come and gone, but it will be one many will not forget as it was filled with fun all the way. The family-hood expressed in the atmosphere was contagious, even to the âfirst comersâ. There was drama, cakes, drinks, and fun plus more fun; so much […]
Times have changed and events unfold, but there are some of us who do these events not just because other events exist; we do them to fulfill an inner call⊠to bless others with our innate talents; mostly poetry, to give unto others from that which we have been blessed, thereby creating chain of blessings. […]
Dear Sis, I know I may neâer know How you keep easy and in mirth Accustomed to the snug bra-strapâs banding, even in snow Brassiere, like the horseâs girding girth Darling sister, I sense I may neâer get the senses Of how, monthly, you war within wriggly Thoâ you win, suffer bloodshedâ menses An esoteric […]