Today is the International World Poetry Day

You didn't know that there was a day to celebrate poetry right? Well, there is. And according to UNESCO, today is the day. 

According to the UNESCO: "Poetry contributes to creative diversity, by questioning anew our use of words and things, our modes of perception and understanding of the world. Through its associations, its metaphors and its own grammar, poetic language is thus conceivably another facet of the dialogue among cultures. Diversity in dialogue, free flow of ideas by word, creativity and innovation. World Poetry Day is an invitation to reflect on the power of language and the full development of each person’s creative abilities. Every year on 21 March UNESCO celebrates the World Poetry Day. A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted during the UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999."

Poetry is a journey – not in a dream world, but often close to individual emotions, aspirations and hopes. Poetry gives form to the dreams of peoples and expresses their spirituality in the strongest terms-- it emboldens all of us also to change the world." Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General's Message on Poetry Day 2013

So, how do you celebrate? You decide. Write a poem. Read a poem to a child. Share your favourite poem on social media. Share your thoughts on poetry with loved ones. Have an online discussion about poetry. Whatever you do, celebrate poetry today. 

Here at the GCLF, we are celebrating by sharing poetry; the first poem is from poet and blogger, Kola Tubosun. Share love, poetry; not war! Enjoy it. 

Stoning the Devil by Kola Tubosun 

(written originally for Iraq, and Mecca, and Amina Lawal about to be stoned: March 2003. Now also for Kano, and Afghanistan, and Mali…)

        A million march of contrite feet

Have trudged on these bright hallowed grounds

While rams of hate graze along in God’s own fields.

        Heavy paces in annual contrition

Have trekked like peasant armies on a sea of evil heads,

On thousand squelching grains of stone

As small rocks of war.

     Thousand heads have rolled in this dust

In mounds against target gods…

      “We are stoning the Devil”

We are always stoning the devil.

        Eternal zest with religious strength

Have pelted the Significant with harsh pellets

And a stone will to fiery extinction, yearly,

At varying levels of human will…

        “Gbosa!”

        Rocks have darted across in wilful spread

on evil personified ahead of the surging crowd.

Hate yet thrives in unnumbered axes

In rains and moulds, on hills and western skies.

         So cast the first stone then

When evil remains in hearts across the open earth.

Cast a stone as hate grips like a fiery noose

Around a strained neck of drunken love?

     Cast the first stone.

      On a crooked way to light

Always lies this crude, black rock.

Culled from Headfirst into the Meddle (2005)

Kola Tubosun: on the NT LitMag

Oh well, here you are. I am going to tell you about the LitMag anyway, whether you want it or not.

The project began as an email from one editor to another. But that's not what you want to know. You want to know what we do, why we do it, how often we do it, and what the relevance of all of this is. So here it is: the LitMag is our baby from Nigerianstalk.org. I am the editor, which means that I get entries from all over the continent, read them, and prepare them for publication, and then publish them. The LitMag is published every two weeks.

You asked about reception? It has been fantastic, in fact. To reach more people, we got a twitter account at @NTLitMag through which we post newly published articles, as well as other literature related information. We have also been receiving entries from all over. 

My aim for the magazine is that we one day produce another Caine Prize winner. As an editor, I am biased for contributions that challenge expectations and form. You see, one of my favourite times as an undergraduate was sneaking into creative writing classes taught then by Professor Niyi Osundare. I wasn't registered for the class, but I was interested in getting an idea of what guys were writing during those times. The class was about poetry, and I learnt a lot. More importantly, I gained a better appreciation for variation in form and style. When I publish poem or prose on the LitMag, I am looking for work that give me that level of literary satisfaction.

So far we've published Kolade Ajayi, Richard Ali, Efe Okogu, Benson Eluma, Rotimi Babatunde, Dami Ajayi, Emanuel Iduma, Temitayo Olofinlua, Anja Choon, Olumide Abimbola, Peter Akinlabi, Temie Giwa, Ikhide Ikheloa, Teju Cole, and a number of authors some of whose names you haven't even heard before. It's true. Check out our back issues here. Again, it's important to note that the magazine is aimed at showing new work by new writers, or old writers writing in new ways. I seek poetry by authors known for prose. I seek prose from authors known for drama, etc. Something new, something fresh, something different.

So far, we've also published one tribute issue to Ify Agwu who died a couple of months ago. The next tribute issue will be for Rotimi Babatunde, the winner of this year's Caine Prize. Depending on the literary environment of the weekend when the issue is published, each edition will feature new work by new writers. Those work will include photography, poetry, prose, and plays.

There you have it. I hope this helps. You know how we do it, why we do it, and how many times we do it. You didn't ask if I think it's worth it, but the answer is yes. I like this new chance to add my voice to the literary environment of the continent.

Kola Tubosun is a linguist and fulbright scholar, editor-in-chief of the NTLitMag, online. Contributions should be sent to litmag@nigerianstalk.org

Favourite Five: Kola Tubosun

Kola Tubosun

Kola Tubosun has published poetry, fiction, and travel articles in print and online publications around the world. His short story "Behind the Door" appeared in a 2010 short story anthology titled “Africa Roar”, available on Amazon. Author of a book of poems in English, Headfirst into the Meddle (2005), and an unpublished collection of translated poems and literary texts between Yoruba and English. Poems “E=mc2″ and “Creation Story” won the prestigious Christopher Okigbo Poetry Prizes in Ibadan in 2002 and 2004 respectively. Poem “Here, moving” won the Sentinel Poetry Bar Challenge in October 2006. He tells us about his five (plus one) favourite  books.

Surely You Must be Joking, Mr Feyman! Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman, physicist, artist and prankster, is one of my favourite characters, not just because of his work ethic or influence on modern science. He was also a person that valued the ordinary things of life, and did everything to live it to the fullest. That book, one of my first and most fascinating introduction to the man and to theoretical physics, is also one of my favourites. I read it again once in a while. I recommend the sequel as well "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out", which featured a few more essays on a number of different things.

My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl

It's one of the funniest, brilliant adult fictions I've read by a writer of children stories. I haven't read any other book by Roald Dahl, but this book was a very notable introduction. I got it as a gift in 2005, and I have bought it about three more times after then. It always kept walking out of my shelf. Anyone who reads it will discover why. Never having read Maurice Sendak either - another brilliant children writer - Dahl has remained one of my favourites. This book, My Uncle Oswald, features an alternate history of the world through the foibles of writers, scientists and other famous people. Watch out also for a copious amount of ribaldry. 

Illustrissimi by Albino Luciani

Written as letters to historical figures (dead and alive), Pope John Paul 1 addresses a whole lot of issues from a unique and often non-pedagogical perspective. It is notable that he was also the pope with the shortest reign ever (33 days or so), and whose death is subject to a whole lot of controversy and conspiracy. I have not read the book again in over a decade, but I remember being moved by the depth and range of his thought on a whole number of issues which no other major religious leader (especially in the Catholic church) has touched since. I'm sure that there are part of the work that I will disagree with now as I did then, but the brilliance of the form and content makes it one of my favourite texts.

Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay
Part autobiographical, part fiction, the author takes you on a road from Scotland to Abuja. It is one woman's journey to finding her roots. I'm still on the first few chapters.

Miguel Street by VS Naipaul, and Ibadan by Wole Soyinka 

I can't figure which I like more. Both are a fictionalized retelling of a youth. Naipaul's account starts much earlier than Soyinka's, but my closeness to the events recounted in Soyinka's quasi memoir makes it all the more fascinating. Less innocent than an earlier account in Ake, and definitely more engaging than a subsequent one Isara, Ibadan is fun, playful, intriguing, and genuinely representative of a crucial time in the country's history. It's Nigeria's version of The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. So is Miguel Street, by the way. Just much less fictional. Both writers are some of the world's best.