I AM INSPIRED BY JUMOKE VERISSIMO

Olubunmi Ilori, 24, is a young Nigerian lady who asserts that she is "crazy over poetry,". This blog briefly caught up with her in Abeokuta, which she explained is her hometown (city, really)...

QUESTION: To be honest, one rarely comes

across a young west African female so much into poetry. You say you

have written over 20 poems yourself which you hope to publish...how

did it all start for you?

 ILORI: I just loved poetry since I was young, I loved the flow of words, learning new words regularly, short

and sharp expressions, allusions, similes and the like.    Some years

ago (before I had my baby) I and a few other girls used to go to local

poetry sessions with some guys... It was fine up to a point, but you

know how it is...the guys think they know it all in poetry, and some

of us females would feel we were being patronised or regarded as sex

objects...but one learnt a lot, grew in the process. For one thing I

learnt more about European or world poetry; I particularly liked the

Bronte sisters as poets...      

Q: But they were all majornovelists...  

ILORI: They were also poets. In fact their first

published book was poetry, containing dozens of poems they had

written...it was charming. Charlotte and her other two sisters all

raised the money to bring out the book themselves. I can imagine how

happy they were when they saw their first book in print!         

Q: But you admit that established Nigerian female poets excite you too...

     

 ILORI: They do! One is startled to learn that there are

so many of them, though on the surface it might look as if the women

are not writing. Look at a wonderful writer like Lola Shoneyin for

example, she has written a world class novel (The secret lives of Baba

Segi's wives) but for me she is a poet, a great one. However, the

female poet who excites me most, though, is Jumoke Verissimo...pix below

 Q: I am not sure I quite know her name... 

 ILORI: Then I am afraid you can't be much into poetry! For me, there's something so

exotic, sensational and irresistible about Verissimo's poetry. Anytime

I see anything written on her in the media, or on the internet, I must

read again and again. Her first book of poems, I am Memory, won many

awards; and another new one is out now, The Birth of Illusions! You

should do more research on her! 

Q: Okay...but coming back to you, it's clear you get little or no exposure staying in a relative

backwater. How do you plan to progress as a poet yourself?

ILORI: My time will come in due course, hopefully. The important thing is for me to continue to learn more, write more, somewhat progress...