#17. IS CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN POETRY POETRY?

I was recently christened Beer Parlour Poet Laureate of Nigerian Poetry by Ernest Ogunyemi in his essay on Contemporary Nigerian Poets.

My attention was drawn to this piece after I tweeted about wishing more essays were written by poets about craft in particular and the arts in general. I know Ernest Ogunyemi by reputation. A few years ago, he was maltreated by the executives of the Association of Nigerian Authors. He won a prize and was not awarded his prize money promptly. As he should, he called them out on social media and they fired back with the usual respect-your-elders BS—and they got caned plenty for it. Since then, Ogunyemi has published some fine poems.

I found his essay rather amusing on the first read. It put me in the mind of 50 Cent’s humorous single “How to Rob”, where 50 rapped about robbing the celebrities of his time. 50’s handling of the material was sublime. His…