A NIGHT OF POETRY UNDER THE STARS
The book, The Bridge to Where I Come From, a collection of poems by Marilyn Maduka was launched at the African Artist Foundation Victoria Island Lagos,on the 26th of November 2021.
It was a night of poetry and arts as themed by the Author.
Attendees at the launch were treated to a platter of poetry, music, dancing and delicacies at the event. The Author, Marilyn Maduka is a bit of a maverick who is an HR Practitioner by day, a Supernumerary Police Officer by noon, a poet by night and then smuggles in extra hours to her twenty four hours to run a non-governmental organization called The DaisyGirl Foundation. The Foundation focuses on values-based education for girls and community empowerment.
Several poets performed the poems, thrilling the audience to renditions of poems such as “The Bridge”, which was pre-recorded by the author’s husband Ronald Maduka and performed by professional dancers. “Ahn Ahn”, a poem that is partially written in the local Nigerian lingua was performed by poet, Ololade Ajayi, who doubled as the Master of Ceremony of the event. She thrilled the audience by asking some expatriate guests among the audience to read along the poem which resulted in a positive uproar. Another poet, Kemi Bonuola, also a co-host, read the poem “Promise Me”, eliciting appreciative sighs from the guests when she read the concluding lines:
‘Oh! Promise me that we will never be too old
To be the rebels of the world, ever brave and ever bold
And when fate decrees the time for us to let go,
Our gratitude for the journey will envelope our sorrow’
The star poem ‘Where I Come From’ from which the book partly derives its title, was performed by the author herself who read it so passionately that one could only marvel at the inspiration behind the poem. There are visible elements of poetry in the well crafted poem such as rhythm and structure in the lines;
‘…I come from
Where you come from
Where we all come from
A land of beauty and light
No darkness can hide
Ever so bright
For love and peace abide’…
The poem took on a metaphysical nature when the author referred to an ethereal location :
“Yes! my body comes from
The land where the soil
That her children proudly toil
For their daily bread
Cloaks herself in brilliant red”
However, Metaphors used to describe her “body’s” origin reveal that the author is referring to the Eastern part of her home country, Nigeria. She uses beautiful imagery to capture her love and affinity for her Motherland with such lines as:
‘…My body comes from
The Land of the rising sun
Where the Niger loves to stroll every morn
The home where strength and courage are one,
Where commerce and industry were born!”
The book launching session was ushered in by a poetry grand master, in the person of Dr. Ode Eyeoyibo, who is not only an editor of the Collection, but also wrote and the emotive Foreword to the book, which is poetry in its own right.
A commendable fact is that a percentage of all Proceeds from this must-read Poetry Collection, goes to further the cause of the Daisy Girl Foundation which seeks to empower women and girls.
The book can be purchased online on amazon by clicking the link below.
#Poetry, #CulturalIdentity #feminism #spiritualism #light #EasternNigeria #love #soulful
