What I life without love?
It would be an empty space.

#poeticthought #poetry #poems #creativity

There's two kinds of women--those you write poems about and those you don't.

The Ibibio people have a rich tradition of storytelling through oral literature, including:

- Folktales (e.g., myths, legends, fables)
- Proverbs and sayings
- Riddles and puzzles
- Epic poems and songs
- Historical accounts and genealogies

These stories convey moral lessons, cultural values, and historical events, passing down Ibibio heritage and wisdom from one generation to the next.

Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, and recite three poems, in case they are ever trapped in an elevator

POEMS FOR BIRDS
Wings of wonder, feathers bright,
Songs of joy, in morning light,
Birds take flight, with gentle grace,
Spreading beauty, in every place.

Their sweet melodies fill the air,
As they soar, without a care,
Freedom's spirit, they embody true,
A symbol of hope, for me and you.

Ben Okri
Nigerian writer
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Article History

Ben Okri (born March 15, 1959, Minna, Nigeria) is a Nigerian novelist, short-story writer, and poet who used magic realism to convey the social and political chaos in the country of his birth.

Novelist Ben Okri
Novelist Ben Okri
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Born: March 15, 1959, Minna, Nigeria (age 65)
Awards And Honors: Booker Prize (1991)
Notable Works: “A Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn” “A Way of Being Free” “An African Elegy” “Astonishing the Gods” “Dangerous Love” “Flowers and Shadows” “In Arcadia” “Incidents at the Shrine” “Infinite Riches” “Mental Flight” “Prayer for the Living” “Rise Like Lions: Poetry for the Many” “Songs of Enchantment” “Starbook” “Stars of the New Curfew” “The Age of Magic” “The Famished Road” “The Freedom Artist” “The Landscapes Within” “A Time for New Dreams” “Wild”
Movement / Style: magic realism
Okri attended Urhobo College in Warri, Nigeria, and the University of Essex in Colchester, England. His first novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), employ surrealistic images to depict the corruption and lunacy of a politically scarred country. The short-story collections Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988) portray the essential link in Nigerian culture between the physical world and the world of the spirits.

Nigeria-Biafra War (1967–1970)
Further information: (Nigerian Civil War)
Map of the Biafra secession in June 1967 that caused the ensuing Nigerian Civil War

In May 1967, the southeastern region of Nigeria broke away to form the Republic of Biafra; in July the Nigerian military attacked to suppress what it considered an unlawful rebellion.[82] The Achebe family narrowly escaped disaster several times during the war, including a bombing of their house.[83] In August 1967, Okigbo was killed fighting in the war.[84] Achebe was shaken considerably by the loss; in 1971 he wrote "Dirge for Okigbo", originally in the Igbo language but later translated to English.[85]

As the war intensified, the Achebe family was forced to leave Enugu for the Biafran capital of Aba. He continued to write throughout the war, but most of his creative work during this time took the form of poetry. The shorter format was a consequence of living in a war zone. "I can write poetry," he said, "something short, intense more in keeping with my mood [...] All this is creating in the context of our struggle."[86] Many of these poems were collected in his 1971 book Beware, Soul Brother. One of his most famous, "Refugee Mother and Child", spoke to the suffering and loss that surrounded him. Dedicated to the promise of Biafra, he accepted a request to serve as foreign ambassador, refusing an invitation from the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University in the US.[87][88][c] Meanwhile, their contemporary Wole Soyinka was imprisoned for meeting with Biafran officials and spent two years in jail. Speaking in 1968, Achebe said: "I find the Nigerian situation untenable. If I had been a Nigerian, I think I would have been in the same situation as Wole Soyinka is—in prison."[90] In his ambassador role, Achebe travelled to European and North American cities to promote the Biafra cause.[53]

Conditions in Biafra worsened as the war continued. In September 1968, the city of Aba fell to the Nigerian military and Achebe once again moved his family, this time to Umuahia, where the Biafran government had relocated. He was chosen to chair the newly formed National Guidance Committee, charged with the task of drafting principles and ideas for the post-war era.[91] In 1969, the group completed a document entitled The Principles of the Biafran Revolution, later released as The Ahiara Declaration.[92] In October of the same year, Achebe joined writers Cyprian Ekwensi and Gabriel Okara for a tour of the United States to raise awareness about the dire situation in Biafra. They visited thirty college campuses and conducted numerous interviews.[93] Although the group was well received by students and faculty, Achebe was shocked by the harsh racist attitude toward Africa he saw in the US. At the end of the tour, he said that "world policy is absolutely ruthless and unfeeling".[93]

The beginning of 1970 saw the end of the state of Biafra. On 12 January, the military surrendered to Nigeria, and Achebe returned with his family to Ogidi, where their home had been destroyed.[94] He took a job at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka and immersed himself once again in academia. He was unable to accept invitations to other countries, however, because the Nigerian government revoked his passport due to his support for Biafra.[95] The Achebe family had another daughter on 7 March 1970, named Nwando.[96]

Legacy and honours
Wọlé Soyinka's

The Wole Soyinka Annual Lecture Series was founded in 1994 and "is dedicated to honouring one of Nigeria and Africa's most outstanding and enduring literary icons: Professor Wole Soyinka". It is organised by the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity), which organisation Soyinka with six other students founded in 1952 at the then University College Ibadan.

In 2011, the African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre built a writers' enclave in his honour. It is located in Adeyipo Village, Lagelu Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.The enclave includes a Writer-in-Residence Programme that enables writers to stay for a period of two, three or six months, engaging in serious creative writing. In 2013, he visited the Benin Moat as the representative of UNESCO in recognition of the Naija seven Wonders project.He is currently the consultant for the Lagos Black Heritage Festival, with the Lagos State deeming him as the only person who could bring out the aims and objectives of the Festival to the people. He was appointed a patron of Humanists UK in 2020.

In 2014, the collection Crucible of the Ages: Essays in Honour of Wole Soyinka at 80, edited by Ivor Agyeman-Duah and Ogochwuku Promise, was published by Bookcraft in Nigeria and Ayebia Clarke Publishing in the UK, with tributes and contributions from Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Margaret Busby, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Ali Mazrui, Sefi Atta, and others.

In 2018, Henry Louis Gates, Jr tweeted that Nigerian filmmaker and writer Onyeka Nwelue visited him in Harvard and was making a documentary film on Wole Soyinka.123 As part of efforts to mark his 84th birthday, a collection of poems titled 84 Delicious Bottles of Wine was published for Wole Soyinka, edited by Onyeka Nwelue and Odega Shawa. Among the notable contributors was Adamu Usman Garko, award-winning teenage essayist, poet and writer.