Some of Funke Awodiya’s poems have a lyrical beauty that reminds me the early Leopold Sehghor, extolling the beauty of African women, as in ‘Femne Noir.” Her lines have the colours and resonance of that Negritude poet, without the declamation of heritage; which, in this poet’s case, is almost a totalitarian bondage to be removed!

Syl Cheney Coker takes a veteran’s look at “Woman of a Woman”, a book of poems by Funke Awodiya.

Once in a while, a new voice emerges in poetry. Its subject is not new – Humankind, the environment, love and hate, death and rebirth: all of which have been sung or written about since Humanity learnt to walk and talk. When this new voice comes to us, we must sit down, read and re-think our perspectives on or about her subject.

In Woman of a Woman, Funke Awodiya’s subject is WOMAN, in all her manifested forms and aspects. There is no expressive form of this subject that does not resonate with her! She is mother earth (think of Lucy, the Tanzanian from whom all humanity is believed to have derived; her back straightening out on the plains of Kilmanjaro). Then, from that anthropological being came the giver of life – woman, in all her perspectives; without whom there would be no MAN! So we are asked, by the poet, to see ourselves anew, in what is still a male, egocentric world: one in which woman is subjected to the dictates of traditions, skewed in favour of the male!

Whereas conformity is expected of woman, in this male dominated society, the poet begs to differ. In sixty pages of glorious poetry, she says ‘I am woman, you must see me from my perspective; not from what society has fashioned out for me; not from your imagination, but from my mystique, my aura and dignity.’ In the very first poem “Stand Up”, lies the underlying theme ringing throughout this volume: She writes:

We are bringing forth NATIONS
within our fragile MIGHTY bodies
mapping present and future dreams
Stand tall!’

No one can fail to see the juxtaposition between the fragile she and the mighty giver of life; the nurturing goddess/builder of nation; this mysterious creature that men have never understood!

The title poem Woman of a Woman is a celebration of the physical essence of a woman – that glorious picture, that so many of them possess. Reason for which, in spite of their denial, men have always sought to cage them, in purdah, the harem and, most strange and sinister of all, the chastity belt, while lusting after the sometimes exquisite form!

This multi-faceted portrait of a woman does not end here; in fact the entire woman is about the multi-dimensional image of her; hard to define, wildly desired, long suffering, sometimes conformists; at other times, quietly revolting, but always standing tall, unbroken:

Look at me, look at us
who and what do you see?
Melanin goddesses!

Her dark hue admired, in its shimmering form and many shades! It is worth noticing that, in this poem, the poet pays homage to some trail-blazing women, whose daring helped to shape modern-day Nigeria!

One of my favourite poems in the volume is “Every Day Is Mother’s Day”. Never was a statement truer of women, in spite of their perceived status, on the African continent! Unlike what happens in the Western world, we celebrate our mothers every day, with girl children sometimes going the whole hog, to appreciate them, as well as their fathers! If the central theme in this volume is the celebration of the woman, it is worth pointing out that her very fertile and resilient life has also sometimes been the source of suffering and death. For example, the poem “She Died” is dedicated to an ordinary clinic orderly, who

died
the way she lived
pains in her veins
trickles of sweat on her forehead

Some of Funke Awodiya’s poems have a lyrical beauty that reminds me the early Leopold Sehghor, extolling the beauty of African women, as in ‘Femne Noir.” Her lines have the colours and resonance of that Negritude poet, without the declamation of heritage; which, in this poet’s case, is almost a totalitarian bondage to be removed!

In other poems, she reminds me of the Chilean Gabriella Mistrial and the Russian Marina Tsvetaeva, two of the greatest poets of the 20th century, whose themes were basically that of the tragic beauty of being a woman in a man’s world, where expectations are very different. In many of these poems, we see the firm figure of a woman standing tall, even as tradition and events seem to unravel her composure. We are left in no doubt that she is the salt of the earth, the grease in the cog of the wheel, the blood in the forge of life; the oxygen without which we cannot survive. For, as Funke Awodiya says in the last line of the last poem, in this wonderful volume, the Woman

has risen
women arise for change.

Syl Cheney Coker, a poet, novelist, and public intellectual, is one of Africa’s preeminent writers.

Woman of a Woman: Sixty pages of glorious poetry

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