By Henry Akubuiro
Scars and Stitches, Olawale Oyetunji, Ruis Elz, UK, 202, pp. 31
Olawale Oyetunji functions as a professional project manager and a poet whose works have appeared in magazines and digital platforms within and outside Nigeria. He is the author of On a Sail of Sorrow, A Piece of Art and Scarce and Stitches, the latter which is the focus of this review.
Of course, poetry has been part of humanity from ancient times, from oral tradition to the scribal. It helps us understand and appreciate the world around us. It beams a searchlight on the world, revealing truths hidden. It edifies the world, interrogates man and teaches us how to live a noble life.
Most poets write from their personal experiences and the world around them, borne out of a strong conviction to express their ideas to objectify their creative philosophy about life. Olawale Oyetunji’s poetry collection, Of Scars and Stitches, enlists him among the aforementioned bards.
Dominated with personal lyrics, the poet, in this collection, carols about love and longings, fading relationships, remembrances, nature and hope. Written in a free verse, the poetry collection is sprinkled with allusions, symbols, and narratives, with each poem illustrated with a drawing that hints on the persona’s trials.
Grief and disappointments are part of life, says the poet in the introit and opening poems, but the human spirit always perseveres to make love reign. Without love, life will be boring and full of hate. So a lover becomes an object of enchantment to which we must celebrate and lure. A lover’s words are a soothing balm in times of worries.
Oyetunji deploys accessible diction in his poetry, swelling the tapestry with imagery you can relate with, like the bed that “has become thorns fitted in the claws of bears” in the poem “On a Sail of Sorrow”, which equates to the discomfort occasioned by separation with a lover.
In “A Peace of Art”, creates a persona whose love is for sale, making it difficult for the hungry and broke speaker to be accepted by the lady in question. The same bleak mood is depicted in “Missing” where the poet speaker speaks of emptiness that comes with the disappearance of a lover. “Separation” falls in the same category as above. Here, the pains of separation linger after a relationship that holds so much promise suddenly dies, leaving the voice wallowing in despair.
“The Grim Charmer” paints the picture of a better half given to a bizarre ensemble. The speaker’s loss is not just in losing this woman but the fact that he also lost a precious gem, which could be a child.
The dark mood in this collection is momentarily lifted in “Mama”, a poem that is divorced from the femme fatale preoccupation. In Mama, mother is gold. She is like a mother hen with an undying love for her children. Such is her care that she rises early before the sun does and she only sleeps late in the night. The speaker declares: “Tomorrow, when I see mama/I’ll adore her with beautiful pearls/ Call her mine and make her smile.” Similar to this poem is “I love You Dad”, where the voice is reverencing the father for being loving and caring. Though the father finds it hard to say “I love you”, the voice admits he truly shows that love from within, which is more important.
In “The Rider and His Lame Horse” and “Caged”, the poet shows a surfeit of imagery a as he depicts forlorn hope, while betrayal and unreciprocated love echo in “Movie Night”, as the speaker sights his lover with his best friend when she had earlier given the excuse she was indisposed to be with him that night. Allusion, on the other hand, is extensively deployed in “Fishing” where a bungled opportunity is juxtaposed with a fuaning fish in the water evading his bait.
Scars and Stitches is a collection overflowing with laments and brokenhearted tales. Though the distressed voice in the collection deserves better than his disappointing lover, there is a sense of resignation to the inevitability of endless love and a longing for reconciliation. Waiting, hence, is the best option to him when dreams refuse to fade away. This message rings aloud to every disappointed lover out there.