By Henry Akubuiro
Oladimeji Olajumoke Opeyemi is a lover of everything beautiful and the endowments of nature. From her high school days when she fell in love with poetry, especially African poetry, she has been penning verses in her diary edifying beauty.
Elsewhere, she expresses her passion for beauty through makeup, hairstyling, photography and fashion. This she has translated into this poetry collection, All Shades of Beauty in Colours, by weaving subtle images around the concept. This work is a paean for beauty and an apologia for nature.
In 17 poems, All Shades of Beauty in Colours finds beauty in liminal things and in those that catch the eyes, even when there are specks and patches that sparkle less. But, like an enchantress, Oladimeji’s interpretation of a beautiful world makes us see the hidden beauty around us with her lyrical poems.
Even when the persona in “I am Sam” doesn’t claim to be a god, the quest for perfection is total with a declaration that rings across bridges. Above in the sky, beauty is evident in the void. It may come like a thousand falling lilies and like precious, falling balloons floating in the dark sky to all nooks and crannies. This sight for sore eyes can turn sadness to joy.
The first thing some people notice in an individual is the hair. Oladimeji, in this collection, celebrates different types of hair, from dark, blonde to kinky. The importance of hair to a woman is stressed by the poet when she declares that a “girl is a man without hair”. And for all humans, “What’s one without attachment to the alien being?”
The poet addresses the issue of scarification in African culture in the poem “Scars like Armour” in which tribal marks given to children against their wish remain indelible as they grow older, despite attempts at cosmetic concealment. It remains to be seen if this is a beautiful or cruel art.
There are poems celebrating human beauty, like “Prettiest Girl in the Room”. Here, we are introduced to a feminine beauty that would gladden Venus, for it’s hard to find any besmirching proportion in the persona discussed. There is yet another, “Princess, Call Me King.”
However, “Before the Rain” thrusts the reader into the magic of nature poems. The poet depicts the subtle rage of nature before a downpour, deploying symbols such as “thick darkness”, “dark angry clouds”, “darkness prevailing”, “consume the light”, etc. But that is only a precursor for the return of life to dead vegetation.
Oladimeji is fascinated by the splendor of imagination exhibited by all artists, evidenced in “Into Paint and Paper”. Besides, despite the ravages of fire, the poet is enchanted by its transformative energy.
For a touch of jocularity, read “Boys Always Lie” when the male sex wants to woo a beautiful lady, lavishing her with fake praises; while “Nature is Beautiful” is Oladimeji’s answer to widespread deforestation and aquatic despoilation. Even in death, as the poetry volume comes to an end, you are compelled to find wisdom in the poet’s sagacity: “Death will be easy/Because life is hard”.