Monday, June 26, 2017

OFMAT REVIEWS: "The Language of Women" by Omipidan Teslim Opemipo


It is not of a form of gainsaying to posit that poets are gods, and not only are they gods, they are also legends, as well as custodians (of culture and heritage), and the same applies to all creative writers. As custodians, they guard with great jealousy the heritage of their people, just as Mazizi Kunene said in his poem, "Heritage of Liberation".

"Since it was you, 
Who in all these thin seasons
gave to us the visions of life.
Take them, for they are ours
They broke the enemy's encirclement"


Omipidan Teslim Opemipo, is a young poet whose writings are mostly spiced with several historical and cultural elements of the Yoruba tribe. To call him one of the custodians of the Yoruba culture would not in any way be hyperbolic at all. With yet another masterpiece he titled "The Language of Women", he has taken us on a journey into the world of the female gender long before the advent of the colonial masters. The world where women are subjected to the background. The world where a woman is just a piece of elements a man acquires as part of his possessions. A world where women suffer neglect, abuse, maltreatment and oppression in the claws of our culture and heritage. I mean, a world where the (pre)absence of a woman is not felt. 


The poem opens with the poet personae (the wife of a hunter or one of the wives of a hunter) announcing the arrival of her husband who just came back with "two bushmeats". This announcement goes a long way to make us know that the hunter is an average hunter, or a good hunter who just had a bad outing (just two bushmeats). 

The second line of the poem reflects the pride in the husband (Akanji) who did not even utter a word to his wife. This is how most of the male gender behaves. When they don't have, their wife is their friend. But, at the time of plenty, that same wife becomes a plague that must be totally avoided. Akanji proceeds to make a delicious soup from his catch, which he ate all alone without inviting his wife to partake in the sumptuous meal. His wife, however, is forced to make do with only the aroma of the soup which Akanji would have prevented, if he had a way around it. Akanji went ahead to eat and finish the soup all alone, forgetting that what goes around comes around. 

Just as every woman, Akanji's wife is cool and calm, waiting patiently for the field of play to change to where she can show her prowess. Akanji's field of play is in the bush where he kills animals and in the kitchen where he prepares the soup and eats it all alone. But, his wife's field of play is on the bed, at the very time when sexual urge renders Akanji's agility and bravery useless. That and only that is where Akanji's wife plans to payback in ten folds. She would deny Akanji of what he wants most. She would starve Akanji of the sumptuous meal before him - her sexy body. She would even go ahead to tighten her wrapper in other to deprive Akanji any "middle-passage" whatsoever. The last two lines of the poem shows the vulnerability and the helplessness of the female gender in the hands of her male counterpart. She doesn't have a voice. She doesn't have a say. All she has in her arsenal is the language of sex denial, and she would use it every and anytime. 


Conclusively, Teslim's satirical poem has a good sense of humour, but nevertheless, the poet's intention is to let out a clarion call to all and sundry, especially the male gender, and to render some words of advise to all those who care to listen that they should not wait until a woman shows her power before they give her a voice. Before they give her a say. Rather, the female gender should be treated with a great level of tenderness and mildness. Her opinions and views should be welcomed, entertained and respected because she is a human being with feelings and emotions which can be trampled upon or over-looked. 



(c) 2017. Austus Ofmat Nwanne 
#OfmatReviews #SwiftPress

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