<body><div class="booster-block booster-read-block">
 <div class="twp-read-time">
 	<i class="booster-icon twp-clock"></i> <span>Read Time:</span>3 Minute, 23 Second </div>

 </div>
<p><em>If you ask me this question, I would say Growth and, sadly, Homogeneity are happening hand-in-hand. I will explain what I mean with a little backstory. Once upon a time, it was easy to separate poet from poet. Of course, there were not that many poets at the time. Still, originality formed an identity for most. I could read Su’eddie Agema’s poem without the title and guess he wrote it just as I could read Dami Ajayi, Oyin Oludipe and others.</em></p>



<p>Then came the revolution fired by all of us, and poetry became a mainstream art in Nigeria. The industry grew rapidly – GROWTH! With this growth came a widening of our audiences and on the heel of that something started – I have decided to call it the homogenization of poetry – which I do not think is good.</p>



<p>A few years ago, our poetry established a strong connection with international audiences – with fantastic poets like Romeo Oriogun and Adedayo Adeyemi Agarau on the forefront championing new styles and forms. International journals beamed their lights upon our poetry and, as our poets flooded into the circle of light, many were so much in a hurry that they left themselves behind. They sought shortcuts to literary greatness in the poems written by the ‘winning poets’ and decided to choreograph the words, themes, styles and forms. </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-right is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>We are in the era of poetry-Michael-Jackson wannabes, attempting to moonwalk with verses without first knowing how to move.</em></p></blockquote>



<p>As soon as Agarau used / in his poetry all poems began to have more of it than alphabets. As soon as Romeo mentioned butterflies, the words of our poets began to flutter around with colourful and dusty wings. Because of this, “Wale’s poem reads like the one Titi wrote last month after reading Emeka’s award-winning poem which is a shadow of Sule’s poem that appeared in a journal sometime last year…” Now you read many poems and see one theme, one voice, one style, one structure.</p>



<p>As much as this pains me, a worse thing is happening: we are digesting and regurgitating phrases, metaphors and imageries from poem to poem and poet to poet…and mostly out of context. On one level, this is plagiarism. On another level, how do you people make sense from those metaphors you so proudly CTRL C and CTRL V?</p>



<p>Sometimes I think many of our ‘poets’ need to go back and read some basics of poetry before writing. An Imagery is “a descriptive or figurative language” and a Metaphor “is a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else”. These two are very essential to poetry. Now, the fact that you want imageries and metaphors in your poetry does not mean that you should (1) copy interesting phrases from poems you like or (2) string words together, perhaps beautifully, without any symbolic or descriptive value applicable to the context of the poem.</p>



<p>For you to use a metaphor/imagery in a poem, it must be (1) an intentional effort to achieve a meaning/image/metaphor (2) that is familiar or made familiar to the audience and (3) is, above all, applicable in the context of use. It is the poem (its theme) that dictates the metaphor or imagery to use. Your poem should demand its metaphors and imageries. Continuously borrowing metaphors and forcing words to carry it is mediocre, to say the least.</p>



<p class="has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color">It is time for our poets to realize that a boy is not always a butterfly &; our mothers are not all moons. Poetry is first an expression of self before anything. Be original.</p>



<p>You will not die if you write a poem without “a boy”, “butterfly” “mother’s womb” “weary moon” and all such poetry bitcoins that you are investing in. Dig inside for personalized phrases, use metaphors and imageries that tug at your heart, because you know them and they know you and those you write for.</p>



<p>Okay, I am done ranting. Forgive me if you feel attacked.</p>



<p>Happy Sunday to you!</p>
 
 <div class="booster-block booster-author-block">
 <div class="be-author-details layout-square align-left">
 <div class="be-author-wrapper">
 <div class="booster-row">
 <div class="booster-column booster-column-two booster-column-mobile">
 <div class="be-author-image">
 <img alt="" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b75f88cadfa530f44c52ed1f8256fe25878ecc134172c196f36c53adfc34533d?s=400&;d=mm&;r=g" class="avatar avatar-400 photo avatar-img" height="400" width="400" loading="lazy"> </div>
 </div>
 <div class="booster-column booster-column-eight booster-column-mobile">
 <div class="author-details">
 <header class="twp-plugin-title twp-author-title">
 <h2>About Post Author</h2>
 </header>
 <h4 class="be-author-meta be-author-name">
 <a href="https://www.wrr.ng/author/kukogho/" class="booster-url-link">
 Kukogho Iruesiri Samson </a>
 </h4>
 <div class="be-author-meta be-author-description">KIS, author of two poetry collections, ‘WHAT CAN WORDS DO?’ and ‘I SAID THESE WORDS’, is an award-winning Nigerian writer, photographer, and media professional with experience in journalism, PR, publishing and media management. In 2016, he was listed in Nigerian Writers Awards' list of 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL NIGERIAN WRITERS UNDER 40. The same year 2016, he won the Nigerian Writer’s Award for ‘Best Poet In Nigeria 2015.’ he had also won the Orange Crush 1st Prize for Poetry in 2012. 
He is the CEO of Words Rhymes &; Rhythm LTD.</div>
 <div class="be-author-meta be-author-email">
 <a href="mailto:%20kukogho.samson@gmail.com" class="booster-url-link">
 <span class="booster-svg-icon booster-svg-envelope"><svg class="booster-svg" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" viewbox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24"><path fill="currentColor" d="M0 3v18h24v-18h-24zm6.623 7.929l-4.623 5.712v-9.458l4.623 3.746zm-4.141-5.929h19.035l-9.517 7.713-9.518-7.713zm5.694 7.188l3.824 3.099 3.83-3.104 5.612 6.817h-18.779l5.513-6.812zm9.208-1.264l4.616-3.741v9.348l-4.616-5.607z"></path></svg></span>kukogho.samson@gmail.com </a>
 </div>
 <div class="be-author-meta be-author-url">
 <a href="http://brainypoet.blogspot.com.ng/" target="_blank" class="booster-url-link">
 <span class="booster-svg-icon booster-svg-sphere"><svg class="booster-svg" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" viewbox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24"><path fill="currentColor" d="M 11.25 1.5 C 5.035156 1.5 0 6.535156 0 12.75 C 0 18.964844 5.035156 24 11.25 24 C 17.464844 24 22.5 18.964844 22.5 12.75 C 22.5 6.535156 17.464844 1.5 11.25 1.5 Z M 17.617188 16.5 C 17.816406 15.550781 17.941406 14.546875 17.984375 13.5 L 20.972656 13.5 C 20.894531 14.535156 20.652344 15.542969 20.253906 16.5 Z M 4.882812 9 C 4.683594 9.949219 4.558594 10.953125 4.515625 12 L 1.527344 12 C 1.605469 10.964844 1.847656 9.957031 2.246094 9 Z M 16.078125 9 C 16.304688 9.960938 16.441406 10.964844 16.484375 12 L 12 12 L 12 9 Z M 12 7.5 L 12 3.109375 C 12.34375 3.210938 12.679688 3.375 13.011719 3.609375 C 13.636719 4.050781 14.230469 4.726562 14.738281 5.566406 C 15.085938 6.148438 15.386719 6.796875 15.640625 7.5 Z M 7.761719 5.566406 C 8.269531 4.726562 8.863281 4.050781 9.488281 3.609375 C 9.820312 3.375 10.15625 3.207031 10.5 3.109375 L 10.5 7.5 L 6.859375 7.5 C 7.113281 6.792969 7.414062 6.148438 7.761719 5.566406 Z M 10.5 9 L 10.5 12 L 6.015625 12 C 6.058594 10.964844 6.195312 9.960938 6.421875 9 Z M 2.246094 16.5 C 1.847656 15.542969 1.605469 14.535156 1.527344 13.5 L 4.515625 13.5 C 4.558594 14.546875 4.683594 15.550781 4.882812 16.5 Z M 6.015625 13.5 L 10.5 13.5 L 10.5 16.5 L 6.421875 16.5 C 6.195312 15.539062 6.058594 14.535156 6.015625 13.5 Z M 10.5 18 L 10.5 22.390625 C 10.15625 22.289062 9.820312 22.125 9.488281 21.890625 C 8.863281 21.449219 8.269531 20.773438 7.761719 19.933594 C 7.414062 19.351562 7.113281 18.703125 6.859375 18 Z M 14.738281 19.933594 C 14.230469 20.773438 13.636719 21.449219 13.011719 21.890625 C 12.679688 22.125 12.34375 22.292969 12 22.390625 L 12 18 L 15.640625 18 C 15.386719 18.707031 15.085938 19.351562 14.738281 19.933594 Z M 12 16.5 L 12 13.5 L 16.484375 13.5 C 16.441406 14.535156 16.304688 15.539062 16.078125 16.5 Z M 17.984375 12 C 17.945312 10.953125 17.816406 9.949219 17.617188 9 L 20.253906 9 C 20.652344 9.957031 20.894531 10.964844 20.972656 12 Z M 19.46875 7.5 L 17.222656 7.5 C 16.785156 6.121094 16.179688 4.914062 15.457031 3.949219 C 16.453125 4.429688 17.355469 5.066406 18.144531 5.855469 C 18.648438 6.359375 19.089844 6.910156 19.46875 7.5 Z M 4.355469 5.855469 C 5.144531 5.066406 6.046875 4.429688 7.042969 3.949219 C 6.320312 4.914062 5.714844 6.121094 5.277344 7.5 L 3.03125 7.5 C 3.410156 6.910156 3.851562 6.359375 4.355469 5.855469 Z M 3.03125 18 L 5.277344 18 C 5.714844 19.378906 6.320312 20.585938 7.042969 21.550781 C 6.046875 21.070312 5.144531 20.433594 4.355469 19.644531 C 3.851562 19.140625 3.410156 18.589844 3.03125 18 Z M 18.144531 19.644531 C 17.355469 20.433594 16.453125 21.070312 15.457031 21.550781 C 16.179688 20.585938 16.785156 19.378906 17.222656 18 L 19.46875 18 C 19.089844 18.589844 18.648438 19.140625 18.144531 19.644531 Z M 18.144531 19.644531 "></path></svg></span>http://brainypoet.blogspot.com.ng/ </a>
 </div>
 </div>
 <div class="be-author-profiles">
 </div>
 </div>
 </div>
 </div>
 </div>
 </div>
 </body>
A BOY IS NOT ALWAYS A BUTTERFLY & OUR MOTHERS ARE NOT ALL MOONS: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO NIGERIAN POETRY?
