Oladimeji Adam Adedayo is the winner of the annual Words Rhymes & Rhythm Publishers Albert Jungers Poetry Prize (AJPP) 2020 for his poem COVID-19 themed poem ‘THE DUOPOLY’.
The poem, which was 2nd-runner up in the April/May edition of the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC) beat Akor Agada Nathaniel’s ‘WHO CAN FIND A TRUE FRIEND’ [read poem] and Osadolor Williams Osayande ‘CLOVEN HEARTS WITH A DEEP RED’ to first-runner-up and second-runner-up positions respectively.
Oladimeji will be awarded N20,000 cash prize, a Gold Chapbook publishing package from Authoropedia with one-year 10% discount on all Words Rhymes & Rhythm Ltd. services.
AJPP celebrates the best poem from the combined top 10 entries of the monthly Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC) from February to September of each year. Past winners of the prize are Emmanuel Faith (2019), Aire Joshua Omotayo (2018), Ogwiji Ehi-kowochio Blessing (2017) and Kanyinsola Olorunnisola (2016).
WINNER’S BIOGRAPHY
Oladimeji Adam Adedayo is a writer. A native of Òkukù in the riverine state of Ọ̀ṣun, Adam’s literary accolades include the Albert Jungers Prize 2020, the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest February/March 2020 (first-runner-up) and the Ken Egbas Poetry Prize 2018 (shortlist). His works have been published in Vortices of Verses anthology and IMOMOTIMI: An Anthology for Okara. At his leisure, Adam watches 24 or Designated Survivor.
THE WINNING POEM: THE DUOPOLY
In the tempestuous temper of our darling fatherland, The holy killer, like a serpent's slough, sheds The fleshy folds of fat formed from his good old times, As his viral lieutenant, like Saturn, runs rings around our orb, Like the prophesied arrival of Gog and Magog. In the tempestuous temper of our darling cradle, Stay-home has unclothed us into naked house arrest, As the pathogenic locusts in our locus of power Are the tongues enforcing that which they won't subsidize, Are the barricades barring us from building in God's shrines While favouring frolic festivities in potbellied shrines of devil. In the tempestuous temper of our dear motherland, Retailers lever their merchandises to higher rungs, Amping up the angry appetite of our python of an earth, Like a chick flaunting its flesh before a famished falcon. In the tempestuous temper of our beloved homeland, A dark room's ceiling fan groans like a creaking door From holding the weight of a swinging carcass Which used to be inhabited by an Okada-man Who, yesterday, couldn't repurchase his motorcycle From the expropriating custody of our men in black. Buthow else does one snuff out these two pestilent pests: One, a coroner oppugning us over the death of honesty, The other setting our derailed train back to its scriptural track? How else, if not for all tongues to chorally crave condonation From the broad bringer of this sweeping duopoly Of the famed coronavirus and an unsung coroner virus?
The AJPP is an annual poetry award instituted in 2014 by Words Rhymes & Rhythm in honor of late Fr. Albert Jungers (1948 – 2013), a Priest, Poet, and Teacher. Fr. Al, as he was fondly called until his death, was an instructor and dear ‘father’ to young Nigerian poets. He brought different poetry forms to life with simple instructions.
The Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest, a CSR project of Words Rhymes & Rhythm (WRR), is a monthly writing contest aimed at rewarding the under-appreciated talent of young Nigerian poets. It was instituted in 2015 in honor of Brigitte Poirson, a French poet and lecturer, editor, who has over the years worked assiduously to promote and support of African poetry. Regarded as one of the few credible contests for poets in Nigeria, the BPPC is popular among the younger generation of poets.
