The Immigrant: Poems and Reflections

By Tundun Adeyemo

A collection of emotionally heartfelt poems and reflections, about a girl who left her friends, loves , family and home town behind, to search for a new life abroad. The poems evoke themes of sadness, loneliness, adjusting to a new life, pleasant and unpleasant surprises as well as other issues that will be familiar to anyone who has had to travel and live beyond their country’s borders. Tundun Adeyemo documents in poetry sprinkled with humour and satire her journey from Lagos, Nigeria to the land of the Queen. She describes the drama of settling in, fitting in, adjusting and coping with all the stresses associated with the life of an immigrant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Accomplish Press
• Release date: Apr 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9780957186668

Tundun Adeyemo

Tundun Adeyemo was born in Lagos, Nigeria. She studied law at the University of Ibadan. She then proceeded to England for a Masters in International Law. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Human Rights Law at the University of Bedfordshire. She has written poems and short stories since she was eight years old. An avid reader, she hosts a weekly radio program around books and poetry. She enjoys travelling and meeting new people. She also writes a column for Nigeria’s TELL Magazine. The Immigrant is her first eBook.

Book preview

Nearly thirteen years on

I cannot tell if I have been a success or a failure

If I had to choose

A success no doubt

Many times I have returned to the Lagos International airport

Remembering the ‘send-off’ filled with various expressions of

Prayers, hopes and aspirations

In the small party was my friend Sheni

She cried and cried

I was only going six hours away

The potential of what that meant

Was that she might never see me again

It’s a shame although she now lives in Leeds

I never see her

We hardly ever talk

Olasupo was the lad I would have married

He travelled all night

From Port Harcourt I suppose.

In his goodbye, a final farewell

For ours was a relationship I was too eager to break

Deluded that there were better men

Living In the land of the Queen

Olasupo never cried, nor did he say much

Yet I will never forget those eyes

Filled with anguish and loss

And an embrace so brisk

That I could still sense his pain

12 years on and he is neither

Unmarried nor is he single

But what we will never be

Is a couple again.

I remember the good-byes

The tears and the prayers

And I’ve often wondered just how many of those

Prayers God did actually hear

But those prayers did not prepare me

In any way for the land of cold winters

With bills and all sorts

One thing was definitely certain

I was going to London

Not to see the Queen!

2. Airport

The plane touched down

And I had prayed and read my Bible all the way there

Scared and nervous

The food dismal

The movies boring

I had the expectations of my whole family

Resting on my shoulders

I clutched my hand luggage and hand bag

In a rusty leather purse was five thousand pounds

From mum

Immigration officials believed my every word

Of course I had no reason to lie

I was in England to become a doctor-in-law

With dreams to return to Nigeria

To sort out our judiciary system

That is the power of dreams

Mum paid for my Masters

And arranged a place for me to live

But one thing she forgot to do was

Tell me London was surely not Lagos,

The airport bustled with people too many to count

Of different races and shades of different colors

So different from the Muritala Mohammed Airport

Where shades of colour meant different shades of black

No wonder none could feel my apprehension in this very

Reviews for The Immigrant

[Rhiannon Amanda Pimlett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book very relevant to today 4 stars