Market Parliament and Other Poems

By Fiyinfoluwa Onarinde

The inspiration for the lines in this collection of poems covers the experience of an African whose misery and disillusionment have been molded in the forge of hypocrisy, corruption, bad leadership, nepotism, and late terrorism. Though the collection of poems demonstrates existentialist inclinations, the artistic mimesis of the poems derives its creative essence from the poets reminiscence of the golden age of Yoruba culture. In his postmodern aesthetics, the author wittily weaves into his lines the rainbow of Yoruba epistemology. He gently tells us more about the drifting of a people wallowing in the quagmire of despondency.

From home, Onarinde foregrounds the interplay of multiple intersections of political and religious showmanship, which is spelt out in the grand eloquence of the cross pollination of two evil breeds. He sings his song of remembrance to call his deluded brothers to the market square for a dialogue of thoughtful reflection about the impending calamity that bestrides their homestead.

Far from home, he compares his native homeland in the midst of Christmas waste to other nations of the world who have little but are able to manage their resources and provide for their citizens in a meaningful way. He sings a beautiful song for Edwardsville, his new temporary home, in his medley of metaphors to show that a poets muse cannot be divorced from the beauty of nature, the ambience that nurtures his creativity.

Ronald P. Schaefer
Director, Centre for International Programs
Distinguished research professor, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Feb 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482806120

Fiyinfoluwa Onarinde

Born at Ilesa, Osun State, over two decades ago, Onarinde Fiyinfoluwa has paraded his poetic ingenuity and penchant to bring to the fore the reminiscences of the past into the present. This inchoate urge was drummed in this collection, Market Parliament and Other Poems, in which his passion and unalloyed adoration is given to the African Culture. His admiration for Africanism and the recent upsurge all over the African continent and beyond of democratic forces also pervades through his poetry. Onarinde’s academic experience has spurred him to writing series of literary works and papers, which he has been privileged to present at both national and international poetry festivals. Some of his poems have appeared in Mandela: The Man His Life Its Meaning Our Words, World Healing World Peace Poetry anthology, Poems for the Hazara, Lines in Gerardo Sangiorgio’s Memory, and Literatura Menas (43). Fiyinfoluwa is currently a Fulbright fellow at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA.

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Copyright © 2015 by Fiyinfoluwa Onarinde.

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Contents

The Acknowledged

The Unacknowledged

Foreword

I Market Parliament

Market Parliament

Taunt Song

She said I lied

Two tables

Carved on the stone walls

Irony

Abrakasika abirika

II Reveries

Songs of Virginity

When will I Sing

By the Creeks of the Niger (i)

By the Creeks of the Niger II

Shuddering Testaments

Riddles of the Black Pot

The Rhythm of My Hearth

Edwardsville

Rohilala

A Solitary Solo

Midlife Mourning

Enchanted

Let Mother Sing…

Burning Dreams

A Sombre Battle for Tomorrow

My Song Awaits My Coming

My Giddy Song

When You Call Me a Slave

From the room made of mirror

Appendix

About the Author

About the Book

The Acknowledged

… to all Citizens of the world who have made this space a haven

The Unacknowledged

…. the enemies of this planet whose actions refutes the call of love and peace

For

Boye and Funke:

for teaching me the secret of the grinding mills

Christiana:

my Perfect Coral, thank you for giving me a new song to sing in the face of my fears

Ope, Tobi and Pelumi:

for making me believe that blood is thicker than water

Joyce, the Lombard’s, Iris, Sandra, Chen, and Dayo:

true citizens of the World who made Edwardsville a haven

Foreword

In a quiet part of town, a child stares at a book with the little lights from a fading lamp. This is no fancy library, on cold concrete floors of a village hut, and mosquitoes hum in and out of the room from a nearby stream. The lamp is a kerosene lantern or a cruder one with naked lights from wool in a tin tank. Living in the Nigeria of the mid nineties, electricity – as it is now – is a luxury reserved only for the most affluent with fingers in the pie of a prodigal military administration. Some other time, it is a song: Fela, for moods requiring rebellious thought in an environment where a wrong word, action, or look can earn one a sudden disappearance, far away from family and other loved ones. Or Victor Olaiya, for