CREATIVE WRITERS' FORUM

The Association of Nigerian Authors, Kano Branch held its Creative Writers’ Forum for the month of August at the Murtala Muhammad Library, Kano. The event which took place on Saturday, 31^st August, 2013 had in attendance ANA Kano Branch Secretary, Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah, Dr Faruk Sarkin Fada, Isa Muhammad Inuwa, ANA Kano Ex-officio; Almustapha Musa Ilyas, Bakano A. Murtala and other distinguished writers.

After an opening prayer by Dr Sarkin Fada, the Chairman of the occasion, Isa Muhammad Inuwa introduced the submitted entries for the first session. The first presentation titled “How I lost My Word” which is a short story presented by Nura H. Adam. A well narrated story of a young guy who lost his relationship with Marka and later was introduced to Tasalla. But unfortunately for him, he made another mistake of investing his whole love to her when she was not even reciprocating.

Bakano A. Murtala who was a short story writer joined poets of the day by presenting a poem titled “Eternal Gratitude!” The poem, with six stanzas was crafted with very beautiful rhymes. The writer opened his poem with a stanza that read:

Long live, my pals!

You’re the oil

For the gadgets I use to toil!

You’re the pack that work to foil

Efforts against my vals!

The next poem in the session “Poems Eaters” was presented by Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah. The writer described how poets composed poems which is later enjoyed and criticized by readers. Zaharaddeen’s poem was presented in only seven lines and it read thus:

They sowed it in rhymes

With the rain of complexity

And juicy words upon it roots

When it cross-breeds and ripens

Your saliva will make it naked,

Then take it to a dining table,

It is time to eat.

The third poem titled “Friend” was presented by Badamasi Garba Muhammad. The poem was about a friend that he loved, but fear at the same time. Badamasi appreciated nature for likening his friend with a snake. In one of his stanzas, he described his friend when he said:

He coils up and hisses as he sees me

Like a pair compasses at the end

His treacherous tongue

The last paper of the first session was a poem titled “Disowned” which was presented by Dr Faruk Sarkinfada. It was another poem that described daily human activities in a typical poetic disguise. The poem was particularly talking about someone disowned by his family, generated argument on the actual theme of the write-up. The first stanza of his poem read as follows:

What a shame

To be disowned in my home

By those to whom I belong

Who refined me from an iron ore

So refined, that I glitter like gold

But I couldn’t pay back what I owe

The second session began with a four-stanza poem by Bakano A. Murtala titled “Smile thru life”. The poem encouraged people to bear with every situation they found themselves as part of life successes and challenges. In the third stanza of the poem, the writer said:

Well, set the stage!

To hell with the worries!

So also the said sorries

Turn the next page!

Look! Worries are encoded glories

Meant to tale alories

See? Stop then seething with rage!

Yaseer Kallah presented a poem titled “Let Me Cry” which was an elegy to the departed ones. The poem had five stanzas, and in the fourth stanza the writer said:

Let me cry please

Perhaps the final one

For your departure

Has seared my heart

I whisper your name

You always answer

But I shouted today

You never answer

As wave of departure

Has strode you asunder

The next presentation was delivered by Isa Muhammad Inuwa with his poem titled “The August Rains II”. Similar poem was presented by the same writer last year during the month of August. The poem employed strong descriptive terms and imageries, he painted a poetic picture.

One of his stanzas read as:

Chunky rain-drops, drum hard on the roof-top of

My corrugated iron-roof sheets, evoking fears in me-

A powerful waltz of lightening snaps and yanks my sight away!

“Plight of the Orphans” was another poem presented by Badamasi Garba Muhammad, a beautiful poem that was composed in eight stanzas. The writer opened his poem with a stanza that reads as:

Like an Atlantic Ocean

Tears flood thy golden eyes, which eyes

Never see in olden days

Why? Tell me why great mother!

Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah came with another poem titled “Read Today” which was an advocacy poem that encourages people to read. In the second stanza of the poem he mentioned what one can expect when he opens and reads a book. The stanza read as follows:

When you open a book

You will see the history of ancient people

You will see them struggling to leave

You will see their science and science of astronomy

You will see their engineering and medicines

You will see their arts and literatures

All for you to learn and predict yours

Another poem titled “…could be my fault”, by Dr. Faruk Sarkinfada was another interesting poem that was confessed by the writer as one of the reasons why Nura H. Adam’s story ended with betrayal twice.  The short story “How I lost My Word” portrayed the character as blind not because he was blind, but for not being able to see reasons in his relationship. Sarkinfada’s poem justified that in a situation where a person ignores truth because of selfish reasons. Two stanzas of the poem are as follow:

Many excuses

Granted for you.

Failing still?

…could be my fault.

Talks of my tongue

Dodge others’ faults

For I’m fault

Others have tongues.

Al-Mustapha Musa Ilyas presented his poem titled “Letter to Feminists”. The poem generated a heated argument during the comments and questions session. Al-Mustapha put these in some of his stanzas:

And when we wrestle in the ring

For ephemeral packages

In the ring of material emptiness

You may beat me the hell

Out of my weary self

I can bleed through the nose

And my mouth can ooze fresh blood

But not from my underpants

Please don’t envy

I don’t conceive a baby

“Poem II” was another poem from Tahir Mahmood Saleh, a short one that looked at the way the writer perceives poems to be. His poem equally generated argument among the poets when he read some lines of his work. The lines read as follow:

To poem one plus one equals to three

Poem must not mean but be as this

Mute, wordless, motionless and empty

The same writer Tahir Mahmood Saleh presented another poem titled “Poetic Coffee” which was composed in the shape of a steaming coffee cup. The reading session was closed with a poem “Broken Valentine” by Dr Aminu Shehu Ibrahim, presented on his behalf by Isa Muhammad Inuwa.

Save those tears

For tumultuous morrow

A damsel in distress

Awaits a chivalrous

Knight with shining armor

Nay! No shoulders to lean

For thy tribulations

Are sky high.

The whole session was ended with a closing prayer offered by A.T Tahir.

By

Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah

dinik2003@yahoo.co.uk

africanglobalpoet.blogspot.com