THE CREATIVE INK OF KANO

The monthly Creative Writers’ Forum organized by the Kano state branch of the Association of Nigerian Authors had its first forum for the New Year on 25^th January, 2014, held at the American Corner, Kano. Presentations of creative works were conducted in three rounds with poetry dominating the whole session.

The first round had four entries, starting with, “The Kings Heir” by Hussaini Musa. The story was written by a twelve-year child that joined the forum. It was a story of a king who was about to die without an heir. He then asked his senior counselor to announce for a competition through which the next king will emerge. Children of twelve to thirteen years will look for a missing goblet in the forest, and the person that finds it will be crowned the king. At the end of the day, Muhammad, the son of a shepherd found it against the stubborn son of the senior counselor.

“Loving Mama” is a poem presented by Badamasi Aliyu Abdullahi. The first four lines of his poem read thus:

I see the dazzling dress of my dearest damsel

I see the breath-taking beauty of a beautiful baby

I rang the wrangling bell of my romantic ring

I got the glowing gaze of my gorgeous girl

The next poem entitled, “You Are Too Precious” was presented by Ali Abdullahi Muhammad. In exultation, Abdullahi wrote:

You are a flower vase of beauty

I smell you gently with amity

To wrestle with you is futility

To reverse you is my duty

The last poem in the round was entitled: “To Sodoms and Gomorrans” presented by Yaseer Kallah. The poem was a critique of same sex marriage as advocated by the western world. The writer was emphatic and expressed his mind as follows in the second stanza:

Let a buck betroth a doe

And beget a Rack

Let a fox betroth a vixen

And beget a cub

Let a stag betroth a hind

And beget a fawn

We take great pride

In our natality.

The poet ended his poem by taking a definite stand on the issue. The last stanza read as:

“To hell with the sodamites

And their vanity

To hell with the lezzies

And their rascality

Re-await for that sulphur

And its fatality.

The second round began with a poem entitled, “For My Soul Owner” written by Tijjani Muhammad Musa. The poem which was dedicated to Allah (S.W.T) dwelled on the mercies of Allah to mankind. Tijjani opened his poem with praises to Allah (S.W.T) and resolve to obey His commands. In the third stanza of the poem, the poet said:

Only You secured the twain terrified spirits

Only You saved him from her irresistible invite

Only You deserves her devoted true worship

Only You brought it this far thus far by far

By this stanza the poet was referring to God’s power in saving and guiding his creatures. For instance, by twain terrified spirits the writer meant Prophet Muhammad and Caliphate Abubakar Sadiq who were secured from their haunters. So also, it’s Allah with his divine intervention who saved Prophet Yusuf from a lewd invitation that ordinarily cannot be turned down.

Isa Muhammad Inuwa presented another poem entitled, “This Cold” which was written to welcome the harmattan season. In the poem he described the bitter cold and described it a nuisance which requires a bulky sweater to keep him warm. In the six stanza poem, the writer tried to express the need to have all the kind of cloths, ointment, foods and shelter to make him comfortable, which indeed show his sensitivity to the weather. He concluded the poem with a stanza as below:

This cold is a nuisance, windy

Coming via the Sahara Desert,

Bringing all the dust and fog

But cold, stay soft and be friendly

When your time is off, go away!

The stanza vividly shows that the writer is living in a Savannah region brushed by the north-east wind of the Sahara. The last two lines showed how the poet’s appeal to the cold to be soft and friendly, so also to leave when it’s due.

The third presentation is a short story entitled, “Revisiting the Footprints of Yesteryears” by Sheldon Peterside, a pen name of Gwa Dominic Doohemba. The story is about life in a rented house and how members welcome new comers. The story narrated the culture of generating crowd in such houses whenever something happened.

A poem entitled, “Glittering Star” was presented by a young poet of the 21^st Century, Ahmad Salisu Ahmad.  One part of “Glittering Star”  read:

the elongated night the inevitable signifiers are exchanged

the moon, the stars gradually vanish

and the whole world turns doom hostile desert!

That camels can’t resist! Survives it with all agonies!

To cherish the return of the Glittering Star and the devoted umma

The poem has emotional signals directed to someone special whom the poet believed it’s time to react, simply because the world is habitable for them.

The last round was concluded with two presentations from Tijjani Muhammad Musa and Isa Muhammad Inuwa with poems entitled, “Yet, I Ain’t a Poet” and “Bege” respectively. In Tijjani’s poem he was trying to protest against what makes one a good poet. One can understood his feeling based on what is happening in the literary world. No matter how good one’s works are, he may not be regarded as a poet or his works will simply be ignored for critical appraisal. The poet accepted that whatever he was regarded as, he has his opinions and believes on his crafts. The first stanza of the poem “Yet, I Ain’t a Poet” read:

I ain’t a poet

Nor do I know the rules of poemry

All I know is

Am endowed with an ability to write

A line or two that I desire read

Caring less if

A Recon praises it, a Decon “kills” me or

“Whatever!”

The poem “Bege” by Isa is a eulogy to renowned Islamic poet and performer, Abdulaziz Fadar Bege who passed away in Kano. The poet narrated how the sudden death shocked and surprised people. He went on to say his wishes to him. The first stanza of his poem said:

Bege, your sneaky exit surprises us all…

How soon you forsake us in this dicey life?

But in death, we come to know you better-

Isa Muhammad Inuwa went on to describe the large number of crowds in the state who attended the funeral of late Abdulaziz. The stanza said:

Thousands of mourners jostled for your corpse,

Elated and matched to your resting place

For you loved the Prophet and chanted his eulogy

It was the poet prayer that Abdulaziz was welcomed by the virgin girls of Heaven and saluted by angels of bliss, because he was a man who praised the Prophet with heart and mind deep in ecstasy.

Before the end of the programme, ANA Kano and the American Corner reiterated their plan to collaborate to organize a workshop on techniques of good presentation for emerging writers. Later, the programme was ended with a vote of thanks by the branch Secretary, Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah.

By

Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah

dinik2003@yahoo.co.uk

africanglobalpoet.blogspot.com