PENMIND MEDIA & CREATIVITY

Omawumi birthed venom yesterday, She won’t marry me again because I am a poet, she said poets are poor; Is my pen not worthy to buy her make up? If poetry gives no money, I will still be one. When the arrow of folly is carved, Wisdom, backs off, to the galaxy of stars. Poetry can’t be broken easily like sticks, Poets live beyond the rivers of warlords, Poverty is not in the vein of  poets’ lexicon. Mother sent me out of the house ‘Cause I told her I want to be a poet, She cursed my generation to come, Then wrote a note to my future,  never To favour me in my desperate journey. When the eyes of stupidity is begotten, When the mouth stands taller than the nose, When the scent of a madman becomes pleasant, Check the nose that picks the aroma well Poets are the million airplanes in the sky. “Poets are poor” my teacher screamed at me. “Can’t you be a doctor or lawyer than a poet? You will sing without song in your mouth soon, There won’t be b...

Editor’s note: Poetry is a genre of literature that encodes messages through the condensed language. Through its defamiliarised way of expressing the message, the tone of the poem, many times, appeals to different senses, making it to be musical and as it is injecting morals in the veil of the readers. A good poet is a model. This is an interview conducted by Poets from our Savannah, a Ghanaian WhatpsApp group, promoting poetry and young poets. The guest was Ms. CECILIA AMOAFOWAA SEFA and the host,  Poetess Zulfaw,  Poet Gbepo. Ms Cecilia Sefa is also known as Mom Cee. Poet Gbepo: On behalf of the entire house, I will like to welcome our mother, mama Cecilia to the interviewee seat! Mom Cee : Thanks. Poet Gbepo:  Please, could you introduce yourself to the house? Mom Cee: I am Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia, (I love for my name to be in this order against the norm because of my love for my Ghanaian names, mostly abbreviating the last) I am a teacher, (Tamale Se...

(A solemn night flute can be heard playing  at the background...) So I dream of that bloody day of glee, as on my stable feet I stand; like happy sun smiles, widely, eyes opened   As if it was now, here; great day! When I burst the blood bearing balloon by lasting the love bond                     Rumbling beats and noise of wedding             ceremony envelopes the minutes...              It falls as solemn voice of agogo begins... Tell the obsolete long laughing sun; she is over efficient! Tell her to go! Her wet bed to find And rest alone! As once I dwelt when lifeless perfumed foam was my Juliet, tell her! I want the blue moon at crest! As I burst the blood bearing balloon by lasting love bond  Tell baba, now I want to be loyal; omo ekun, ...

A couple of weeks ago, the picture of a boy, said to be eight years old, who was mobbed and killed for stealing Garri took the social media by storm. While some people believed he was not eight years old as purported, some people believed the picture was only doctored. But be it true or not, it does not stop the fact that we have cases on jungle justice here and there all over Africa. Just some years back, 4 innocent students were beaten to death by a mob, who believed they were armed robbers. It is in this regard that Nigerian youths take SRAF, a WhatsApp group to express their thoughts about jungle justice. The discussion which took place on the 20 th  November, 2016 was moderated by  Soul’e Rhymez , a Poet and Public speaker from Nigeria. According to  Adeniyi Maryam,  a student from Osun State, who opened the floor that night, saying that Jungle justice is nothing to write home about. People pass jungle justice in order to get justice for themsel...

There is a saint on this earth, An angel, beckons to paradise of hellfire, His tongue, the ambush to the shore of desert, The devil, our angel on this earth, The prophet of doom.   The cruel mercy of the world’s saint devil, Granted stunted liberty, It breeds our pouch by licking, The honey of our money, Driving our hearts to the peak of mercy, Through the valleys of fierce. The world, the order, The states, the dismay We’ve been called to augment the peace, At the Paley of enmity, We’ve settled the disputes, With distilled threats of bigotry, A saint devil on earth, Preaching love for hatred.    © OLANIYI ABDULWAHEED PENMIND

Who's talking about you?   Aww, I can't trudge there   They will mock me   The bats will laugh at me   They will sneeze at my stop   Cough at my start   And hiss at my movement   Who's talking about you?   I can't sing there   That they scream at the slightest mistake   There that Jackson performed   Ant   Me   Can't them pull   Who's talking about you?   Who's talking about you?   I might miss the step   I might drink and belch   They will scorn   And disdain me with beams   I will never toil with the tusk   Of Elephant that can kill   Fiddle with the mane of lion   Rather sleep and dine and wine   With snail and ducks by the river bank Who's talking about you?   I went I saw mammoth crowd   Like  sand of the ground   My heart skipped and beat   Beating faster than snare   I will bury myself in the ...

This is an interview conducted in a WhatsApp poetry group known as JP LACONIC between poet Oladele Ayo, a Nigerian and poet Fuseini Mohammed Kamaldeen who is a Ghanaian. Mr Kamaldeen unveils his perspective of poetry and how he writes it.   L Oladele Ayo:              Good evening everyone. My name is Oladele Ayo, I will be hosting tonights interview with the one and only Fuseini Mohammed Kamaldeen. You might know him as Dipantiche thetiche Naporoo Shitobu or  "Creative Thinker". L Oladele Ayo:                Sir, we will like to know you more; your profile and how you got to this level. Dipantiche the Poet: And thank you for hosting me here as a guest tonight. I am grateful to you and the unit for putting me on interviewers' seat. L Oladele Ayo: You're welcome Dipantiche the Poet: I am certified Fuseini Mohammed Kamaldeen but m...

A creative writer as well as well known public speaker in Lagos, Nigeria,  Soul’e Rhymez,  has claimed that the cause of economic recession and lack of progress in Nigeria could be traced to the poor education system in the country. He said that education was designed to produce employees rather than focusing in the production of employers. Ever since his essay “ When Education Becomes Indoctrination ”, has gone viral, enjoying publication on different websites, blogs and newspapers across the country including  The Guardian Newspaper .  Soul’e Rhymez  has been resilient in his bid to redefine education.  In a bid to do that, the writer, who is known for his controversial style of writing haven’t stopped getting attention from people, both positive and negative. The eccentric public speaker and poet raised another set eyebrows again on the 12 th  of November, 2016 at a seminar organized by  Dream Achievers World (DAW),  tagged...

  Poetry is a beautiful form art, which involves a lot of creativity just like other genres. But, seemingly, it struggles to find its feat, compared to other genres of art. Poets in Nigeria struggle to earn a living, and this have a very detrimental effect on their self-esteem and art and I believe it is almost the same all over the world. According to Soul’e Rhymez in his poem titled ‘I’M TIRED OF WRITING, he stated: “ Don’t call me a poet, it sounds like penury”. That’s how it sounds to people, when you say you are a poet, because people believe poetry is not a profession; it is simply a highway to poverty.  I do not think there is anyone in Africa who makes poetry a full time job like we have in other genres of arts like, music, painting, acting, dancing and so on. Thus, there is an urgent need for commercialization of poetry. But according to a survey conducted in Nigeria in year 2015, a lot of poets believed poetry is passion and not to be commercialized. ...