INTERVIEW: Poetry, Emotional Idealism of Man Expressed with Canopy of Words, arranged ornamentally

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 my African consciousness makes me sojourn on social media as Dipantiche thetiche Naporoo Shitobu. I am an afro linguistic poet who writes under the penmanship of "Creative Thinker".

I was born and bred in Tamale, the capital town of Northern Region in Ghana.

I started my basic education at Komblimahigu Sobriya E/A Primary School but the thirst of knowledge pulled me to Wurishe Kukuo R/C Junior High School where I sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination and was placed by the computer system at Kalpohin Senior High school. I wrote my West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and furthered to Bagabaga College of Education where I was trained as a professional teacher.

I am a versatile writer of poems, inspirational quotes and other genres though unpublished. My works have appeared on Marines of blogs and pages. I am the administrator of Poets From Our Savannah

L Oladele Ayo:
"African consciousness."
Wonderful. It's our pleasure to have a teacher here.

L Oladele Ayo:
    Sir, there are a lot of things in circulation now as poetry, can you explain to us what a good poetry should be?

Dipantiche the Poet:
A good poem should be like an object inside a well. It should be bathed with rich language, devoid of cliques and idioms but smeared with the pomade of literary devices and dressed with the clothes of maturity. Poetry is the emotional idealism of man expressed with the canopy of words arranged ornamentally. A good poem should announce its presence and essence.

L Oladele Ayo:
This has got me thinking. Sir, some critics argue that a good poetry is made when the poet is happy as P.B. Shelley says that "poetry is the best and happiest record of the best and happiest minds" while others believe that a good poetry is made when the poet is sad as Kuo Mojo defines poetry "as the music of the soul". Sir, what do you have to say about this?

Dipantiche the Poet:
Well, both sentiments are true but like in "perspective drawing", you draw what you can see from wherever you are seated.
I write when am happy and when am sad. I just tap with my thumb or flow with my pen. I thought she  a poetess: Zulfaw the poetess, who only write when she is sad and the interesting aspect of her is that she write romantic poems during those times.

L Oladele Ayo: 
Some critics believe that good poetry should be spontaneous while others believe it is deliberate. Sir, are your poems spontaneous or deliberate?

Dipantiche the Poet:
It depends—it could be spontaneous or deliberate but poems written from the cyclops of the gods' minds are always dense and worth reading. However, when the muse descends upon you like a holy spirit, it takes a conscious mind to guard its drainage unto the paper. But as a poet, the world must be a mirror for you.

L Oladele Ayo:
   According to Aristotle, "Poetry is an art form that depends on language alone." Does this mean that the beauty of poetry lies solely on the language usage as a committed writer?

Dipantiche the Poet: 
Your environment should fertilize your thoughts to spray organic inks and that is when you will be writing really.
  I agree with him but the beauty of language as in rhythm and rhymes are not local rice and usually I don't fancy them, but I believe in veiling the message than sacrificing my message for rhythm regurgitated from the stomach of language.

L Oladele Ayo: 
Ok. That's wonderful.
What are the major challenges you have encountered in the course of writing?

Dipantiche the Poet:
My greatest challenge has been _time._
Usually, my schedules are as thirsty as a stone in the desert. 

Muse hibernation has also been a major challenge but on the whole, I eagle against the storms and dolphin on the ebbs of tides to make sure that I leave all the guts available of my pens dry.

L Oladele Ayo: 
Sir, we learnt you are a versatile writer and writes inspirational quotes. Which genre is your favourite?

Dipantiche the Poet: 
    Poetry is my liver and the only oxygen that goes through my oxygenated system.

Though, I write other genres too but they are written in verses defecated from my poetry poly tank.
I don't even like the mere combination of words people do and call it quotes. A quote should be able to curfew your thoughts and deny you sleep just to knowing what it means.

L Oladele Ayo:
Sir, considering that commitment is the major focus of modernist writers. 
To what extent can a writer be truly committed to issues that surround his society, or he does that unconsciously?

Dipantiche the Poet:
Well! A poet walking in his environment is like a TV, that talks to one but doesn't listen to the viewer. Your environment speaks volumes to you but it is bent on critical analysis and in depth comparison of your environment that multiplies your creation and creativity. A poet observes but doesn't look. In fact, poets are carriages of mental pictures and videos. They can recall the happenings of their environment when they were watching in their busy mood. A poet should be meticulous and must see beyond the normal sight or listen beyond the inner ear.

L Oladele Ayo:
Who is an Afro linguistic poet as you are one, and are there other types of poets too?

Dipantiche the Poet:

Any lifeless thing speaks and every poet must listen.

   Yes I am an Afro poet just like a Rastafarian.
I believe in the "can do" spirits of Africans and I draw my imagery and symbolism from the ancestral cowries left on the flattened breast of the African soil.

L Oladele Ayo:
   Please clarify that.

Dipantiche the Poet:
We have different types of poets depending upon the context you are looking at them from. We have lyrical poets, stylistic poets, romantic poets and many others with the major being negritude poets who originated from the belts of the African French and the pan African poets who seek to tell the African and Africas' story in the African way. They talk about everything, good or bad, of the African man.

What I mean is: I use the materials within my catchment and include the African names of items to sell mother Africa to the world.

L Oladele Ayo:
    We live in a world of critics and criticisms, how do you tackle this world?

Dipantiche the Poet:
I tackle the world like it presents itself.
I am a critic behind the doors but more often than not, I love it when people criticize me.

L Oladele Ayo:
   Interesting.
As a published writer, what are the major challenges you face in the course of producing your works?

L Oladele Ayo:
Has your work made any anthologies compilations or anything of that sort?

Dipantiche the Poet: 
My poems are swimming in the pools of Mark Zukerberg.

L Oladele Ayo:
Please mention some.

Dipantiche the Poet: 
SPIC family monthly anthologies.
Which are published on Amazon, Penmind blog, etc.

L Oladele Ayo: 
As an administrator of poets from Savannah platform. How has it being with your protégés?

Dipantiche the Poet: 
                       It has been fantastic and a blessing, though it comes with its goitres.
  
The family we share there is what I call family number one—the members are brotherly and inspiring.

The greatest challenge of the platform is submission and members hardly do so because of the fear of breaching the group's codes.

L Oladele Ayo
What pieces of advice do you have poets looking up to you.

Dipantiche the Poet:
Write out your emotions and condense them into lines, but they shouldn't forget to spray it with the African perfume.

Writing from the African perspective is the best one could ever get.

They should also respect knowledge and elders for experience because no book can make you the most useful person you yearn to be but experience can.

Lastly, everyone is created with a specific genetic code and just like network, we are all unique and so must we act same.

I am most humbled and grateful. With special thanks to my boss and mentor Mr Taiwo Oluwaseyi 

Katoonspeaks.

God bless us all. Aaami

© JP LACONIC INTERVIEW, A WHATAPP INTERVIEW 2016

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