This poem is about the glory of death. Instead of the typical mournful tone when writing about death, Adesina writes about death as something that should be celebrated. Overall, I interpret this poem to be about Adesina’s father who passed away along with things related to death. The poem starts out with “glory of plums”. Plums often represent vitality and new beginnings, so by saying glory in plums, Adesina is referring to life after death. The life after death may refer to Adesina’s father and the glory of going to Heaven, or it refers to Adesina’s life after his father passed and the new beginnings he is about to face. Lines two and three state there is a glory of ferns on a “dark platter”. Ferns represent growth, resilience and new life. The contrast of the glory of ferns and the dark platter conveys the mixed emotions when it comes to death. Adesina recognizes that there is a sense of glory in terms of growth and new life, but he also sees having to move on from his father as a darker part of his life. In the next stanza, Adesina refers to more things found in nature. To me, this nature motif represents life and death. The plants and insects mentioned are essentially born from the ground, and when a human dies, they are usually buried in the ground. This represents the circle of life and how there is beauty in life that can start and end in the ground. The glory of willows and stag beetles are mentioned, and just like all the previously mentioned plants and fruits, they both represent rebirth. The repetition of glory being associated with rebirth emphasizes that death can be celebrated as well as mourned. In the next line, the “obedience of the kingfisher” is mentioned. The kingfisher usually represents freedom and transformation. The kingfisher’s obedience suggests that there is glory in the way freedom and transformation wait until death takes place. To continue with the nature motif, Adesina mentions waterbirds. Waterbirds symbolize the interconnectedness of life and water. The next line states the “glory of thirst”. This stanza is recognizing the glory in life and death. Since waterbirds represent the connection between life and water, the glory of thirst must represent death since thirst comes from the absence of water. Moving on from the nature motifs, the next stanza is centered around Latin. Adesina continues to mention the glory of death because he states “glory of the Latin”. Latin is a dead language and is hardly ever used anymore. Continuing with the fourth stanza, Adesina refers to Latin as “the dead” and says that its grammar is “composed entirely of decay”. The mention of Latin’s grammar is used to further emphasize the glory of death. It is another mention of death that is preceded by glory. Furthermore, some perceive Latin as a language that has not died, but transformed. This is yet another nod to the thought that death is not the end. This next stanza is about Adesina’s father who passed. This stanza is what makes me think the poem is about his father. Adesina is trying to find glory in death because he wants to view his father’s passing in a positive light. He says “glory to the eyes of my father” which “closed inside his grave” when he died. This is yet another example of Adesina finding the glory in death. His father’s eyes closing in his grave shows that once he was placed in the ground, like the previously mentioned nature motifs, he was ready to transform. This idea is the glory in death. Adesina’s father’s eyes grew brighter inside Adesina because he was able to take his father’s death, and find the good in it. This not only transformed his father, but Adesina himself. Finally, Adesina mentions the glory of dark horses. This could represent a literal dark horse known as The Dark Horse of Death that appears when someone is about to die. Seeing glory in the dark horse represents anticipation for death because of the new beginnings death brings. Another interpretation of dark horse is the unexpected winner. This almost suggests that the one close to death is the actual winner. This would be unexpected because when one usually thinks of death, they think the opposite of winning. However, Adesina sees them as the winner because they are on their way to transformation, rebirth and new beginnings. This enforces the idea that Adesina sees death as something that should be celebrated as well as mourned.
Quarantine with Abdelhalim Hafez by Safia Elhillo
the lyrics do not translate
arabic is all verbs for what stays
still in other languages
تصبح to morning what the
translation to awake cannot
honor cannot contain its rhyme with
تسبح to swim t to make
the night a body of water
i am here now & i cannot morning
i am twenty-three & always
sick small for my age & always
translating i cannot sleep
through the night
no language has given me the
rhyme between ocean &
wound that i know to be true
sometimes when the doctors
draw my useless blood i feel
the word at the tip of my tongue
halim sings أعرق a’raq
I am drowning i am drowning
the single word for all the water
in his throat does not translate
halim sings teach me to kill the
tear in its duct halim sings
i have no experience in love
nor have i a boat & i know he
cannot rest cannot swim
through the night
i am looking for a voice with
a wound in it a man who could
only have died by a form of
drowning let the song take
its time let the ocean close
back up
To me, this poem is about fluidity and how Elhillo feels like she is stuck in a structured, rigid world, as well as the limits of language. The first thing she says in this poem is that lyrics do not translate to Arabic. All the verbs mentioned stay still through time. She talks about how the Arabic phase for to awake can’t contains its rhyme. This is an example of one aspect of her life that doesn’t have much fluidity- her language. In the second stanza, Elhillo talks about how she is always sick, small for her age and always translating. When you’re always sick, you often times don’t have much freedom. This is because either you don’t feel up to getting up and moving around, you’re worried that having the freedom to move around could make the illness worse or you are specifically told by a doctor to stay in bed. This is another aspect of Elhillo’s life that probably lacks fluidity. This stanza also shows that Elhillo has a sense of disconnect. She is still stuck on translation which could represent how she feels disconected from the world or how she feels disconnected from herself. She obviously has some sort of internal conflict when talking about sickness and wounds. The fact that she states she is always translating and can’t sleep through the night shows that she is desperately trying to find some sort of fluidity in her life. Saying that no language gives her the rhyme between ocean and wound shows that not only is her mind rigid, but so is the world around. She says she tries to find the word and that it is on the tip of her tongue which shows her trying to break out of that structure that is in her mind, the one that stops her from having freedom. Another thing is that she can’t find a language or translation that encompasses this emotion she is feeling. She also mentions doctors drawing her useless blood which could be used to further emphasize how in her own mind she is stuck mentally and physically. In the fourth stanza, Elhillo stalks about how Hafez sings about drowning. Water is a big motif throughout the poem and often times represents fluidity. This could be in reference to the fact that sometimes too much fluidity could be harmful. The fact that he is drowning could show that he wasn’t structured enough and it ultimately led to his downfall, or it could show that people around him let him have his fluidity and almost sort of isolated him which led to his downfall. Its’s almost like he is calling out for help but no one is listening to him. Elhillo saying all the water in his throat doesn’t allow him to translate it could also reflect on how too much fluidity and not enough structure can be bad. This stanza and the other stanzas about language could also be in reference to the fact that some people in some countries expect others to adapt and change for them. This could be why it sounds like Hafez is calling out but no one is listening because it’s not translated to a language that others understand. The second to last stanza is more about how language can’t fully convey pain. Elhillo knows about internal suffering and knows that Hafez can’t keep “swimming”. He wants to get rid of the pain by singing that he wants to kill tears in its duct, but he has no help. He has no experience in love to ease the pain nor does he have a boat to keep him afloat in his metaphorical drowning. In the last stanza, Elhillo is looking for someone who understands her pain. Her looking for a voice with a wound in it shows that she wants someone to understand her in the way tanslation can’t. The mention of drowning again shows that she is experiencing emotional drowning as well as conveys that too much fluidity can be a bad thing. Wanting to let the song take its time shows that she still has that desire for fluidity. She wants the song to take it’s time to sink in to it’s listeners. She doesn’t want the song to be rushed she wants it to be played and listened to as many times as needed. Finally, wanting the ocean to close up could represent Elhillo’s desire for closure.
The People’s History of 1998
I think the broad meaning of this poem is the history of people while the deeper meaning is Adesina’s history and the significance of the year 1998 to him. The poem goes on to describe events that happened in 1998 like France winning the World Cup, the invention of Google and the Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha’s death. Though there are general facts in the poem, Adesina talks about things in “people’s history” that only relates to him and his family. Adesina says he “lived miles from the Atlantic” and watched films like Dr. Dolittle, Titanic, and The Mask of Zorro. He then follows this with his grandfather who is “waiting for the kingdom of God” sat translating Dante. I think this was significant enough to include because this could have been the year his grandfather died because Adesina already said he was waiting for the kingdom of God which alludes to the fact that he may be close to death and the addition of translating Dante could also indicate that he is close to death because of the poem Inferno, which describes a journey through Hell. Adesina then goes on to list more events that occurred in 1998 like the Galileo space probe being revealed. He then talks about a plastic turtle named Sir Desmond Tutu and him hiding under the bed when a snake came into his home. These lines may just have been included because they were a memorable part of his childhood that he has fond memories of. The invention of google and Viagra is mentioned. Adesina goes back to talking about his history and explains that one night it was raining and so windy that the roof of his house almost was taken off and he thought to himself that “God is so in love with us, he wants to fill us with himself.” This was probably significant enough to include because your house almost getting destroyed would be pretty memorable but also it shows his love for God. He also describes how he saw his mother dancing when she thought no one was looking and how she was laughing and clapping. I feel like this was included because he has a love for his mother and the memory of seeing her happy was important to him. It was so important that he remembers that she was wearing an “amaranth-red scarf and a swirling yellow skirt”. Finally, he talks about how his “house became a house of boys and girls, and a ghost”. His little sister had also passed that year which was added to the poem because the death of a sibling is obviously very significant in a persons life as well as the rest of the family’s. Overall, I think this poem is about the significance of the year 1998 but not to the rest of the world but to him and his family.
“Ode to What I Do Not Know”
Gbenga Adesina
The overall meaning of this poem is no longer recognizing yourself once you grow up. In the first line, Adesina refers to two animals that are doe-eyed. Doe-eyes usually symbol childhood and innocence so he gives us the idea that we are starting the poem in his childhood. Adesina is a Nigerian poet and a lot of the first half of the poem seems to be about his home country, which is seen in this line “Their feet learn
the reptile skin of earth, dark roots, and the tethering of dream.” After this sequence, Adesina says he looks up and sees that his “tongue is in a country of birds” To me, this sounds like he is referring to his stint in New York because he says he is in a country of birds and the US national bird and general symbol is the Bald Eagle. Then, Adesina says this about the water, “This water twists like a snake to taste itself. Water says, you know, I have never tasted of myself. I do not know myself.” The use of personification in this phrase humanizes the water and seems almost like a reflection of Adesina himself. The water has never tasted itself therefore doesn’t know itself similarly to Adesina who is no longer a child in his home country. Subsequently, he talks about a radio show where a child calls in and claims he needs help because he is prejudiced. This could mean Adesina sees himself as this child and is prejudiced to either this new, foreign country he is in, or it shows that being in this new country has made him prejudiced towards his home country. He then claims “What spilled out of the stereo lay on my floor. Breathing.” He describes this living being as dark and furry. This could be a materialized form of his guilt for being prejudiced, especially if it is towards his own country, because I would assume being prejudiced is something he never wants to be. Adesina then claims that he “wakes up panting” because he is “a stranger—with accent, homeless—in the childhood country of his body.” I think this refers to him becoming accustomed to America and when he visits home, he is a stranger. Not only is he emotionally different, but he is physically different because he has grown up. He is fully a stranger in every way, shape, form in his mind. Adesina is so guilty about what now lives in his adult self, possibly meaning the new thoughts and feelings he is experiencing, that he “fears what lives in him might spill out and darken the floor.” Finally he claims loss is when your body refuses to give you back to yourself. This is why I think the main idea of the poem is no longer recognizing yourself once you grow up. Your body refuses to give you back to yourself meaning you can longer go back to the child you once were once you have grown up. It’s a loss because it is unfair that you can never be that kid again and sometimes we have negative thoughts about ourselves when we grow up because of the feelings connected to childhood.
Gbenga Adesina
The poet I am choosing is Gbenga Adesina who is a Nigerian poet and essayist. He received his MFA from New York University where he held the Goldwater Poetry Fellowship and was mentored by Yusef Komunyakaa. He has received support from Poets House, New York, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, Colgate University’s Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, and Harvard University’s historic Woodberry Poetry Room. His work has been published in The Paris Review, Harvard Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, Guernica, The Yale Review, New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere, and has been translated into multiple languages. He’s the inaugural Mellon Foundation Post-doctoral Fellow in Global Black and Diasporic Poetry at the Furious Flower Poetry Center, James Madison University. https://www.splitthisrock.org/poetry-database/poem/paradise
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