Life came to me at the crown of the cock.

            Journeying down the labyrinth of this poem, life metamorphoses into a charming beautiful woman in stanza’s 3 and 4.

                        I caught her veil blown over my face (stanza)

                       

I threw caution to the wind,

                        Took her by the waist

                        And walked down the boulevard

                        And as I threw her into a spin

                        She whispered as she touched my wrist:

                        “Be careful what foot you put forward”

 

            And the necessity of caution in this bitter-sweet transient life could never be over-emphasized, though we may let our spirits roam freely as we un-cover, discover many, many things. The earth is man’s after all…

            Still on life. And the very poem of current concern:

           

Her warmth breath was

            A dancing, leapin’ flame

            … “All that is will pass.

            The child will tire of its games

 

In the 9th stanza of this 20 stanza-d poem of 116 lines, Izzia summed up his discovery. And admonition.

 

            Thirst for the fecundating God

            And shun the hoofbeats of each deceivin’ elf

            Let Truth hurt you into simplicity

            Or they’ll roll you up in your complexity

            Into a bundle of approximations

            And kick you down the dusty streets

 

            Perhaps it would require an entire essay of its own. This, THE WILL TO FREEDOM, for the lessons and messages interred are endless in their very twisted and turns and the beauteous/crafty metaphors of their creation, but I intend to scan through most of the poems already listed earlier as briefly as possible, so here goes:

            In THE NIGHT IS FRIENDLY AGAIN (1992), Izzia celebrates again, life, and all the joys therein to be had. This is a poem of happiness and bliss, innocence…

Who cares for the bed of ease when the stars are singing, And the Night is friend Again.

 

“Those days, on the street of Lagos. At 1:00a.m we could be found, reading and arguing vehemently about poetry. Ogaga Ifowodu, Uche Nduka, Olu Oguigbe, Maik Nwosu…”

 

            How many of us do this now? I like him. He never tires of literature. I feel the same. Just like Obu Odeuzo…

            In QUEEN OF HEARTS (1991) the aged throbbing trauma of want and denial comes to bear. And you wonder again, just like Freud, for the thousand and one time.

            What is it, that a woman want?

 

And you’re quick to realize

She don’t affirm the truth you

Believe in. no, she don’t speak the word

Your pure sounds conceive

And you throw your thremblin’ soul

Hard against her totem pole

But she keeps out of sight

And you know you stand wrong to the light…

 

            The same trouble continuous in LATELY (I’VE BEEN MISSING YOU) (1990), emblematic of our collective desires as body and flesh, perpetually in want and desire: love! Needing to love and be loved in Return:

(1ST Stanza -)

                        When will you come this way again?

                        When will we make our vows a new?

                        The letters I sent have been returned unclaimed

                        The travelers are back with no news of you.

3rd Stanza:

                        The kingdom we once ruled lies in ruins

                        Subjects and fools have grown wise too soon

                        The thrown that was once strong crumbles

                        To the ground. But I offer you my broken crown.

 

6th Stanza: we can still make our life

                        a beautiful song

                        And lately I’ve been missing you.