The 5 Basic Ankhs of Poetry

[ohanyido]

The 5 Basic Ankhs of Poetry
by F.O.Ohanyido
Mrs. Onubogu who was probably my favourite Literature in English teacher of
many years ago at FGC Jos, used to throw many proverbs using imageries around
the ‘oja’ flute which is a common musical instrument used in Igboland. One
particular one she always said was that it is "easy to blow the oja, but it is an
exceptionally difficult task to make music with it that is good enough for ancestral
ears." Over the years Mrs. Onubogu’s sayings have come to sink into my head. I
believe poetry is an oja flute: the task of producing a few poems as opposed to
chapters of prosaic works like novels appears simple, but the catch is actually
producing good poems of distinct pedigree and quality. This has always been the
challenge of poetry. That is why the poems of Okigbo live in sacred Muse. I suspect
my old pal and egbon , Victor “Vano” Okigbo his nephew (son of late Pius) ,who is
also an exceptionally gifted poet never really took the path seriously because he
probably would have been a diehard perfectionist to be able to walk with his
own shadow separate from Christopher’s.
A young Nigerian writer by the name Isaac Ogezi, wrote an article some time ago
that got me thinking about this matter. This was further given motion from inertia
after reading the beautiful one on rhyme by another writer Emman Shehu
(Chairman ANA, Abuja).
On serious analysis one can then say that because of its shortness or brevity, a
poem's every word, line, rhyme pattern etc carry more weight, and must be
chosen with great care. I always remind nyself of 5 basic ankhs to help me choose
wisely . You may benefit from them too.
 Focus: Narrow it down! Grandiose themes like 'love' and 'injustice' need to be
pruned down to manageable sizes because of pathos, excitement, and basic
emotional pull. What sort of love, what kind of injustice?
 Content: Write around your Theme. Is your poem about love? Then try not
to make the word 'love' an overemphasized currency inside the poem! (What
a bland word it has become, after all . . .) Instead, describe the precise
feeling, build a metaphor, write around the idea of love to get through to the
core of what you're trying to evoke.
 Expression: Stick to ideas and not emotional expression. Poetry is more than
a venting of feelings (that's what a diary is for!). Put some intellectual
distance between yourself and the subject matter of your poetry.
 Rhymes: Ditch it if it messes your flow. Maya Angelou was never a stickler for
it- look at where it got her. Don't rhyme for the sake of rhyming. New poets
tend to think they can get away with less-than-perfect rhymes, and/or
rhymes divorced from meter. Not so! Stick to free verse unless you're
prepared to work very hard at mastering formal poetry. I rhyme because of
my inherent love for floetry but I am a Poet not a Floet!
 Edit: The realm of the Muse has its ‘visitations’ too. It must undergo many
revisions in order to shine or before leaving the nursery as Maiwada is wont
to say. In Kaduna Writers’ League Sumaila, Diego and I have always
emphasized the strength of edited works. That is why Friday John Abba will
always remind all that once the work becomes public, the writer dies. So a
good critique should be taken in good faith . Forgive your editor if he turns
out to be a literary Ombudsman. Don't be afraid of scrapping whole verses, or
cutting everything down to a few good lines and rebuilding -- this is a
necessary part of the process of producing great poetry or becoming a
Wordsbody in the tent of Molara Wood


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[AnnAlofokhai]

I agree with most of what you said but concerning expression, I don't think you can divorce poetry from feeling. You will be left with a mechanical piece of writing. If you are simply against unnecessary soppiness/sentimentalism at the expense of clarity of message and style, then I think I understand you.

[wendywaide]

There seem to be a fixation here that poetry as an art form should be rendered within the suffocating and limiting confine of rules and regulations which rather makes it a scientific rather than a literary endervour.

Poetry should be flexible, with enough room for experimentation. One thing I think that every poet, especially the upcoming ones, should always bear in mind is that producers of literary works should not be fixated on what the opinion of the critics(like myself) may be. Critiques, as important as they may be, are only subjective interpretations of literary works by Critics.

A visit to the poetry websitehttp://www.homelandmelodies.blogspot.com of one of Nigeria's gifted, but under reported Poets, Comrade Chidi Anthony Opara, will reveal a variety of styles and forms, which to my opinion is what poetry is all about.

[dayo Phillips-arogbokun]

Ohanyindo you seem to be making sense with your five ankhs of poetry, but let me quickly point out to you that poetry unlike the two other genres is enforced by a passion, so forceful that one seems to be out of control. i dont know if you have ever been in that state of trance and compelled to scribble words and contents that you could never have imagine yourself write. you see, in all my years of writing poems, i have come to realize that the perfect definition for poetry is that popular one by Lord Tennyson. i have also noticed that unconsciously scribbled poems are more involving than spontaneously scribbled ones. i know that your ankhs can be useful as a methodical approach to poetry especially for a spontaneous poet.

[Kabura Zakama]

A good write up and I also agree that it is difficult to leave out sentiments in poetry. The key thing is make the sentiments tight and sublime.