Nigerian Poet Inua Ellams Pens A Poem For Baga
Nigerian poet Inua Ellams re-imagines Gregory Djanikian's 'Armenian Pastoral' poem as a somber reflection on the tragedy in Baga.
<p>This morning Nigerian-born, London-based word/graphic artist <strong><a href="http://www.inuaellams.com/" target="_blank">Inua Ellams</a></strong> reached out to us on twitter with a poem he wrote for Baga. The piece, <em><a href="http://www.inuaellams.com/news/2015/1/22/for-baga" target="_blank">Nigerian Pastoral</a></em>, is part of Ellams' ongoing project in which he resets existing poems in Nigeria. With the latest in the series Ellams re-imagines <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gregory-djanikian" target="_blank"><strong>Gregory Djanikian</strong></a>'s <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/3620" target="_blank"><em>Armenian Pastoral</em></a> as a somber reflection on the recent tragedy in Baga. "My father was a Muslim when he married my mother who was a Christian and we lived in Jos, Plateau State in northern Nigeria," Ellams told Okayafrica. "I was born into conversations about Christianity and Islam, over which sat better with the soul of Nigeria and with my family. As a kid, I knew the core similarities better than I did the differences, to such a degree that I saw no major conflicts between the faiths and went to the mosque as often as I did the church. Seeing the rise of the extremists and what has become of the towns and the places I grew up in has been heartbreaking and I think of the innocents caught in the crossfire, of those who are as I was. This poem is an attempt to shed light on who those innocents might have been, and further to raise questions on why the recent tragedy in Baga was largely ignored by mainstream western news outlets, if there are racial undertones at play." Read Ellam's poem for Baga, <em><a href="http://www.inuaellams.com/news/2015/1/22/for-baga" target="_blank">Nigerian Pastoral</a></em>, in full below.</p><p><div class="preroll-video"></div><ora-player></ora-player></p><p></p><blockquote>Nigerian Pastoral<p>-After Gregory Djanikian.</p><p>#Afterhours</p><p>If Adamu were leaning against a wall</p><p><div class="dfp_atf-slot" data-not-loaded="true"></div><script type="text/javascript">
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</script></p><p>mouth flush with fresh coconut</p><p>when trucks screeched to a halt</p><p>and Adewunmi were writing her name</p><p>in sand, dragging the small stick</p><p>when the magazine clicked</p><p>and Afoaka were hushing her twins</p><p>waving the straw fan back and forth</p><p>when the first shots rang out</p><p>if Aliyu barefoot by the oranges</p><p>were squeezing each fruit for ripeness</p><p>when the bullet shattered his cheek</p><p>if Akarachi refusing to run</p><p>were praying in his room</p><p>when the rocket struck the roof</p><p>and Azuba in her new hand-stitched hijab</p><p>were tucking away stray wisps</p><p>when the blast ate her skin</p><p>How long would it have to go on then</p><p>beginning with A and spilling over</p><p>into all the alphabets</p><p>before mother sister father child</p><p>could bear the same weight</p><p>in any faith, in any race,</p><p>be mourned with the same tongue.</p></blockquote><p><em>Follow Inua Ellams on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/InuaEllams" target="_blank">@InuaEllams</a>. For more, read our February 2013 interview with Ellams, "<a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/news/nigerian-theater-inua-ellams-british-council/" target="_blank">Poet Inua Ellams Returns to Nigeria For the First Time in 16 Years</a>."</em></p>
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