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Abuja, July 21, 2017 (NAN) The Association of Nigerian Author (ANA), Abuja chapter on Friday celebrated the release of a collection of poems, “We are Fish’’ written by Ahmed Maiwada at its monthly guest writer session.
The National President of ANA, Malam Abdullahi Denja told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the celebration of works of writers such as Maiwada was to motivate other writers do better.
Denja said that Maiwada’s work was metaphorical in nature, adding that “the work is delightful, well written and contains a lot of good themes.’’
“I think it is an improvement on his previous collections and something that poets of today can read so that they will know how to write poetry.
“I think `We are Fish’ will go places; some years back, one of Maiwada’s work almost won a literary prize; he is a very strong poet,’’ Denja said.
The Chairman of ANA, Abuja chapter, Mr Benjamin Ubiri said `We are Fish’ was worthy of celebration due to its graphical presentation.
“Artistic dexterity was showcased in the work; the use of metaphor and play of words were insightful.
“Maiwada delivery was superb and I commend him for bringing out such a wonderful and deep work.
“But again I wonder why he titled it “We are fish’’ Ubiri said.
Responding, Maiwada explained that the inspiration that brought about the titled of the work was an imagination to the practical realities of humans compared to the life of fishes.
He said that humans started life as swimmers “and we swim ourselves to life and we continue to swim in life.’’
“Fishes eat one another; there is no way a fish survives without eating another, especially on wild sea.
“It is obvious that for some people to rise in life, they have to step on another; humans have backbones, fishes do have backbones.
“We live in a sea called earth, the fishes live in the sea called ocean; I understand that the attitude of fish eating another is bad, there is no saint among them.
“Same can be said of humans; but let’s start working toward being human with the heart of love and tolerance,’’ Maiwada said.
Mr Aderemi Adegbite, a publisher, described the book as interesting, adding that “the author uses concrete poetry to drive home his points that as human beings we are fish.’’
“For me, that is an interesting experiment to use a particular style of writing to actually make a point; he uses word like `remis’ which brings `pop-poetry’ to life.
“That is what endeared me to the work because I don’t just publish any work; I only publish works that are interesting to me artistically; I am interested in works that push the boundary,’’ he said.
NAN reports that “We are Fish’’ is a single poem of 71 pages that centre on the journey of fishes from the river to the sea as a metaphor of life’s experience.
Maiwada, who is also the author of Saint of a Woman (2004), Fossils (2008), Eye Rymes (2013), and Musdoki (2010) is an Abuja based lawyer and member of ANA. (NAN)
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Edited by Grace Yussuf