A MOCKERY OF MAN: DR EZEKIEL FAJENYO'S REVIEW OF SUMAILA UMAISHA'S POEM, "A GREAT MAN"

Umaisha's boldly satiric poem is one deep mockery of man who overprices his weight and height, banging his broad  chest as higher than all other creations whose freedom he sees as suppress-worthy! 

But his foolishness is so glaring because he 'built his house on/footpaths, daring ants/with a dagger" (yet they are free to build on footpaths).

And he fails to recognise the act of collectivism which gave 'lepers' the worthwhile wisdom and competence to erect 'a well' even as he goes about demonstrating seedy boastfulness and pride, even when he creates nothing worthwhile! The ants work as a group, and without making a noise end up erecting structures on 'footpaths' which they could inherit without stress. Even the 'lepers' are also creative despite physical inhibitions. Man also depend, as food,' on fry; gnawing/ at pin bones'. Yet he, the  empty, uncreative, foolish 'giant' relies on what comes from the lower animals with their spirit of hard work, organisation, focus, concentration and noiselessness. 

Umaisha' s poetic arrows are shot at man's empty, uncreative, suppressive mentality which dishonours his being and erases his unfounded claim of superiority. It would have been better for him to understand that every creature has its place and clime which should not be distorted or disturbed by the others! There is a universal truth in the claim that 'the man...shares his ration with ants' because each must depend on the other, one way or the other, without any proving hollow 'giant' as an advantage on the others! The world should be a symbol of total freedom for all, under the sun!

Umaisha's satire is worked, characteristically, through tight diction, sharpness of thought, play on words, and biting body of metaphors and visual images!

Fajenyo is a renowned poet and academic based in Lagos

"A Great Man"

Once I met a man;

he built his house on

footpaths, daring ants

with a dagger.

The giant lives in shallows,

feeding on fry; gnawing 

at pin bones.

He draws from a well

dug by lepers, beating

his chest with stones -

a strong man.

A strong man guards

his limbs from wrongs 

and weaknesses, he says.

Indeed, I reply, the man

is strong who, like a

wayfarer near the end,

shares his ration with ants.

(c) SUMAILA UMAISHA 

- Nigeria