Èrò Ni Gbẹ̀gìrì

Pius Adébọ́lá Adésanmí: Photo by A. Adéẹ̀kọ́ It’s been a year ago now that I read anybody refer to me as “ọ́ga miì!” Death ensured that Pius Adésanmí will never call me that again.  That ritual began nearly 20 years ago when I first emailed him in anger—he was then at Penn State University—after reading his, to my mind, brash, unfriendly, evaluation of Ngũgĩ wa Thion’g’o’s hard left politics of literary language. He looked up my work phone number (I was then at the University of Colorado, Boulder), called me up, and we ironed things out. He “confessed” his “sins,” was absolved, and as penance—that is what I told him it was—he sent me a signed copy of his book, The Wayfarer & Other Poems .   In 2014, when Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, the founding Vice Chancellor of Kwara State University (Nigeria), asked me to direct the Abiola Irele Seminar in Criticism and Theory, he instantly approved my recommendation that Pius Adésanmí be hired and made the director i...

Ó Dígbà O, Ọ̀rẹ́ẹ̀ Mi  Photo: Diípọ̀ Oyèlẹ́yẹ Ikú lòpin àwa ènìyàn, àtì’wọ̀fà, àt’olówó, ikú lòpin àwa ènìyàn.   -- Yusuf Ọlátúnjí Igbèsè nikú, kò sẹ́ni tí ò níí san!   Ikú lòpin ohun gbogbo. Ènìyàn ò sunwọ̀n láàyè, ọjọ́ a bá kú làá dère. Òkú ò mọ̀’ye a dágọ̀, orí imú ní fií gbé e kiri. Yàtọ̀ sí gbólóhùn tí mo fà yọ nínú àwo rẹ́kọ́ọ̀dù kan tí ògbólógbòó onísákárà, olóògbé Yusuf Ọlátúnjí ṣe (n ò rántí ọdún náà mọ́), òwe ni gbogbo àwọn ìfáárà tí mo kọ sókè yìí. Ẹ ó sì mọ ìdí tí mo fi lò wọ́n bí ẹ bá ti ńka búlọ́ọ̀gì yìí síwájú sí i.   Ikú lorúkọ tí à á pe títán ìmí fún gbogbo ẹ̀dá abẹ̀mí. Ènìyàn ńkú. Ẹrankó le kú. Ewéko le kú. Ọ̀pẹ á máa kú. Igi á máa a kú. Ṣùgbọ́n ilẹ̀ kìí kú. Ṣíṣá ni ilẹ̀ ńṣá. Èyí já sí pé ikú kọ́ lòpin ohun gbogbo. Òòrùn á máa wọ̀. Ṣùgbọ́n iná le kú, bó tilẹ̀ jẹ́ pé kìí ṣe abẹ̀mí bí àwọn yòókù tí a tò sílẹ̀ yìí! Èyí ṣe jẹ́? Kókó àkíyèsí ni wí pé ohun gbogbo tí...