Review of Ugorji’s book “She Is Eternal And Other Poems”

This is an abbreviated review of poetic works presented in She is eternal and other poems, by Dr Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji. Published in Nigeria by BlueslandCommunications of Abuja, and in the United States of America by Goldline and Jacobs Publishing of New Jersey, the book, 84 pages in pagination, was released in paperback in March of 2020.

Dr. Ugorji has a unique way of writing and uses sometimes complex and sometimes simple techniques to tell stories in the poetry genre. Even in his attempts to share information, he still plays coy with hidden meanings – or more accurately, meanings known to only those well informed about his subjects and objects. 

The poems are placed in three provocative segments – provocative in the sense that Dr. Ugorji has the audacity to claim hitherto unknown Igbo-centered agency in the genre of poetry. The segments are: 

Jamike poems (which he says are poems of praise and criticisms). Dr Ugorji through the poems in this segment pays tributes to people and ideas that span the globe, for whom the author shows reverence. I will explore some of these poems later in this review, with a degree of knowledge that I am sure will surprise the author and readers alike.

The second segment is referred to as Anya Poems (which the author says are poems of love and affection). The Igbo word for love is “Ihunanya.” The Igbo translation of “I love you” is “Ahurum gi n’anya.”  This suggests that for one to love anyone, one’s retina must capture the image of that person. That is why in Igbo land if you see the person you hate, you make sure you avoid eye contact with him/her. Dr. Ugorji uses Anya as the categorical title for his poems of love and affection.

Amadi poems is the third category of poems in She is eternal and other poems. These poems, the author claims, are poems of consciousness and struggles. In this group of poems Dr Ugorji highlights the struggles of African peoples (on the continent and all over the world - now often referred to as the Diaspora). This consciousness was perhaps best captured in the title poem of the book, “She is Eternal.” Perhaps never before has African womanhood been so elegantly extoled in all ramifications, with no gender limitations on their historic contributions to the human story.

Now, let us take a peep into some of the Jamike Poems.

“Orji Ukwu.”

In this poem, the poet gets personal and familial, as he addresses the struggles of his father, Stephen Nwabueze Ugorji, in becoming the first traditional ruler of what became Lorji Nwekeukwu Autonomous Community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. The poet spoke of “urchins” carrying coffins in streets of Lorji to intimidate “a lion and its pride.” And he asked “who invited the fair-haired maiden to come climb? Who lied to her that nkwu oka had fallen?” To the poet, the voice of oha (the people) was the voice of God, and in the fullness of time, his father became recognized by the Imo State government as Orji Ukwu 1 of Lorji Nwekeukwu. 

“Daa Ngozi.”

This is the second ‘Jamike’ poem, which the author used in praising his own mother - a retired nurse who attained the rank of Major in the Nigerian Army before retirement. Ugoeze Ngozi Ugorji who is fondly called “Daa Ngozi.” In the poem she shnes like a light in the community. She was committed to her duties and treated many patients and delivered many women of their babies. Her service to the community was selfless and she spearheaded the training of children, including her non-biological children, to greatness. Such children who passed through her emerged as leaders and great people known worldwide, like the author whom people describe as a man trained by a soldier. 

“Gwuris.”

In this would-be classic, the author salutes and honours a great soldier and son of Lorji, Mbaise, Retired Major General Eugene Nwanguma (a.k.a Gwuriegwu), a Former General Officer Commanding GOC 81 Division of the Nigeria Army. During the battle for the throne succession in Lorji, there was confusion in the community and miscreants were disturbing the peace of the community.  Eugene Nwanguma, then a colonel in the Nigeria Army, came on one Orie market day diffused the tensions, providing moral support for those who stood for the truth. Ugorji wrote in flowery prose, of an officer, with acoustic guitar, military insignia, and a side arm. People who did not like the soldier, wrote a petition against him to the then Head of state late General Sani Abacha, linking him to a phantom coup with the post’s father. He was questioned, alongside some other people. The fallacy of the phantom coup was quickly established, and Nwanguma and others were exonerated. The author salutes him as Ochiaigha Gwuris.

“Pat’s Bread”

Here in this poem, Ugorji demonstrates that his reverence is for ordinary folks as well. He pays tribute to another son of Lorji,  Mr Patrick Nwanguma, uncle to General Eugene Nwanguma. Dee Paty used to have the only bakery at Lorji. Neighboring communities used to perceive the aroma of Pat’s bread from Lorji. Dee Paty’s Bread was breakfast for many families in Mbaise then. The bread was skillfully and hygienically prepared. He had the ones he sold and the ones he gave to little children who came around his bakery as dash. The author was among such children who got complimentary slices of De Paty’s bread. To the author’s pleasant surprise, when he got admission to Ife Secondary School in Ezinihitte for his secondary education, Pat’s bread was also available to students for their breakfast. With Patrick Nwaguma now late, Ugorji and others miss the wonderful Pat’s bread.

“De Uneze.”

This is an epitaph for late Professor Stephen Uneze Chukwumba from UmumbaraChokoneze, the maternal uncle of the Author. In this poem, we see the body of the late teacher lying in state, with the author refusing to view the corpse in order not to register the last image of the deceased in his mind lying in the casket. “De Uneze,” as the poet fondly refers to him, was a great gentleman – proud and yet humble. He was the son of the Secretary of the great “Ala Ogbagaa” of Chokoneze Mbaise. He was an extrovert, very generous, kind and humorous. He never bore grudges and left revenge for God.

For the author, death is the way of all mortals, he beckoned on the deceased uncle to reserve for him a place in the hallowed chambers of the ancestors even as he bid “Dee Uneze” farewell.

“A slow dance.”

This is one of the poems the author grouped under ‘Anya’ poems of love and affection. Here he recounts how he celebrated his 55th birthday with his heartthrob, his jewel of inestimable value, his lovely wife and mother to his six children, Uchenna Ihuaku Ugorji.

His wife Ihuaku wanted to celebrate him in a special way on his birthday, but the author turned down her offers of a Mercedes sports car, trip to Paris, clothes from the famous tailors at Aba, a Spike Lee movie, and others. The celebration eventually kicked off and ended with a slow dance at Willingboro. What he wanted the most from his woman on his 55th birthday was just a dance with her - a slow dance.

And then there is “She is eternal.”

Grouped under ‘Amadi’ poems, this one is a feast to all the senses. Enamored by the strength and beauty of the African woman, the poet goes beyond admiration and ventures headlong and heartlong into veneration and consecration. He took time to describe what his eyes see – ebony, swaggering hips, eyes like “twin dark emeralds,” elegant, intelligent, and sometimes sassy. He speaks of them as life-giving and life-sustaining, like the Igbo deity known as Ala or Ani. He extols their valour in times of war and liberation struggles. You won’t see the name of any woman stated, but those who know their history will recognize the women the poet presents as exemplary in “She is eternal.”  For instance, he alludes to Queen Amina of Zaria, Zauzzau who fought and protected her kingdom. He conjures up the image of the Aba Market Women who rose against the white man’s census, with the intention of imposing taxes on women – what is known among the Igbo as “Ogu ndom.”

He goes on to allude to Harriet Tubman and the undergrown railroad, and to Winnie Mandela in Soweto, who held the forth in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa after Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. Then he reminds us of the role women played in the revolutionary war that liberated Haiti from colonial terrorists - Gran AdbarayaToya, woman warrior of Haiti. She was a midwife, and a leader. She trained and fortified others in the act of war, including the founding father of Haiti, Toussaint Louverture.

He alludes to Senator Chris Anyanwu who used her The Sunday Magazine (TSM) to defy General Sani Abacha. He acknowledges the feat achieved by Chioma Opara (nee Ajunwa) from Mbaise at Atlanta Olympics in 1996 where she won a gold medal in long jump; the first ever gold medal won by Nigeria in the Olympic Games. He doffs his hat for Miriam Babangida, who with her Better Life Programme for rural dwellers touched on the lives of women and children in Nigeria during the reign of the military President General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB).

Furthermore, the poet alludes to Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, mother of late FelaAnikulakpo Kuti, who led the Abeokuta women’s revolt. There an allusion to the outstanding Nigeria Female billionaire Folorusho Alakija and the American Oprah Winfrey, who poet tells us erected empires in Lagos and Chicago respectively. He witnessed the late Professor Dora Akunyili battle fake drugs in Nigeria when she was in charge of NAFDAC. He paid tribute to Dr Stella Adedevo who spotted the Liberian Diplomat Patrick Sawyer who came into Nigeria with Ebola disease.  In a bid to check the spread of Ebola in Nigeria, she died of the ailment. A circle has no beginning and end. And so Black women and their accomplishments are eternal. The poem ends with a curious birth of the albino as the thirteenth child of an African woman. Since the poet does not tell us, one wonders what the albino child represents in the story he crafted about African womanhood.

I read all 30 poems contained in the book “She is Eternal and other Poems” and I found them very interesting and fascinating. My first criticism is that the reader requires a deeper knowledge of events in history to fully understand some of the messages embedded in some of the poems. There appears to be a certain deliberate opaqueness that the poet employs. Further, I was disappointment in the fact that there were only 30poems in this collection. In my desire to learn more from the mind of this poet, I felt cheated that there were not more. This, of course, points to the urgency for the poet to write more or release more of what he may already have written. For instance, we are told that his poem, “The Chief Priest’” won him a literary prize in the US, but this particular poem was not included in this current collection. Where is the Chief Priest? Give us the Chief Priest!

Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji’s unique style in poetry is one deserving of attention and scholarly study. However, his consciousness, as heavily sprinkled in these poems, is the thing that will prove transformational, if sustained. 

The reviewer, Mr. Reginald Chiekezi Mbajunwa, is a veteran journalist, broadcaster, researcher, and literary critic. He is currently the Deputy Director of News and Current Affairs Department at the Imo Broadcasting Corporation, Imo State. He wrote from Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria