‘My fast road to film production’

How traditional divinity inspired my poem - February

Bookshelf: What triggered ‘In the Nude,’ the title of your poetry collection? Logan February: The poems are about the body and the mind. They are about coming of age, shedding a lot of things and trying to find one’s identity.

Bookshelf: How far back did you start writing, generally, and what can you remember about your very first poem?

February: I have always been a fan of words in general and always wrote. I think I was writing poetry subconsciously while I was writing songs in secondary school. I think of my growth as a poet not in a lineal way because I was an Instagram poet for a while, but now I don’t consider those really poems. I wasn’t saying anything then. I had no poetics and no craft.

In the phase between secondary school and waiting to start university, I was helping a friend out with her literature assignment and I started to imitate a particular style and tell my story. That was how it started.

Bookshelf: How would you describe your writing style?

February: I started out using more of a confessional style. Saying things that would be considered transgressive to the average person, especially in our conservative environment. Then I moved to something that is more focused on the erotic. Generally, I just like to use language to get closer to thought because thought has no language.

Bookshelf: What is your opinion about poets following certain rules of the art as opposed to simply creating their own style?

February: I think any poet focused on abiding by rules is going to fail because poetry has to be deeply felt and thought about. Sometimes thoughts refuse to be controlled in a certain way. But I feel it’s important to learn the rules before breaking them. In this way, breaking them comes with intention.

Free verse definitely allows you to express yourself more. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there are no rules. I don’t fancy rhyme. I don’t think about writing a rhyming piece, to be honest. But you can have repetitions. I tend to lean more on rhythm than rhyme.

Bookshelf: what inspired the poem ‘Stillbirth Yemoja’?

February: I don’t think there is any single thing that inspires a poem. I’m very interested in divinity, particularly traditional divinity and ideas of the divine. In the Yoruba pantheon there is the Yemoja who is like the great mother and goddess of the sea. There is supposed to be a second aspect of her who is Olokun. Some people see them as two different entities. I see them as one. I see Olokun as the deep, dark and mysterious sea where you can never know what would happen to you because its unpredictable. But Yemoja is part of the sea where the sunlight touches, where you go to pray and feel good.

So that is the duality. The poem was about exploring that duality of gender.

I’m also a psychology student at university of Ibadan, so a lot of my work is influenced by it. Essentially Yemoja is a goddess of motherhood. If you want children you go and ask from her. In psychology there is a theory about a father who may not really be a physical father but a symbolic one. That is one of the things that differentiates men from women. Men have some appendages on their bodies that extends to where a woman has a lack and so it influences the woman’s psychology differently.

There is a theorist who believes that when women give birth, the subconscious motivation is to replicate their idea of having a father, even though it’s not real or is going to

I don’t think there is any single thing that inspires a poem. I’m very interested in divinity, particularly traditional divinity and ideas of the divine. In the Yoruba pantheon there is the Yemoja who is like the great mother and goddess of the sea.

end up in frustration. So, when they have children, they try to make up for that lack. I was trying to understand the idea of that lack. Yemoja is supposed to give the gift of children, and I was interested in the idea of what if the child is born and isn’t alive? I was trying to understand body and gender.

Bookshelf: How would you describe your journey as a poet so far?

February: So far, I am grateful because I am lucky to have accomplished what many would have wanted to, and at a young age while I am still at school. There have, of course, been some challenges. I don’t know where I got the nerve when it comes to getting published, but I think a lot of it was influenced by the availability of the internet. I found a submission call and saw that it was free.

I was first published in the United States for my chap book ‘How to Cook a Ghost’ in 2017. My editor didn’t touch that manuscript, he said everything was fine, and that was my first time getting published.

Bookshelf: Do you think it’s necessary for a poet to learn how to recite before an audience?

February: Yes, it’s vital. It’s an important skill. Most times you sell books after you read to people. Having to read before an audience gives me anxiety. Typically, we generally have oral traditions of poetry in Africa. I’m personally more interested in text. I have learned how to bridge the gap from a lot of slam poets that what makes a good poem is when it works both ways. So, while I am working on a poem, I am reading it out loud for rhythm. I think that if it reads well on the page and doesn’t on stage then it’s not good enough.

Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment?

February: I’m trying to finish school, but I am also working on a new collection where I try to step away from the conventional. The conventional style has helped me get where I am, but right now I don’t have to focus on myself as a subject. It’s about desire. I would also like to learn more about fiction and write a novel.

I’m also a psychology student at university of Ibadan, so a lot of my work is influenced by it. Essentially Yemoja is a goddess of motherhood. If you want children you go and ask from her.