What Nigerian writers remember about JP Clark
As tributes pour in for JP Clark, Bookshelf offers some by writers.
On Tuesday, 13 October 2020, Nigerians awoke to the sad news that one of its literary icons, renowned poet and playwright John Pepper Clark, better known as JP Clark, had died aged 85. In a flash, tributes poured out on social media and traditional mediums, and this is expected.
Khalid Imam (Poet)
A poet himself, Imam recalls the lines in ‘Ibadan’, a poem he describes as “impregnated with so many literary devices” that could pass as a pictorial piece for its graphic usage of metaphors and deftness of craft in creating reality, and its sensitive appreciation of place. He points out that the geography of the poem presents the physical nature of the city and its ‘seven hills’ to depict Ibadan as a city surrounded by ‘broken’ hills.
Imam remembers studying the poem twenty years ago during his NCE program. He says: “The symbolism and contrasting imageries running through the poem are sublime and appealing. The coexisting opposites: ‘rust and gold’, which not only paints ‘rust’ as old and ‘gold’ as new offers a gripping summary of Ibadan’s riches of rains, of natural resources, of cultures and of ancient and modern architectures. For sure, his demise is colossal. It is an end of an era.”
Lizi Ben-Iheanacho (Writer)
This writer will remember Clark for his simple diction and accessible imagery, and caps her tribute with a poem: “The strainer has taken in water...A second leg of the original troika dislodged. Oh Ibadan, weep rusty tears in a song of a goat. John Pepper Clark has gone home; An Ozidi Saga epochal in our loss. May your ascendancy to ancestor be smooth: bard, poet, dramatist, legend.”
Soji Cole (Playwright)
The winner of the NLNG/Nigeria Prize for Literature for his play, ‘Embers’, Cole recalls how, towards his latter years, JP Clark entrusted the initial performance direction of his plays to Professors Adelugba and Osofisan.
“I worked closely with Professor Osofisan on JP Clark’s plays,” Cole says, and like one in the military goes on to add, “Osofisan would go ahead to conscript the legendary Tunde Awosanmi, who will, in turn go ahead to conscript me.” So, he remembers working on ‘The Two Sisters’ and ‘The Hiss’. “Of those later dramas, JP Clark’s creative wit, adroitness and poetic tintinnabulation are still clearly evident.”
Cole describes Clarks writing thus: “He weaves his words like a master carver would the bamboo cane. Despite my fascination with these plays, I hold the strongest sentiment for ‘The Raft’. This is an existential drama, and I’ll hold it dearly to my heart.”
Then Cole uses the titles of some of Clark’s popular work in this manner: “Now, our JP has become one of ‘The Casualty’ of immortality. May ‘The Raft’ sail our creative god gently to the abyss of peace.
Bem Max Nomor (Wikipedia Editor)
Nomor’s first encounter with
JP Clark was with his poem ‘Night Rain’, which he studied for his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination. “It was such a beautiful piece that I memorized it unconsciously,” he says. He would later read ‘Dust Mite’ and ‘This Magic Naira’ which remains fresh in his memory because of what he describes as “the worthlessness of the naira today.”
However, the lines from ‘Night Rain’ have never “departed my lips since I read it.” Every time it rains, Nomor unconsciously says, “great water drops are dribbling” and his children respond with “great water drops are dribbling.”
Clark was professor of English at the University of Lagos, from where he retired, and was famous for his poems such as ‘Ibadan’ and ‘The Casualties’, which ironically relates to present-day Nigeria. His work often explores themes such as events of the Nigerian civil war, corruption, his travel experiences and so on. He was also known for his plays, particularly ‘Song of a Goat’ (which premiered in 1961), in which the protagonist causes his wife and his brother to indulge in an illicit affair that resulted in suicide. It was followed by a sequel, ‘The Masquerade’.
A statement signed by C.C. Clark and Ilaye Clark on Tuesday reads in part: “Prof. J. P. Clark has paddled on to the great beyond in comfort of his wife, children and siblings, around him.”
Imam recalls the lines in ‘Ibadan’, a poem he describes as “impregnated with so many literary devices” that could pass as a pictorial piece for its graphic usage of metaphors and deftness of craft in creating reality, and its sensitive appreciation of place.