I turn poetry into action – Halima Usman
Halima Usman has won awards for her poetry including the Head of Civil Service Award for Creativity, ANA award for most outstanding female author and the NTA Trailblazer award. Through her NGO, Halimafactor Community Initiative, she is exposing IDP kids t
Sunday
Why poetry and not another literary genre?
I didn’t choose poetry, it chose me.
What does being creative mean to you?
It means being able to see something in my soul or my mind and bringing it to life in the physical. It means giving life to those imbedded abilities in me that need to be discovered by me and finding the right experiences, opportunities and relationships to birth them into something fascinating and appealing to myself and others. It means seeing the unseen by others and molding them into beautiful things to behold.
What exactly is it you do with poetry?
I just turn it into action. Turning poetry into action gave birth to my NGO, where I try to address the challenges or issues raised in my poems. Each time I write a poem about something I don’t like or even the things I like, I try to do something to either address the problem or bring out the beauty I see for others to appreciate and replicate. I love to write poems that talk about community or social issues. For instance, my poem It was just yesterday which talked about the struggle for girl child education in northern Nigeria and the attack by Boko Haram and its psychological effect on girl child education, made me start my Voices From The Camp Project with internally displaced children.
What projects have you worked on in recent times?
Some of the projects I have been working on include Gombe Day of Literature And Creativity to help young and upcoming writers especially poets and artists Daily Trust on in northeast Nigeria. There is also Voices From The Camps to bridge the educational gap created by the displacement of these children from their homestead; and the Kabusa Waste To Wealth Project, here in the FCT to raise people who are responsible for the cleanliness of their environment and to use that satellite town as a sample community, where water sachets will not be indiscriminately disposed off on the roads and other such places. This project runs for one year and takes place every last Saturday of the month as part of community sanitation.
IDP children have had quite some experiences. In their situation, why should they be interested in poetry?
Initially, it was difficult. Many of them didn’t know what poetry was. Some couldn’t even write anymore. We had to go through teaching them these all over again and letting them choose for themselves what poems they wanted to write. This year for the World Poetry Day event, we gave them poetry books from which they chose poems. One of them performed at the NTA premises on Poetry Day. For me this is more significant than distributing clothing and such things because I believe that giving them opportunities is also very important. With this they know their worth and value and the world also can look at them beyond their being IDPs. They also, can look back at when they were IDPs and have positive memories when they remember they won awards for poetry or they interacted with somebody high up there they may never have been able to meet or that they performed in front of an audience. These are things I know they will live to remember.
How has this experience influenced you personally?
This has given me a new perspective to life and people, and has raised my leadership instincts. It has also given me a strong belief that we can collectively change our dear country Nigeria, from where it is today to where we want it to be. We have the potential, we have the resources. We only need more selfless leaders.
What for you is the climax in all this?
I want to be an internationally recognized poet and poetivist. I want to give my 100% to my
nation. I don’t have to die old but let me die fulfilled having done my best for my country and being sure that I achieve what I was created to do and achieve. I want to be part of the process of bequeathing a better Nigeria to our children.
What kind of creative patterns, routines or rituals do you have?
I sleep for four hours at the most, do my routine exercises, read some books, write new poems or work on old ones as the inspiration comes, do research on topics for presentation. I am a public speaker, award-winning poet and IDP advocate. So I speak a lot to youths, women groups, community leaders, etc. I also research to keep me up to speed with happenings in my industry as a civil servant.
What’s your favourite poem you’ve written?
My favourite poem is entitled Stranger. It’s the last poem in my first published collection of poems entitled Spellbound and another short unpublished one that I have not been able to give a title. It goes: I don’t need to rhyme Just to make a line And I don’t need to lie Just to prove a point I have tasted the best of this life And I’d rather be me Both now and in the life to come
What are you trying to communicate with your poetry?
That we can be our brothers’ keepers. That we can help each other attain and achieve our highest goals and potentials. That greed and selfishness does not guarantee happiness but helping others guarantees not only happiness but peace and good health as well.
How do you begin a poem?
It just comes to me once I see or hear something that excites or troubles me. It comes naturally.
Is there a poet or poem you continually go back to?
Not really. I just try to enjoy good poetry and poets especially performance poetry.
Which creative medium would you love to pursue but haven’t yet?
I loved drawing while in primary school and later I became a singer and then dramatist but stopped so many years ago. Sometimes I feel like going back to them.
What’s the best advice you ever had about how to be more poetic?
To just let myself flow and not try to be like or copy someone.
Would you say that the internet and social media contribute to the wellbeing of poetry?
Yes in terms of advert, publicity and learning more about what others have done or are doing. It helps poets to connect, rub minds, share ideas and celebrate one another. I think it’s a potent tool to fight injustice, inequality and all forces of social vices through a collective front by raising a unified voice through creativity. However, the other side especially for lazy poets is that, it gives them resources for ‘cut and join’ poetry.
How important is accessibility of meaning? Should a reader have to work hard to ‘solve’ a poem?
No. Poetry is supposed to be enjoyed while receiving a message whether sweet or sour.
What is your writing process? Do you follow a regular routine?
No. I write as the inspiration comes. If I am driving, I quickly use my phone to record. I can write anywhere and at any time. But I love to do my final brushes at night when everyone is asleep. I also do a lot of consultations on my writing by letting others have a look, edit and give their opinion.
What book(s) and/or author(s) have influenced your life and writing?
Focus by Daniel Coleman; 50 Cent by Robert Green; The magic of thinking big by David J. Schwartz; John Maxwell books on leadership; Steve Covey; T Harv Eker; Mike Murdock; Tenants of the House by Wale Okediran; Denja Abdullahi’s books of poetry; Sadiq Dzokogi; Dike Chukwumerije and Prof. Chudi Uwazurike, are some of those who have influenced me.
According to you, what tools are must-haves for writers?
A writer must have good command of language, have a good thought and message flow, be highly imaginative (imagery), curious which gives birth to creativity and have determination for new lines as well as quality production in writing a piece, publishing it and delivering or presenting it.
Who is your favourite poet and what is your favourite poem?
Dike Chukwumerije. I love his poem The Rambling of a Poet in Love.
What are you reading right now?
Winning Without Greed which is a servant-led success story by Irv Burling. It is a about leadership using the servantleader approach to establish, lead and sustain companies for long period of time.