ON THE RHYMES AND SENSIBILITIES OF A CAREER WOMAN

ARTS & REVIEW

Marilyn Maduka, whose debut collection of poems was launched late last year in Lagos, seems primed to become the literary community’s next big thing. This is because the corporate world’s top player, who divides her time between her public life and family, has had a long experience in creative writing, she tells Okechukwu Uwaezuoke

A qualitative gathering, that unmistakably bears the hallmark of a successful Lagos cultural evening, had enthusiastically welcomed the arrival of Marilyn Maduka’s The Bridge to Where I Come From. This, of course, should have been enough to buoy the confidence – and hopes – any budding, albeit promising, writer for a future lustrous literary career. Yet, a lurking undercurrent of trepidation might have somewhat bridled the optimism of the organisers of that Friday, November 26 evening’s event at the African Artist’s Foundation’s premises in Victoria Island. For this, after all, was Maduka’s debut poetry collection.

Even so, the happily married mother of three – two boys and a girl – has always written poetry from as far back she could remember. And that has been for almost three decades now. “As a child, I was deemed to be quite secretive and sometimes introverted,” she recalls. “However, writing was an art form that allowed me to express myself as well as my observations of the world around me – most often in secrecy. I started writing more seriously during my secondary school days. And the rest, as they say, is history.”

It had taken her a relatively short time – less than four months actually – to compile the poems in the recently-published book. “It was as if, once I made the decision, the book got impatient to get out into the world and put me under pressure to release it.”

As for the title she eventually chose for the debut poetry collection, she had first toyed with several possibilities, one of which was a title like Peppered Periwinkles. A title eventually emerged itself from a coalescing of the titles of two poems in the collection – “The Bridge” and “Where I Come From” – as well as from the second stanza of the book’s dedication, which reads: “And to my dad and mum/ Thank you for being the bridges/ Through which I have discovered/ Where I come from.”

Since the book’s publication and its successful launch, it had risen to the number one position in Amazon’s New Release in African Poetry before eventually dropping off from that spot. Maduka, who hopes that it would someday be a bestseller, is gratified by its “incredibly encouraging” reception so far. “My collection has been consistently referred to in very glowing language with words like ‘captivating’, ‘inspiring’, ‘beautiful’, ‘must-read’ and even ‘a page-turner’! Someone, who said she wasn’t ‘into poetry’, read my book and afterwards said she had discovered poetry as her new hobby.”

Indeed, there are many reasons why The Bridge to Where I Come From would, so to speak, make anyone fall in love with poetry. One of them is the poet’s unaffected and unobtrusive use of language in the expression of her life’s credo. In this collection, which is segmented into seven thematic subheads, she lurches from waxing lyrical to sometimes waxing philosophical and nostalgic in the cadence of deeply inspiring words. This could be why the book’s editor, Dr Odeworitse Eyeoyibo deems her “voice” to be “sometimes and somewhat quaint, archaic and anachronistic. Decidedly King Jamesian and Shakespearean.”

Egged on by the breathtaking simplicity of her lines, a reader is able to wend his way through a whole gamut of human emotions, feeling both the joys and sorrows of the poet, her mirth and laments with her and joins her in a reverential acknowledgement of the Eternal One. In one of the poems, titled “Moonlight Magic” – which is classified under the subheading “Nature”, although it could have also fitted into the subheading “Worship” – for instance, the reader muses with her as the following words cascade into his consciousness: “In the silence of the night/ I hear the moon whisper/ A soft tune that brings delight/ To the lonely midnight star.” This is before resuming with the more reverential concluding words: “And my soul exults in wonder/ My heart beats ever louder/ Awe-filled, I dare not ponder/ Save to attest;/ How great Thou Art!”

Even as a well-accomplished career woman with intimidating credentials, Maduka’s spirituality, which has been a big influence in her poems, holds a special place in her heart. Of course, she also acknowledges the influences of the happenings and people around her. “In terms of poetic influences, I would say that, above all others, Maya Angelou is certainly a poet, whose work I have deeply enjoyed and been inspired by over the years,” she intimates.

Before her current position as the People Director for West Africa at Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB-InBev), she had previously worked for such multinational companies as KPMG Professional Services, where she had kicked off her career as a management consultant, before assuming different human resources duties in MTN Nigeria and Unilever Nigeria Plc.

Yet, behind her public persona lurks a creative soul, whose sensibilities finds expression in other art forms besides writing. “I truly enjoy writing whenever time permits,” she says. On her possible next publication, she is yet sure about the next format it would take. Perhaps, another collection of poetry wouldn’t be a bad idea. Or, it could even be short stories. And she does not rule out the possibility of writing “a hardcore book on human resources”.

Back to the recently-launched poetry collection, she is intent on getting it out there. “I am currently doing some micro publicity through friends and family as well as the social media,” she says. “Some readers have said ‘the world needs this book’. So, I don’t want to be [held] responsible for not getting the word out to the world!”