Love, Cultural Identity in Omeke’s Hymns of A Deepman

Yinka Olatunbosun

Heartbreak. Passion. Compromise. Expectations. The story of love may be a unique experience to the individuals in love but the whole notion of being in love is absolutely universal. In Joshua Omeke’s poetry and prose collection Hymns of A Deepman, the age-long concept of love is explored as a natural human longing alongside other preoccupations that probe the vestiges of humanity such as maternal love, villainy, war and cultural identity.

Oscillating between the minds of a man and a woman, the poet evokes in select poems love stories- sweet and sour- to unfurl the crust of human feelings.

In the piece titled ‘Tale That Amuses My Emotions,’ he conveys a tale of unconventional love- one that overlooks imperfections and promises to last a lifetime.

Using metaphor, Omeke captures the essence of motherhood in ‘My Mother is A Spider.’ Like an artist’s precision on canvas, he paints with clarity the picture of a doting mother; a father figure who provides for her children. Using cultural references like ‘African marimba drum,’ he idealises the persona of an African mother along the lines of societal battles and boundaries that she surmounts and breaks daily.

With ‘Proud Lover,’ Omeke lets the reader into the mind of a non-committing lover- a male stereotype. This character, unapologetically, expresses his perspective on a failed relationship. An embodiment of selfishness, this male character hinges his unfaithfulness towards his partner on his being ‘a guy.’ Using an arrogant tone, the poet demonstrates the ease to which a man moves on from a failed relationship under the direction of his phallus.

The pains of heartbreak run deep in another piece titled ‘Earthquake in Tokyo Love.’ The poetic lines illustrate how the walls of expectations crash in when a relationship ends while healing takes a longer time when one of the pair doesn’t let go.

Passion is meant to run through the reader’s veins in ‘Total Seduction.’ The poem-laden with imagery- recounts episode(s) of desires, romanticising with the thought of unfulfilled yearning.

Afrocentrism seeps through some of the lines in this collection. Through allusions and references, the poet celebrates his cultural identity. For instance in ‘The Hope in My Bucket’ he writes: “A beauty in melanin, proud and strong.” This reference to black skin echoes the sentiment in negritude poetry. Similarly in the poem ‘Epitome of Beauty,’ the poet eulogises the subject’s ‘ebony skin.’

Using photography- mostly archival images from popular activist family, Ransome Kuti as well as other political figures in Nigeria’s history such as Ojukwu, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti- the poet seems to have assembled history to dissect social reality.

Drawing upon biblical allusions, he creates pieces centred around biblical characters. A case in point is ‘Funeral at Red Sea.’ He recounts Pharaoh’s episode using it as a spotlight on subject matters like tyranny, idolatry and freedom.

Digging deeper into African history, the poet further interrogates freedom in ‘Footsteps to Western Yards.’ Using the Badagry port of the trans-Atlantic slave past as the subject, Omeke recounts the pain of past cruelty that commodified human lives. Echoes of the slave trade could be read in ‘Victory Acerta’ ‘Hello Garvey’ ‘Alae Iacta Est’ among others.

Perhaps in most of his prose, he removes the ebbs- giving way to free flow of thoughts, sometimes of global significance. For example, ‘Nature Boy’ is built on a question-and-answer format to generate conversation among nations about their resources or lack of. Again, social reality becomes the concern of the writer in this prose-poem collection. Racial discrimination proves to be the highlight of ‘Letter From Khumalo’ which dredges up aspects of South Africa’s murky apartheid history using an epistolary writing technique.

The influence of Christian faith is very evident in Omeke’s Hymns of A Deepman making it quite unfathomable how he, effortlessly, blends the profane with the sacred in this timeless treasure that provokes black consciousness alongside a desire for love and humanity.