Prisoner of Love

<p> </p><p>This collection of poems navigates love's place in the human experience. I place emphasis on the place of love because I believe that every poet is driven by a certain shade of love to birth the deepest of poetic pieces. For example the poet JP Clark was driven by the place of love to write Ibadan.</p><p><br></p><p>In this collection the poet uses simple diction to navigate deep and complicated human emotions. We see that in the poem Seeds of Love:</p><p><br></p><p><em>The foundation of our love wasn't strong;</em></p><p><em>it was built on sinking sands</em></p><p><em>and as hail and sandstorms threatened</em></p><p><em>our love crashed like a sandcastle. </em></p><p><br></p><p>And I think this is what makes this collection unique. Here we see a poet who is content with the simplicity of language the lightness of metaphors to express emotions. The poems find their relativity in the softness of their language.</p><p><br></p><p>As expected in exploring the place of love these love poems are not just about the flowery feeling and the butterflies that love elicits; no they mention the heartbreak the hurt that comes along with it for is love not about pain and betrayal too?</p><p><br></p><p>This collection is not only about the place of love; as I mentioned earlier driven by another shade of love the poet also explores the love of body as seen in the poem My Body:</p><p><br></p><p><em>I have learnt to love my body with its scars</em></p><p><em>to treat it like a prized ornament</em></p><p><em>to worship it and give it the care it deserves.</em></p><p><em>I have learnt to love myself.</em></p><p><br></p><p>You will also see poems about the love of place where the poet dissects the soul of his nation where he mourns a nation that sends her children out to the harsh experience of becoming immigrants in another country.</p><p><br></p><p>In all this is a graceful collection of poems thematically linked in their concerns yet diverse in the kinds of emotions each one will provoke in the reader.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p> </p>