Abiku By Bode Ojoniyi Poem by Olatunde Temitayo

An Analysis of Abiku poem by Bode Ojoniyi Analyzed by Olatunde Temitayo Abiku is a Yoruba mythology which is a compound word for Abi (born) and Ku(die) . It is a name given to a spirit child that is believed to die early and reincarnate to be born by the same woman, only to die and return again. Bode Ojoniyi, a lecturer in the Department of Languages And Linguistics, Osun State University, writes the poem to discuss issues that marry one of Yoruba mythologies “Abiku”. The poem is however, a calculated lines that is meant to reply the two Abiku poems written by John Pepper Clark and Wole Soyinka. Wole Soyinka and John Pepper Clark believe in the existence of Abiku but Bode Ojoniyi is of different view. On this note, I will discuss what really makes the poem a unique one in the literary world. In the opening lines of the poem, stanza one: “they say: I’m what I know I am not/Ever since I came, father and mother /And all treat me like a transcendental being, / There is always a sense of apprehension/ Built in my existence”. The poet introduces his poem with paradoxical statement which means that the poet is called Abiku but he knows that he is not an Abiku. And he reveals to the readers that his parents treat him like a mystical or divine being. The poetic persona continues in stanza two by labelling how his parents believe that he is in the world for the fourth time and he has no voice to declare his helplessness “To them, I am here for the fourth time… I have no voice to declare my ignorance and helplessness”. He further pronounces his violation of being and how herbalist performs different rituals to make him stay: stanza 3line 2 “… yesterday, it was a man with such guttural voice like an ancient mask, ”. The repetitive line “…I am being violated” creates a mental delineation of the infringement of mortal being. In the fourth stanza, the poetic persona employs an imagery that describes sacrifice. The poetic persona tells the reader that he has ‘eaten and swallowed concoctions unimaginable’ perhaps ‘no mortal being could endure much? ’ the fourth stanza is surrounded by theme of Yoruba belief in sacrifice. He concludes the fourth stanza metaphorically by saying that ‘he is a living shrine’. This means that all the incisions on his body and different concoction he has eaten are all object of sacrifice to be offered in shrine in which he sees himself as a shrine in the sights of his parents. ‘How can they presume I love to die? ’ he laments how his parents assume that he loves to die and the poet again laments how he is being violated by their witlessness and their fetishism. He continues his lamentation in the last stanza of the poem by declaring his mind to his parents that even if he wants to stay, how can he subsist all the desecrations of his being “Even if I had wanted to live/ how can I survive these violations of my being? ”. The last two lines of the poem is the major lines that conclude the messages that the poetic persona wants the reader to know. “…mother, father, my blood is failing as you are failing, / To see: I am not an Abiku, but a product of your gene…! These lines means that there is no existence of Abiku, our scientific generation has made us to understand that there is an introduction of gene. The poetic persona is telling his parents that he is not an Abiku but a product of their genes. Gene is the basic unit capable of transmitting characteristic from one generation to the next. It consists of a specific sequence of DNA or RNA that occupies a fixed position locus on a chromosome. (Encarta Dictionaries) . The poet declare that his death is a result of his parents’ DNA. COMMENT: This is a poem that declares the non-existence of Abiku mythology. It tells us that the result of pre-mature death is a result of Gene. In fact, Abiku mythology can also be equated with the mythology of spirit-twins before Mary Slessor stopped the killing of twins in Nigeria. This poem is a personified sword that slays one of the mythological beliefs of Yoruba folks. Works Cited: Encarta dictionaries (2009) Abiku Poem by Bode Ojoniyi Fallacies among Yoruba mythologies by Olatunde Temitayo