Omoseye Bolaji writes on The lady bards

I must confess I have always had a rather ambivalent attitude towards poetry. To be absolutely blunt, on the whole I consider it to be a rather "inferior" genre of literature, especially nowadays when so many mediocre "clowns" are claiming to be poets! I realise many out there would be incensed but this is a general view of mine which is patently qualified. I mean the world has noted eg that T.S Eliot was a great poet and writer, he was also a great literary critic, dramatist and essayist. Nigeria has of course produced many great poets too - like Wole Soyinka, Okigbo, J.P.Clark, Niyi Osundare, Ofeimun, even Chinua Achebe. But note that these illustrious names are not just poets, they are also renowned critics, novelists, dramatists etc. My point is that I feel uneasy when a writer places all emphasis and credence on being a "poet", only, like it's the be-all and end-all of being a writer. To give a SA example, one of my favourite writers is Aryan Kaganof. He has published about ten books of poetry. Yet when I think of Kaganof as a great writer, I am not really thinking of his poetry, but his powerful novels like Uselessly and Laduma. This is a global approach, largely. Thomas Hardy was a great poet but virtually everybody concentrates on his novels. The same applies to D.H Lawrence And the same applies to African writers. When we think of great writers like Achebe, Dambudzo, Armah, Ngugi, Ata Aidoo, virtually everybody is thinking of their works of fiction, or literary essays - not their poetry. Yes, I myself am a published poet. I have published three books of poetry,but I am in no way surprised or upset that most readers and critics focus only on the fiction I have produced. As far as I am concerned, that is the way it is supposed to be! Yet having said all this, I am excited to see more and more young ladies in South Africa reading and writing poetry! I know they will benefit much more from reading prose, but at least they are still appreciating literature. As the great Achebe said, we must not presume to be policemen of literature! And so when three charming, brilliant young S.A women poets - spearheaded by the redoubtable Jah Rose Jafta - approached me to write a Foreword to their book, how could I refuse? In fact I was delighted to do it. The ladies' book, titled Free State of mind, is a fine anthology of poems. And the good news is that the ladies are still quite young and have lots of time to add more strings to their literary bows! - Omoseye Bolaji