POETRY INVOICE ON A TALK WITH MESIOYE JOHNSON.

POETRY INVOICE INTERVIEW SECTION:

My name is Adeniran joseph ( prince Joe)  I will be hosting our today's Guest in a HOT SEAT, do feel relax as we take you to the realms of this beautiful section.

H:  I'm honored to have you admist, sir, can we know you?

G: I'm Mesioye Johnson, a young writer from Ogun state trying to find his feet.

H: Brilliant. 'Finding his feet' in that statement, should we agree, you're still learning to become who you suppose to become, perhaps, you haven't archived anything of your dreams, or what do you mean by that?

G: Well, I would say a man is never enough for himself, and at times we find it hard to contain ourselves no matter what. As a matter of fact, I'm learning to become who I'm suppose to become like you said with a shade of what I never thought of becoming coming out good at the long run. I must confess here too that the road isn't what the body alone can walk, it has to be with one's all.

H: Wow! Great. But, you know what? I'm not moved. Because I know you more than you know yourself( kidding).LOL!

So, sir mesi, if I may ask, what do you think poetry means to you when you started, do you feel so inferior or anxious that: where am I going to start from, or what exactly push you into writing, why not another thing?

G: Sighs. That's a great question and I must say that I was actually expecting that to surface.

Poetry to me means creating a hole on my burden so it can leak away into unknowns. I mean; I see poetry as the saviour of everytime-resort during dark times. It's a place I visit when I need to offload my darkness and talk to my demon to keep shut. I will say this without fear of contradiction that: if not for poetry, depression would have built a coffin for me countless times. I could go on and on and on though. Lol

At first, I felt inferior of the journey back then in 2014 exactly the day Brazil World cup commenced that year, where I ignorantly carried my big dictionary( to check up big words to wow my readers, which is what people do confidently as a great writer), a pen and a book to write a poem about the WORLD CUP and I enjoyed my ignorance at full-lenght because I was able to flood the "masterpiece" with punctuations and parentheses, and while I post of Facebook I drowned myself in praises which was the first war James Ademuyiwa fought out of my life. In short, it's just a pity I can't really recollect the poem that forced my zeal that I could do better in poetry, but before then, I've been a good article writer even without knowing it, so it goes without saying that, poetry brought out the giant in me but I never resisted learning, and my odd hour readings and studying really helped.

H: Ok. Great. Great. You really done well for yourself. I could feel the meaning from your lines, so wonderful.

But, I'm kind of bewildered on something, & i want to be very clear about it, I notice your poems mostly are created with  bastard( permit me) metaphors that do create a deep thinking in our hearts.

My question is, how do you do such, & why do you love playing on metaphors so well, are you trying to say, others devices are not worth use?

G: LOL!

I use other figure of speech perfectly well but not obviously like people would expect in a random poem. I will just say the most piercing out of these figure of speech is metaphor, I think, because it's a thing to know metaphors so well and another thing to  use it well and not in a way that looks tiring to the readers. I sigh most times when I see it in a poem and I could guess the next figure of speech that would be coming into place. It boils down to practise. Permit me to say this, you'll be outrightly wrong if you say other devices are not worth usage, but then every writer should find his strength and find a way to create a signature and a worthwhile edge in his art.

H:  Gracious. I think, I'm getting satisfied now. Exactly what I was expecting, because you seems to dwell so well in metaphors, though you do use other devices, but anytime i/ we read you, metaphor hold us captive mostly. Great. Great.

Sir mesi,  let's come into today's young writers, specially Nigeria, what do you think poetry could offer this country?

Though we have many past writers that have done theirs, but, still, things are not just changing, what do you think we ( writers) need to do to keep this country on what could give us Great future ahead, since  " pen is mightier than sword"

G: Smiles. This is a question of what every writer has done to applaud the art in his/her own way, and not a question of finding big grammar to justify what the future isn't sure of holding. And that's why I applaud every poet, writer or sponsor of poetry in a country where poverty is the national anthem. I mean we shouldn't check poverty and hardship as the benchmark for placing priorities on poetry, it should come from our hearts.

A 5000naira poetry contest by everyone will never make us poor, we all have a part to play. How many schools have we visited to introduce poetry by promoting her. The truth is, if we don't carry this cross, another Jesus won't come to carry it for us.

Let's challenge ourselves on ways to take it forward, let's organize readings, open mic sessions, contests, monthly awards to at least say thank you to those outstanding writers out there, and by extension, that's a wakeup call to all crawling ones, and that's the origin of everything beautiful becoming more beautiful. Until this is done, a great future isn't born yet.

H:  Mehh, I'm loving you, gracious. You'e amazing. Indeed.

Sir mesi, are you on the  stand that poets should be given chance to fill some vacant political offices, can you tell from your experience; is that a good idea, & you particular, can you go on a political post in this country, never forget, you're a poet, that poeple look up to day by day, do you think it could have any influence on your reputation and ability to still call yourself "poet of justice?

G: Sighs. At a point in my life I have been a politician, at least once if not twice but I stopped along the line. The truth is this: being a poet or writer doesn't change the fact that you're a subject to humiliation and the covetousness that follows. It doesn't change the fact that you will throw away your pen, muse and credibility when you get there. Poets aren't a kind of human saviour at the political parlance, and because we heal.with words doesn't mean we can heal the nation with good governance but it's a better idea.

For now, I wouldn't know if I can go for one, I doubt it but I'm ready to support any willing and able man.

H:  Great. Great.  I'm feeling indifferent. LOL! You said  well.

Let come back to you, i know before you start/ when starting( writing) you have some mentors or poets that you do love reading, that really influence you especially, can we know them, & what do you see in their works that really got you so influenced?

G: I can mention names and we won't leave here, but i wont forget James Ademuyiwa who in his strict schedules in 2014 held poetry classes with me online ( Facebook) that was where i started writing a duet online, so funny. Gbenga Adesina, Ailey, Adeoba Gbenga, Safia, Ladan, Adeyemi Agarau, Ayomide Festus, Jeremiah Peters, Inioluwa Abiola, Sarah Cohen, Kei Miller, Ocean, Howe Sarah, Chris Abani, Saeed Jones, Abraham George, Mesioye Johnson as well and so on ( I want us to leave here early) LOL!

These ones and the ones in my heart have a way to shape darkness, joy in the most beautiful way that makes me adore the art better. They split the world before your eyes and you begin to see magic, that's who they are.

H: Meh, abeg, thank you for your kindness. We need to leave here early. LOL!

You really do read wide, I guess. Great.

Sir, I know for every poet, we do face challenges, there's no how, it's normal. But, it's better to overcome them, than letting them become part of you, for another time.

In a nutshell, how do you overcome your writing challenges and what are the challenges you do face, especially?

G: Shyly, I face none at the longrun, why? Because I have a tool to melt them already, which is poetry. Any challenge at all pass through my muse and I'm always happy seeing them die in pages.

H:  Ok. I love that. Vivid and insightful. Gracious.  Our time is fast spent. 3 questions to go, & we leave you to the hands of your lovers of they have any questions for you.

Sir, It's known that anything in life happens for a reason, bringing it sharply into poetry, what inspires you most to write sometimes?

G: It's simply the need to pour my grief, my darkness in a safer place than my body.

H: Gracious. Keep pouring your grief. LOL!

Sir, I will love to give you a task. My mind say so. We want to know how good you could be more creative, i mean more creative in writing.

Just in 10 line, write a poem, describing a sensitive part in your body, how important is it to you, without the use of vulgar languages.

G: MY HEART

This is an ode to what you carry:
a misconception, a dying garage,
the beginning of what breaks & leaks
in names of places I forgot my breath,
I do not want to say my lover
poured wounds here, I do not
want to believe my father builds his memories here,
I just want to say you're the home
of water washing my grief branch by branch into a frame
designed with goodbyes, & no one could do that better.

- Mesi

H: wow! You really did well. You're really a god in your own Creativity. Thank you for coming. We hope to see you next time.

G: I'm honored.

The END.