An interview
with Mike Kantey and Chuma Mmeka
Pushing Boundaries: A conversation with Nigeria’s Next Generation Poet
Esta semana , nós da BNAP falou com Chuma
Mmeka , o poeta / escritor / ator, extraordinário sobre poesia e no próximo
poesia geração. Nascido em meados dos anos 70 da Nigéria , Chuma testemunhou
muitos abusos e tem usado a poesia como uma forma de se expressar.
You have described yourself as a new generation writer, what do you
think sets you most apart from the old generation?
CM: First, I will say that the fact that I write all
my work of poetry in modern day English sets me apart from those whose poems
still sound the tone of archaic construction. Usually when people write poetry
in Nigeria and indeed the rest of the world, a collection would comprise a few
true tales and much more of fiction to make up a book length. I didn't want my
work to be like that, so I made it a point of duty to write only of my personal
experiences. My writing resolve takes me time, but it has already given me two
full book lengths. Also, in my wide book reading, I am yet to find a single
collection of poems that is like my book The
Broken Home. With several poems showcasing a wide sphere of themes
including culture, love, hate, patriotism, etc. in formal verse, free verse,
sonnet etc. and all telling the progressive true life story of a baby boy
offspring of a marriage gone awry, who grows into a man experiencing the causes
and negative effects of abuse in the family; the work remains the first of its
kind in a literary world where long stories of this nature are written mainly
as prose.
As a multi disciplinarian artist,
what advantage do you think poetry has over other art forms you’ve used and how
do they dovetail with each other?
CM: Indeed, poetry
is the only art form that allows me to disgorge the contents of my mind in an
unfettered manner. While I am also an actor in the Nigerian film industry
for instance, the story line is usually fictional and someone else's work. In
the end however, all the art forms in which I am involved with, dovetail into
each other as they each afford me the opportunity to reach a wide range of
people with my messages and motivational ideology.
What would you say is unique about the Best New African Poets (BNAP) anthology and what sort of impact do
you think BNAP will have on the next generation of African writing?
CM: BNAP can be said to be unique in the sense that
it is one of the first poetry anthologies that recognize the talents of new
breed African poets. I see this BNAP
first edition as a motivator for the next generation of African writers who are
searching for opportunities that recognize and accept skills without feeling
like you are being choked with some colloquial bottle necks. The next edition
will no doubt be a bomb as there are already many young African poets cannot
afford to miss out from it.
If you’ve read the book already
(or parts of it) which pieces really stuck out for you and why?
CM: (Laughing) My own pieces of course! My three
poems in the anthology: “A People's Culture”, “My Ekpe Dance”, and “Once Upon A
Christmas Day” are the only poems I saw in the anthology that centre on
contemporary African tradition, depicting local cultural values that have
continued to survive till date.
The Best “New” African Poets Anthology can be purchased at
http://amzn.to/1mwo3Go
Mike Kantey sente o que diferencia o BNAP de todos os outros livros de poesia é porque todos os grupos de nós em um livro , promove o espírito de africanism pan e nos faz sentir mais perto de si
1)
Who /what
introduced you to poetry?
MK: Poetry was always in my life:
from the earliest nursery rhymes to the popular songs on radio.
2)
What kind of
poetry/ storytelling tradition exist in your culture/country and has this had
any bearing on your writing?
MK: Being a multilingual country with many
cultures from all over the world, I have been exposed throughout my life to
many voices and many traditions, so that I was led to study not only English at
the University of Cape Town, but also Greek & Roman Literature and
Philosophy and Religious Studies and I also majored in the African Languages.
As a result, all of my work is conscious of the variety of human experience and
culture, and all my writing is multi-voiced and multi-cultural in spirit and
expression.
3)
What attracted
you to writing books for children and how does your approach to writing change
when you’re writing for adults?
MK: I have always been attracted to children’s
literature and often collected award-winning literature from all over the
world. I then worked as a publisher in the nine African languages of Southern
Africa, with a high percentage in the first few years of mass schooling, so it
was natural for me to write for that audience. I guess the difference lies in
the simplicity of both the story and the language, the greater element of
surprise and fun.
Great stories for children are like great
jokes: short and to the point. Novels and narratives (like All Tickets, Touching Circles, and Touching Hands) are like choo-choo trains: a bunch of little
stories all strung together and a little bit drawn out.
4)
What urban
influences have influenced your writing?
MK: The biggest influence in my life has been
the City of Cape Town, although I am familiar with many others through the
power of literature, TV, radio, and film, and by visiting (among others) Paris,
Rome, London, Amsterdam, New York, and San Francisco.
5)
How have you been
able to interlink your love for poetry and your love for environmental (and
other forms of) activism?
MK: Some of my poems are expressly political,
some are obviously talking about environmental themes, but I am more likely to
talk about the tinier details of the environment (like a bee tumbling within a
flower), some influence of Chinese and Japanese poetry, and more importantly
about my ever-abiding love of particular women in my life at a particular time
in the past (and – of course – my
current partner), which I guess owes tribute to the tradition of love poetry
and troubadours throughout the world.
6)
As a writer who
also has experience with editing, what do you think sets the BNAP anthology
from other African anthologies?
MK: Obviously,
the wide selection from different countries is what sets this anthology apart,
but also I think the spirit of Pan-Africanism: the idea that we are all
brothers and sisters in one sub-Continent, or region of Africa, and therefore
it helps me to feel closer to those of my brothers and sisters in the north.
