EREMITE CONVERSATIONS : Community makes it easy to hope — Chidera Ihekereleome-Okorie
Thanks to social media, Chidera fell in love with poetry, and went on to write some of her own. Now the winner of Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize 2020, she shares insights into her journey and her present relationship with the craft in this conversation with our Interview Editor, Flourish Joshua.
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Flourish:
After winning the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize 2020, I looked you up, but could barely find a few of your published poems. In perhappened & IceFloe Press. It seemed to me like you won the prize out of the blue. Something you probably weren't even expecting. Were you?
Chidera:
I am aware that some brilliant Nigerian poets that I look up to entered the competition. With that in mind, I would not say I knew for certain that my poem, bloom, would win the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize 2021, but I thought it stood a chance.
I do have a lot of unfinished poems which I am working on. Who knows, I may be able to compile them into a chapbook or send them individually to poetry journals.
Flourish:
Awesome. I look forward to reading you. I'm curious. What has been your writing journey so far? When did you know that you wanted to do poetry? And when did you know what you wanted to do with poetry?
Chidera:
Before Dec. 2017, I had no interest in poetry. One normal day, I was going through my Facebook feed, and I stumbled on a poem by Samuel A. Adeyemi.
The title of the poem is - To the boy who sat beside my gate which would later appear in his poetry chapbook, Anxiety and things that shatter in 2019. I found myself going back to his Facebook page to read his poems. That human is an amazing writer. His poems made me fall in love with poetry. His poems made me want to do poetry.
That December I tried writing poetry for the first time. Samuel was helpful, he'd read some of my poems and give me feedback. Looking back, I did write some horrible poems, but it is all part of the process. My writing journey has been amazing, to be honest, but it has not been consistent because, life.
There were some other poets that played a huge role in my journey. Pamilerin Jacob, Iyanu Adebiyi... these people took their time to share knowledge and tips without pay. This community makes it easy to hope. I can't say I know when I knew what I wanted to do with poetry. Maybe it is because what I want to do with poetry is changing with time.
When I started, I just want to write pretty poems and move people, but now what I want is to use poetry as a companion. To write what may never see the light of day. To write what I want to share with the world, to interrogate, to vent, to grieve, to joy, to remember and to hope.
Flourish:
Wholesome. We all have people who walk us down the poetry lane. These names you have mentioned are worn by beautiful people. I also love[d] that you sincerely didn't have anything to do with poetry when you began. Glad you now have a bearing. And in the end, poetry is both the clergyman and the sinner.
Your poem, “i am running my hands through the void,” published in issue 3, perhappened magazine, talked about remembrance and how life has eaten ‘the man whose chest is deep/ enough to collect all of my drowning.’
Would you like to give me the backstory?”
Chidera:
I wrote that in one night. I was desperate to get my poem published and I was going to submit an old poem to some journal. Perhappend mag happened to be accepting submissions for the heatwave issue at the time, but none of my old poems had anything on heatwave or heat.
Writing with a theme/word in mind is something I struggle with, but I decided to try it and come out with a complete poem before going to bed. I started out writing about the man I love, our long-distance relationship and how it had not grown weary even in the absence of touch, but in an attempt to bring "heat" into the poem, it took a different turn.
I’d say the poem is fictional, without a true-life back story, but it is about love, the loss of a loved one, a hollow that is forever hollow, and a longing for them knowing they’ll never return.
After winning the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize 2020, I looked you up, but could barely find a few of your published poems. In perhappened & IceFloe Press. It seemed to me like you won the prize out of the blue. Something you probably weren't even expecting. Were you?
Chidera:
I am aware that some brilliant Nigerian poets that I look up to entered the competition. With that in mind, I would not say I knew for certain that my poem, bloom, would win the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize 2021, but I thought it stood a chance.
I do have a lot of unfinished poems which I am working on. Who knows, I may be able to compile them into a chapbook or send them individually to poetry journals.
Flourish:
Awesome. I look forward to reading you. I'm curious. What has been your writing journey so far? When did you know that you wanted to do poetry? And when did you know what you wanted to do with poetry?
Chidera:
Before Dec. 2017, I had no interest in poetry. One normal day, I was going through my Facebook feed, and I stumbled on a poem by Samuel A. Adeyemi.
The title of the poem is - To the boy who sat beside my gate which would later appear in his poetry chapbook, Anxiety and things that shatter in 2019. I found myself going back to his Facebook page to read his poems. That human is an amazing writer. His poems made me fall in love with poetry. His poems made me want to do poetry.
That December I tried writing poetry for the first time. Samuel was helpful, he'd read some of my poems and give me feedback. Looking back, I did write some horrible poems, but it is all part of the process. My writing journey has been amazing, to be honest, but it has not been consistent because, life.
There were some other poets that played a huge role in my journey. Pamilerin Jacob, Iyanu Adebiyi... these people took their time to share knowledge and tips without pay. This community makes it easy to hope. I can't say I know when I knew what I wanted to do with poetry. Maybe it is because what I want to do with poetry is changing with time.
When I started, I just want to write pretty poems and move people, but now what I want is to use poetry as a companion. To write what may never see the light of day. To write what I want to share with the world, to interrogate, to vent, to grieve, to joy, to remember and to hope.
Flourish:
Wholesome. We all have people who walk us down the poetry lane. These names you have mentioned are worn by beautiful people. I also love[d] that you sincerely didn't have anything to do with poetry when you began. Glad you now have a bearing. And in the end, poetry is both the clergyman and the sinner.
Your poem, “i am running my hands through the void,” published in issue 3, perhappened magazine, talked about remembrance and how life has eaten ‘the man whose chest is deep/ enough to collect all of my drowning.’
Would you like to give me the backstory?”
Chidera:
I wrote that in one night. I was desperate to get my poem published and I was going to submit an old poem to some journal. Perhappend mag happened to be accepting submissions for the heatwave issue at the time, but none of my old poems had anything on heatwave or heat.
Writing with a theme/word in mind is something I struggle with, but I decided to try it and come out with a complete poem before going to bed. I started out writing about the man I love, our long-distance relationship and how it had not grown weary even in the absence of touch, but in an attempt to bring "heat" into the poem, it took a different turn.
I’d say the poem is fictional, without a true-life back story, but it is about love, the loss of a loved one, a hollow that is forever hollow, and a longing for them knowing they’ll never return.
"When I started, I just want to write pretty poems and move people, but now what I want is to use poetry as a companion. To write what may never see the light of day..."
Flourish:
What is your relationship with poetic form and what informed the choice of the form of your winning poem?
Chidera:
I am not big on poetic forms. I am down all for whatever form that tells the poet’s story. Generally, I lean towards the free verse poetic form. For me, fitting a poem into a specific poetic form involves letting go, trimming, and in some cases, changing the story to fit the form. This requires significant effort, and sometimes I am willing to go out of my comfort zone to add more creativity and mould my poem into a specific form. This was what I did with my winning poem.
In the poem, I experimented with Tyehimba Jess’s syncopated sonnets. I first stumbled upon that poetic form in the what-we-look-for section of the Frontier Poetry website. I was in awe. A poem that can be read in four different ways? Yes, please!! Why not?
My main aim was to challenge myself to write a poem (sonnet or not) that can be read in four different ways. So, I went to work with a free verse poem that was dearest to me and had been rejected three times prior. It is amazing that I didn't alter the original story to fit the poetic form, which is something I consider to be a miracle considering how I had altered some poems in the past while trying to write for a specific theme or trying to include specific words.
Flourish:
Brilliant. Putting in the work is important. How do you manage/balance poetry with family, work & other things you do? Do they affect your productivity? And what advice would you give to people who have multiple responsibilities?
Chidera:
Striking a balance is easier in theory than in reality especially for those who have multiple responsibilities.
It is impossible to give your 100% to more than one thing at a time. There is only so much time. It's either one or the other. In order to manage multiple responsibilities, I prioritize by answering some questions.
1. What is most important at this point in my life?
2. Can I live with myself if I put in most of my resources into it, and share what's left amongst the rest?
I find that my productivity is affected when I am dishonest with myself. I find myself trying to fit in too many things into my schedule. The consequence is that I am unable to give my best to any. In answering those two questions honestly, I remind myself to be kind to me. So that even when my friends or other poets are churning out poems on a steady, I don't put myself under unnecessary pressure.
It's okay for you to treat writing as a hobby and not a full time job. It is also okay to have it the other way round.
What is your relationship with poetic form and what informed the choice of the form of your winning poem?
Chidera:
I am not big on poetic forms. I am down all for whatever form that tells the poet’s story. Generally, I lean towards the free verse poetic form. For me, fitting a poem into a specific poetic form involves letting go, trimming, and in some cases, changing the story to fit the form. This requires significant effort, and sometimes I am willing to go out of my comfort zone to add more creativity and mould my poem into a specific form. This was what I did with my winning poem.
In the poem, I experimented with Tyehimba Jess’s syncopated sonnets. I first stumbled upon that poetic form in the what-we-look-for section of the Frontier Poetry website. I was in awe. A poem that can be read in four different ways? Yes, please!! Why not?
My main aim was to challenge myself to write a poem (sonnet or not) that can be read in four different ways. So, I went to work with a free verse poem that was dearest to me and had been rejected three times prior. It is amazing that I didn't alter the original story to fit the poetic form, which is something I consider to be a miracle considering how I had altered some poems in the past while trying to write for a specific theme or trying to include specific words.
Flourish:
Brilliant. Putting in the work is important. How do you manage/balance poetry with family, work & other things you do? Do they affect your productivity? And what advice would you give to people who have multiple responsibilities?
Chidera:
Striking a balance is easier in theory than in reality especially for those who have multiple responsibilities.
It is impossible to give your 100% to more than one thing at a time. There is only so much time. It's either one or the other. In order to manage multiple responsibilities, I prioritize by answering some questions.
1. What is most important at this point in my life?
2. Can I live with myself if I put in most of my resources into it, and share what's left amongst the rest?
I find that my productivity is affected when I am dishonest with myself. I find myself trying to fit in too many things into my schedule. The consequence is that I am unable to give my best to any. In answering those two questions honestly, I remind myself to be kind to me. So that even when my friends or other poets are churning out poems on a steady, I don't put myself under unnecessary pressure.
It's okay for you to treat writing as a hobby and not a full time job. It is also okay to have it the other way round.
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BIO:
Chidera Ihekereleome-Okorie is a poet who lives in Nigeria. She writes poetry because it helps her express her understanding of the world around her. Her work appears in perhappened mag, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, and IceFloe Press. She is the winner of the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize 2020. Find her on twitter @chideraIheke, and on Instagram @chidera.ihekereleome_okorie.
