EREMITE CONVERSATIONS : I USED TO HATE POETRY – SEMILORE KILASO
By Flourish Joshua
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In this interview, Semilore Kilaso, a Poet & Quantity Surveyor--who swears in another life she would have been an athlete--explores her journey to poetry, the myth of writer’s block, her take on monotony in Nigerian contemporary poetry, and more...
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FJ:
Hello, Semilore. How are you doing, today?
SK:
Hi, Joshua. I am alive and well, dealing with life and academics. How're you?
FJ:
Surviving! And I guess I'm not the only Nigerian on this table. Semilore, I know you've been an interviewer, so how does it feel being the interviewee, today?
SK:
Exciting, really. Oftentimes, when I interview poets, I tend to provide answers to the questions I ask. It gives me a better perspective of things by reflecting inward. Perhaps, I should interview you too, so you can understand this feeling.
FJ:
Haha. It is when the Interviewer needs an interview. Looking forward to that. So, let's meet you, Semilore.
SK:
I am 'Semilore Kilaso, a poet, writer and student Quantity Surveyor. I am a Christian, and student legislator with interest in psychology, politics, economics and digital marketing. I enjoy surfing the internet, and reading random articles. I am a decent Scrabble and Solitaire player. I moderate PIN LITERARY INTERVIEWS.
FJ:
Interesting! I hope we get to play Scrabble, someday. I have had the backs of scrabble kings & queens kiss the earth and their faces powdered with shame. We really should play, someday. Haha. I'm kidding. So, Semilore, it's great to know you do all of these. I'm curious, are you one of those poets who began writing from their mother's womb? Or tell us, when did you begin writing?
SK:
I began writing in primary school. Whenever we were assigned to write essays on "How I Spent My Last Holiday", "My Favorite Sport" etc., I would come up with concepts and write these essays, beautifully. I think it was only normal as I was a young reader who had a torn inherited Collins Dictionary and a TONAD English Language WASSCE past question gifted by my father. In JSS1, at age 10, I had a brilliant English teacher, Mr. Daniel, whose writing and teaching was transcendent. It was then I learned how to write, by the time I was in Senior Secondary School, I was already writing state essays and article for my school.
My relationship with poetry didn't start well. I used to hate poetry because I thought poems had to rhyme. I eventually learned how to write decent poems circa 2017.
FJ:
Quite strange, but not unfamiliar. Lots of [great] things never have good beginnings. We had all thought poems had to rhyme and that it could only be either in couplets or quatrains. I guess it's because contemporary poetry wasn't given space to breathe. And as kids, we couldn't have known more than what we were taught. I used to have a sister who never wanted to listen to anything poetry. But it's better now, with all the contemporaries and the broad transcendence. So, yeah. When you eventually learned how to write poems, what was your first poem like? What was it about? The sky? Nature? Food? Are you still proud of it? Tell us, please.
SK:
I wrote my first poem in December of 2013 on my way to school. It was about harmattan. The first line is "Harmattan the dry and windy season". I am not proud of the poem. My first set of published poems, "How we survived" & "Carouse", made me enthusiastic about poetry. They explore life and family relationship. I love both poems.
FJ:
Great! Semilore, do you have any challenge with writing (poetry)? Or are you an ‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega’?
SK:
Writing poetry is not easy. I always have to learn and unlearn, pay attention to details and read. I rely on strategic reading. I don't just read a poem to pick a favorite line to quote on Twitter, I try to understand the poet and the poem. Reading too much poetry can also be difficult, because sometimes, I question if a line I had written is mine or if my brain archived it from a poem I had previously read.
There is also the issue with rejection, where I have to revise my poem and question every line. Few times the poem doesn't seek to be edited, it is what it is. Every poem has its personality and chooses if it wants to be written on paper, in lowercase letters, without punctuations or in Garamond 11 point font. I also have to be careful with wordplay, metaphor and language generally, so I don't get mislabeled and accused of instigating whatever.
FJ:
Awesome! A bad line could ruin a poem. Then the question will be, what does a bad line look like? Semilore, do you have writer's block? If yes, how do you handle it?
SK:
I am not sure there is a specific way a bad line looks, perhaps it contains spelling and punctuation errors or improper usage of language. I can adjudge what a bad line is.
I like to think I do not have writer's block, I am just lazy sometimes. However, when I find it difficult to write, I read poetry and short stories. I also play Scrabble or Merriam Webster dictionary word games, if I am desperate. Most times, I just sleep.
FJ:
Semilore, it gets me thinking, you know? What's the thing with Poetry that doesn't out-rightly have laid down rules by which it is written, yet when we see a good poem, we know? How strange!
For me, I either play my guitar and sing out my poems or write about the writer's block I'm having. Funny right? But what would you say can be done to avoid having writer's block, if it were avoidable?
SK:
Poetry has become fluid, some poems can appear aesthetically pleasing with disjointed enjambment, others musical with misplaced grammar. We mustn't become mediocre in the name of experimental/contemporary poetry. Write your best. Learn, relearn, unlearn, and implement all that you have learned.
On writer's block, write about not being able to write, tweak your writing ritual — read, sleep, listen to music, go for a run, analyze a piece with other writers, record your thoughts. Don't discard them regardless of how immaterial you think they are. Be deliberate, don't wait for "inspiration" to come to you, create it — inspire yourself. These things take time sometimes. Listen to your writings, some are like wine, and others are eggs.
FJ:
Thank you, Semilore. Strangely, while I was very much younger, I used to tell my mother that I'd love to be a writer when I grow up. And then she'll reject it, snapping her fingers around my head, casting and binding the demons she had thought were speaking through me. Why? She believed that writers were poor people. I didn't know what I know now, I'd have given her a better answer. Tell me, Semilore, was any of your parents or close friends against your writings or you being a writer?
Hello, Semilore. How are you doing, today?
SK:
Hi, Joshua. I am alive and well, dealing with life and academics. How're you?
FJ:
Surviving! And I guess I'm not the only Nigerian on this table. Semilore, I know you've been an interviewer, so how does it feel being the interviewee, today?
SK:
Exciting, really. Oftentimes, when I interview poets, I tend to provide answers to the questions I ask. It gives me a better perspective of things by reflecting inward. Perhaps, I should interview you too, so you can understand this feeling.
FJ:
Haha. It is when the Interviewer needs an interview. Looking forward to that. So, let's meet you, Semilore.
SK:
I am 'Semilore Kilaso, a poet, writer and student Quantity Surveyor. I am a Christian, and student legislator with interest in psychology, politics, economics and digital marketing. I enjoy surfing the internet, and reading random articles. I am a decent Scrabble and Solitaire player. I moderate PIN LITERARY INTERVIEWS.
FJ:
Interesting! I hope we get to play Scrabble, someday. I have had the backs of scrabble kings & queens kiss the earth and their faces powdered with shame. We really should play, someday. Haha. I'm kidding. So, Semilore, it's great to know you do all of these. I'm curious, are you one of those poets who began writing from their mother's womb? Or tell us, when did you begin writing?
SK:
I began writing in primary school. Whenever we were assigned to write essays on "How I Spent My Last Holiday", "My Favorite Sport" etc., I would come up with concepts and write these essays, beautifully. I think it was only normal as I was a young reader who had a torn inherited Collins Dictionary and a TONAD English Language WASSCE past question gifted by my father. In JSS1, at age 10, I had a brilliant English teacher, Mr. Daniel, whose writing and teaching was transcendent. It was then I learned how to write, by the time I was in Senior Secondary School, I was already writing state essays and article for my school.
My relationship with poetry didn't start well. I used to hate poetry because I thought poems had to rhyme. I eventually learned how to write decent poems circa 2017.
FJ:
Quite strange, but not unfamiliar. Lots of [great] things never have good beginnings. We had all thought poems had to rhyme and that it could only be either in couplets or quatrains. I guess it's because contemporary poetry wasn't given space to breathe. And as kids, we couldn't have known more than what we were taught. I used to have a sister who never wanted to listen to anything poetry. But it's better now, with all the contemporaries and the broad transcendence. So, yeah. When you eventually learned how to write poems, what was your first poem like? What was it about? The sky? Nature? Food? Are you still proud of it? Tell us, please.
SK:
I wrote my first poem in December of 2013 on my way to school. It was about harmattan. The first line is "Harmattan the dry and windy season". I am not proud of the poem. My first set of published poems, "How we survived" & "Carouse", made me enthusiastic about poetry. They explore life and family relationship. I love both poems.
FJ:
Great! Semilore, do you have any challenge with writing (poetry)? Or are you an ‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega’?
SK:
Writing poetry is not easy. I always have to learn and unlearn, pay attention to details and read. I rely on strategic reading. I don't just read a poem to pick a favorite line to quote on Twitter, I try to understand the poet and the poem. Reading too much poetry can also be difficult, because sometimes, I question if a line I had written is mine or if my brain archived it from a poem I had previously read.
There is also the issue with rejection, where I have to revise my poem and question every line. Few times the poem doesn't seek to be edited, it is what it is. Every poem has its personality and chooses if it wants to be written on paper, in lowercase letters, without punctuations or in Garamond 11 point font. I also have to be careful with wordplay, metaphor and language generally, so I don't get mislabeled and accused of instigating whatever.
FJ:
Awesome! A bad line could ruin a poem. Then the question will be, what does a bad line look like? Semilore, do you have writer's block? If yes, how do you handle it?
SK:
I am not sure there is a specific way a bad line looks, perhaps it contains spelling and punctuation errors or improper usage of language. I can adjudge what a bad line is.
I like to think I do not have writer's block, I am just lazy sometimes. However, when I find it difficult to write, I read poetry and short stories. I also play Scrabble or Merriam Webster dictionary word games, if I am desperate. Most times, I just sleep.
FJ:
Semilore, it gets me thinking, you know? What's the thing with Poetry that doesn't out-rightly have laid down rules by which it is written, yet when we see a good poem, we know? How strange!
For me, I either play my guitar and sing out my poems or write about the writer's block I'm having. Funny right? But what would you say can be done to avoid having writer's block, if it were avoidable?
SK:
Poetry has become fluid, some poems can appear aesthetically pleasing with disjointed enjambment, others musical with misplaced grammar. We mustn't become mediocre in the name of experimental/contemporary poetry. Write your best. Learn, relearn, unlearn, and implement all that you have learned.
On writer's block, write about not being able to write, tweak your writing ritual — read, sleep, listen to music, go for a run, analyze a piece with other writers, record your thoughts. Don't discard them regardless of how immaterial you think they are. Be deliberate, don't wait for "inspiration" to come to you, create it — inspire yourself. These things take time sometimes. Listen to your writings, some are like wine, and others are eggs.
FJ:
Thank you, Semilore. Strangely, while I was very much younger, I used to tell my mother that I'd love to be a writer when I grow up. And then she'll reject it, snapping her fingers around my head, casting and binding the demons she had thought were speaking through me. Why? She believed that writers were poor people. I didn't know what I know now, I'd have given her a better answer. Tell me, Semilore, was any of your parents or close friends against your writings or you being a writer?
"It would be unfair to say Nigerian contemporary poets write alike... We have a sense of identity and community that is evident in our writing"
SK:
I’m glad to have a supportive family, my parents even get me gigs. One time, I was given an assignment to translate a poem, my dad saw me struggling. He went ahead to translate Adedayo Agarau's Omen to Yoruba.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, my dad kept asking if I wanted to ditch Quantity Surveying to studying English Language. Sometimes, he would look at me and say “This girl, you should have gone to art class.” Although my mum would sometimes insist I take a break or wear my glasses and get off my phone/computer. It's always love and positive energy. My friends and acquaintances are also great — they send me submission links and writing opportunities. I am grateful for my friends and family.
FJ:
Awesome! If you weren't writing, what would you have been doing?
SK:
I would be taking photographs or perhaps be an athlete.
FJ:
Interesting! Being an athlete is the last thing I expected you to say. Do you still plan to be one?
SK:
No. I don't have the tenacity right now.
FJ:
Roger that! So, as a writer, what inspires you?
SK: Human nature is paradoxical, one cannot fully experience the beauty and rot of it. Living inspires me—to be a part of this paradox is something worth documenting. Reflecting on the randomness and minute things of the world helps me write. I might choose to explore nature, religion or the human body in my works. I trust the flow and go with it.
FJ:
Awesome! I know a couple of writers who only write when they have a particular feeling. I mean, they can't write about happiness when they are not happy and can't write about death until they experience it. And it's not even funny. Their writings solely depend on how they feel. They can't write outside themselves. What's your say to this?
SK:
It would be great if they understood that they're this kind of writer instead of beating themselves about having writer's block when they simply cannot write. There is an abundance of things that does and doesn't happen to us on a daily. It would be easier for these writers to document their experiences by finding a pattern and mapping out their reactions to things that are outside of their experiences but within their reality.
FJ:
Interesting! What poets do you admire?
SK:
I admire Pemi Aguda, Chekwube Danladi, Hussain Ahmed, Eloghosa Osunde, Chen Chen, Eriata Oribhabor, BM Dzukogi, Bola Opaleke, amongst others.
FJ:
Awesome! Semilore, you know, there are a lot of poets, today. Contemporary poets, especially. And strangely, almost every Nigerian Contemporary poets write alike. I mean, it's somewhat uneasy to ascertain A's work from B's. Have you noticed? And why is it so? Let's talk about this.
SK:
It would be unfair to say Nigerian contemporary poets write alike, and frankly, I don't think we write alike. We have a sense of identity and community that is evident in our writing. I cannot deny that being Nigerian and living in Nigeria has its influence on us.
Our contemporariness however might be defined by the time at which we write or perhaps our audacity. How beautifully we own our poetry, create new styles, bend and invent rules. We are assertive with our writing — questioning religion, morality, sexuality and sanity. Regardless of our similarity, individual differences would always prevail. The individuality in our writings cannot be ignored.
FJ:
Yes. I didn't out-rightly mean, ‘write alike’. There is this evocative atmosphere our poems possesses, that make it seem as though we all hatched from one incubator of “madness”. Like making love to success, we are fucking good, as Tobi Abiodun said. You'd testify to this, right?
SK:
Oh, fair enough. Of course our poems are evocative, this country is triggering... e dey mad person. You're having writer's block? Enter Twitter, you go see prompt wey boku for timeline. Yes, we're good.
FJ:
Absolutely. Delighted to hear from you. Literally like we all bathe with the same soap. Haha. Semilore, I would not ask you for ‘final words,’ neither would I ask you to drop lines of poetry for your readers. I don't do cliché. But how best would you leave an interview?
SK:
If it were a physical interview, I would have challenged you to a game of Scrabble, and hopefully won you. Regardless, I hope you don't consider "Thank you" cliché.
Thank you, Eremite Poetry; thank you, Flourish Joshua, for interviewing me.
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BIO:
Semilore Kilaso is a poet and student Quantity Surveyor, who loves to collect photographs of humans, architecture, wildlife, and landscape. When she is not playing Scrabble or reading books, she is reading lines from architectural drawings. Her works appear in Praxis Magazine, Rigorous Mag, Entropy Mag, Disquiet Art, and elsewhere. You can reach her on twitter @ooreola
Semilore Kilaso is a poet and student Quantity Surveyor, who loves to collect photographs of humans, architecture, wildlife, and landscape. When she is not playing Scrabble or reading books, she is reading lines from architectural drawings. Her works appear in Praxis Magazine, Rigorous Mag, Entropy Mag, Disquiet Art, and elsewhere. You can reach her on twitter @ooreola
