Okeowhor Odinakachi’s ‘Sonnets of Life’s Little Moments’ inspires from sunrise to sunset

By Humphrey Ogu

THERE is an axiom that admonishes us against judging a book by its cover. That expression does not apply to Reverend Father (Dr.) Okeowhor Donatus Odinakachi’s Sonnets of Life’s Little Moments (Aubaine Resources Limited, Port Harcourt; 2024), the book under review. I can assure you that the content of this book is as interesting as its beautiful cover. I say this with conviction and confidence of a reader who is privileged to have gone through the book. On front cover of this collection of poems is the smiling, handsome face of the author. In juxtaposing the design and the content of the collection, I’m inspired to liken it to a beautiful maiden with good character. This is in contrast with a beautiful daughter with defective behaviour.

In the course of reading and reviewing books, I have come across books that remind me of an African proverb that says: “Two knives are found in the widow’s house: the one that is sharp has no handle and the one that has a handle is not sharp.” While some books are well-written and well-edited, but have poor finishing, others are riddled with errors, and have good binding and beautiful cover designs. Sonnets of Life’s Little Moments is neither of these. Drawing from the above proverb, the book is a sharp knife with good handle: a product of hard work and dedication.

Here is a book of over 300 poems. And these are not just free verses, but sonnets. A sonnet is a special type of poem written in 14 lines with rhyming schemes. The two main types of sonnets are Italian Sonnets, which are often divided into two parts, of eight (octave) abba abba and six (sestet) cdc, cdc and English sonnets, which has three quatrains and couplet with a rhyming scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. It takes a lot of hard work to achieve the rhyming scheme, with the right syllables in place. It requires a lot of efforts to select words that rhyme with each and still convey the desired meaning. As the English poet and literary critic, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, notes, “poetry is the best words in the best order”. To achieve this, a poet has to work very hard.

In putting together the collection, Sonnets of Life’s Little Moments, the author worked very hard. Let us look at one of the poems in the book, it’s entitled ‘Evil Men of the Dark’. Before then, I would like to observe that the title of the poem is unnecessarily long. ‘Evil Men’ would have been more apt. ‘Men of Darkness’ also suffices either of the two suggestions perfectly conveys the desired meaning.

In ‘Evil Men of the Dark’, the poet expresses dislike for evil people and their activities. He describes them as ‘dark bats’ which are ‘sinister and eerie like the cats’.

As their worst
So is their lust.
They inflict harm.
They disrupt calm.

They chant mournful verses
They emit poisonous gases
They’re mystery agents
They’re evil patients

Throughout the book, the poet shares with his target readers his personal experiences, thoughts, observations, vision and belief as not just a man, but also as a man-of-God. For instance, in ‘Donatus, The Donatus’, he talks about his birth and celebrates himself. The priest in him took over in some poems such as ‘In One and in Peace’, ‘In the Lord is my Safety’ and ‘My Prayer for the African Farmer’, ‘With my Lips of Praise’, ‘Guide me, Precious Lord’. Here, the poet expresses himself through medium of prayer.

Given the number of poems in which the poet persona prays, or expresses praises to God, and his passion for writing about the Blessed Virgin Mary and his personal experience as seen in ‘The Agony of the Priesthood’, it seems that the poet sees poetry through the lens of William Wordsworth, who defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.” Let’s look at a few of the poems.

‘Hebrew in Second Semester’ is an example of a poem in which the poet shares his seminary experience, especially as it has to do with his feeling towards that particular subject. This feeling is further expressed in another poem, entitled ‘The Same Hebrew’.

The author also pays tributes to his mentors, teachers, parents, in such poems as ‘Odim, the African Epic’, ‘Father in his Life’, ‘Your Glorious Presentation’, ‘Groomed in Love’, ‘Tragic Feeling at Dawn’ ‘Birthday with Destiny’. among others. In expressing himself and personal experiences, Odinakachi communicates virtues and values. For he believes in the didactic and ennobling power of poetry. To ensure that he gets a wide readership, the author works very hard to present the poems in a simple language, thereby making it accessible to all shades of readers. This explains why the poet took it upon himself to have each of the poems analyzed to enable the uninitiated to better appreciate the poems. Themes, tones, poetic devices used are laid bare for readers who are not so familiar with language of poetry. However, the volume of the book isn’t as simple. It isn’t light. It’s so heavy, quite thick, and very, very voluminous!

In a society such as ours, where the reading culture is gasping for breath, a slimmer volume of verses would have been more ideal. One, because people don’t read anymore such a voluminous book as this, will scare them. It’ll send jitters down their spines. Not to talk about the price. A lot of funds had gone into the production of the book and it’s only natural that the book can’t so cheap as to be afforded by everyone that may wish to get a copy. This is especially so in view of the economic realities of the day in Nigeria. Again, most people love to read while on transit. This book may constitute an extra luggage and attract extra cost due to its size and weight. As a matter of facts, it really has weight and occupies spaces! To describe its voluminous size in the language of physics.

Although a lot efforts have been made to make the book error-free, There is still need to enlist the services of professional editors and proofreaders to make future editions of the book much better. Let me point out a few typos that needs to be fixed. The inner cover, where we have Elizabeth Ngozi Ajah, to whom the work is dedicated “also known as (aka)” was written as akas Vatto. On the publisher’s page, “All rights reserved.” was written as “All right reserved”. In the Acknowledgement, which shouldn’t have a full stop, has on page iv a sentence that says, “The forward…” instead of “The Foreword…” yet what we see on page vi is “Preface “. This should be changed to Foreword in future editions. The arrangement of the poem entitled “In Case I’m No More” on page 197 is disrupted with the second and third lines appearing as a single line, this results in 13 instead of 14 lines. These are few minor errors that need editorial attention.

Sonnets of Life’s Little Moments is a collection of engaging and entertaining poems that also educate. What’s more, they’re also edifying. This is a major contribution to the ouvre of Nigerian or rather African literature. I recommend it for every home. Let’s get our copies for our families and friends and revive the dying reading culture in Nigeria.

* Ogu is a writer and culture critic based in Port Harcourt