My home isn’t a tipi,
We don’t wear animal skins on our backs,
And we don’t run after the wild fauna of Africa with spears and sticks,
Our streets are tainted in red dirt and fresh rare rain on early mornings just like the color of your pavement covered in your own brother's blood
My family wasn’t blessed with the ill-fated curse of a serious illness that butchered through the homes of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea like the angel of death butchered through the homes of first borns to the northeast miles away,
But you didn’t know that,
To you, all places in Africa are the same,
But you don’t know my country like I do.
It’s where the house smells like pounded yam and egusi soup,
Bodies smell like fresh dudu osun,
And the road smells like leather sandals.
Once a week, people from different homes up the street stand stiff & steady,
Waiting to be seated for early church service,
The very building where we are taught to pray for good health,
Because our own country can’t provide us good health care,
Where we are taught to pray for our brothers, fathers and sons,
Who are constantly cheated out of their own money by their own government.
Home is where my grandmother's mouth lays,
Where noises form to words, formed into sickly sweet sentences that made you feel better when you were troubled,
Or when she calls you Olaedo
Gold,
Home is where your ears were filled with the composition music of the crickets,
While Grandpa’s dog blackie barking and the wind screaming back every night,
Home is where people fought over the best fish, best lamb, and the best goat at the open market,
Home is where sentences are mixed in perfect harmony between native and english tongue,
My home is where my heart is,
My home is Nigeria.
The part when you mentioned where your grandmother's mouth laid was my favorite because it puts an image in my head that shows where you family originated i also liked the part when you said my home is where my heart is my home is Nigeria.
ReplyDeletei liked the figurative language you used to describe your home in Africa. It is amazing how you know that everyone thinks Africa is one place because i did. I think you poem tells people that there is more to Africa than one big country that is poor. The way you described it makes it seem like a great place to live.
ReplyDeleteRichard Pointer; This was a very deep poem and I learned so many things about the place you call home
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ReplyDeleteI liked how she talked about where she came from instead of the house she lives in.
ReplyDeleteIt made me feel like where you are coming from because general people think Nigeria is like a place where black people work hard and make everything with animal skin and bones but no its different from the way we think it is. I can feel your empathy for where you are from.I like how she said "Olaedo, Gold" like putting her language, Igbo then translating it to English so we could understand it.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed how you were open about you culture. i also liked how you infused words from Nigeria such as " It’s where the house smells like pounded yam and egusi soup, Bodies smell like fresh dudu osun, And the road smells like leather sandals". and it is nice how you talked about different things their and not stayed on one subject.
ReplyDelete-julienne Obena
Caleb Saulsberry; I learned about your African heritage and roots. I learned some words from the Igbo language. I never knew how bad the government treated your people and how they didn't care enough for health care.
ReplyDeletei like how she was just saying her house is not a masse and not a dump she says my house it not a tipi we don't were animal skin so well put to gather
ReplyDeleteI really like how you used your language in the poem because it gave it that 'home' feel, and you really showed how Nigeria.You out ruled the people who stereotype Nigeria (the first stanza) and overall this poem left me speechless.
ReplyDeleteThe poem was very well written. I like how you listed different places in Nigeria that were struck by the sickness most people today think all Africans have. When you talk about the food I imagine people fighting for the food they wanted as some of us do today. There were many times I could connect with you in this poem even though we don't have the same home. You didn't only focus on your family you opened it up to brother and sons which shows there's a larger message behind the reason you wrote this. Lastly, the part where we talk about what a home is, that was a very good line to leave your poem off with because it tells the audience what your home is like.
ReplyDeleteVery deep. I loved how she told us about different things that happen in her town. She went into other issues that happen in Africa that not many people know about. I also loved how she incorporated her language into her poem instead of just speaking english. Overall, the poem was very different from most "a place called home" poems. Her home is very different from all of our homes. I'm glad she shared this with all of us. I'm glad she let us see her culture, identity, and where she feels at home.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you chose to talk about the country you came from and not just your regular house and how you made it seem like it was a nice place to live
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a good job referring to a past time of your father, or grandfather. I also thought you did a great job on how well you mixed two languages to make a beautiful poem. I also liked how you brought Nigeria and America together. You also did a great job putting your religion, to prove a point.
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ReplyDeleteI like how you incorporated the thoughts of how other people would view your country from their own perspective compared to your own sense of knowledge on how it actually is and what goes there in it.
ReplyDeleteI loved your poem first and i like the imagery used in the poem and how you connected the life in nigrea to how people thought it was like when you said'' My home isn’t a tipi,
ReplyDeleteWe don’t wear animal skins on our backs,
And we don’t run after the wild fauna of Africa with spears and sticks,'' i ike how from that part on you deeply explained why it wasnt like that how what people think is not how it really is like when you said''Our streets are tainted in red dirt and fresh rare rain on early mornings just like the color of your pavement covered in your own brother's blood '' that was using imagy overall beautful
I really enjoyed how you would give the audience information as well as a story, it was informative to know the facts but interesting to hear the story that you provided behind it as well. In the first stanza you defied stereotypes like how you said, "My home isn’t a tipi,
ReplyDeleteWe don’t wear animal skins on our backs,
And we don’t run after the wild fauna of Africa with spears and sticks" That was a really interesting and bold start.
I thought your poem was very detail. The parts that was very detailed was in stanza one, when you gave us real life examples and not how other people.Your presentation was good. I was also able to picture your home.
ReplyDeleteYour poem unfolds and becomes a beautiful, rich roadmap to your ancestry and I was so moved by the level of depth and description in your poem. I love the way the poem infuses English and the language of your people (Igbo...thanks for letting me know). To steal your words, your poem is a "perfect harmony between native and English tongue". This move really adds a lot of layers of meaning.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, you not only incorporate the cultural practices of Nigerians, but give us glimpses into the history of your people, and I especially appreciate the ways in which you call out people who cannot distinguish between the countries of Africa and the larger continent.
This poem is an impressive achievement and you are a gifted poet. Continue to find spaces to explore the layers of your identity, both in school and beyond.
You SLAYED!
ReplyDeleteThrough your poem I learned so much more about you and your background. I could tell that Nigeria was a place you definitely call home. You used a lot of figurative language in your poem which really helped express the emotion and paint a picture of how much Nigeria means to you. Also the language and special aspects from Nigeria really helped describe Nigeria and bring your poem to life. I also loved how you showed how unique your home is and how its different from others.
Flawless job, as usual!
In stanza one I like how you a give a real visual , everything you listed is how people outside Nigeria see's it and that's not how life in Nigeria really is. I also enjoyed how you put in some of the Nigerian language and food that is popular in Nigeria.
ReplyDeletei liked how she put the language from her country.Her poem was very cultured and tells a lot about where she come from.i like how she told the people that where she lives is not like they live like animals they live like regular people.
ReplyDeleteYou went deep into detail when you got farther into your poem, and that was very advanced. I saw that you said a word in a foreign language, that means gold in English. I was wondering if you new more words than the ones included in this poem. To rephrase it, is your vocabulary farther advanced in the language of Igbo, Ibo, or however it is you spelled it? I also pointed out figures of speech like similes, and you put a little taste into a couple sentences.
ReplyDeleteI liked the how you described what it was like on the streets, in the house, and how everyday life was for you in Nigeria. I think that you were good using similes,alliteration, and personification. I think that there were spots where you could have used different types of figurative language like idioms or hyperbole's. You could have also tried to show more on what Nigeria is all about, in other words what makes it stand out as a better country than all the others.
ReplyDeleteyour poem had a good description and it had detailed images of your home. you also repeated home which helps me understand thee point of home you are trying to get at, it told me where your home was.You also used figurative language.the figurative language also gave me an imagery of her home.
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