NIGERIA AS A CHEF: A POETIC ANALYSIS OF EMMANUEL FAITH’S “HOW MY NATION MAKES HER MORSEL” BY EBUBECHUKWU BRUNO NWAGBO
HOW MY NATION MAKES HER MORSEL | Emmanuel Faith
My nation mixes sumptuous dishes
Of promises and Utopian wishes,
Like a free and fair election process
Where votes are being sold; a demo-duress
My nation prepares its table,
And brings enemies that are able
To come with wine of interest and loans
Till debt eats deep into her loins.
My nation’s turning stick is laced
With lucid lies that leave one dazed,
And aroma of comedies
That make memes out of her maladies.
My nation is a charming chef
Who cooks for all except herself,
Her best meals are put up for auction,
And the remnants are “treasured” with caution
My nation makes malicious morsels,
Where deception is delirious dorsal
Would you like to have a taste?
Of a country lying in waste?
***
Have you ever imagined Nigeria as a chef? How would she arrive at a successful mix of various recipes from over 250 ethnic groups to give her citizens a national delicacy? What type of guests sits at the nation’s dining table? How would they be sharing the treasurable broth on the table? Emmanuel Faith, the poet-author of “How My Nation Makes Her Morsel” goes political in his food poem and calls Nigeria a “charming chef”. He talks of the “sumptuous promises” our leaders dish out to satisfy our “utopian wishes”.
In Stanza 2 of the poem, Emmanuel makes a Biblical allusion to Psalm 23: 5. While the Psalmist says of his caretaker “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”, this political food poet has this to say of our political caretakers; “My nation prepares its table / And brings enemies that are able.”
Reading this poem, you are either likely going to agree with the idiom that “too many cooks spoil the broth” or that as the poet asserts, “Nigeria is a charming chef” who though having guests from over 250 ethnic groups and over 400 (food tongues) and could still produce a national morsel. It remains to know the taste of this morsel and who gets what from it.
Ebubechukwu Bruno Nwagbo
FOR: POETIC INSIGHTS ON FOOD POEMS