Maryam Gatawa, a young poet from northern Nigeria, is our Pick of the Month for August 2018 with many voters being stunned by her ‘uplifting’ ‘deep’ ‘reflective’ and ‘inspiring’ poem ‘…And tell the stars’.
Maryam’s works of poetry have been published in reputable journals inside Africa and overseas. She can be reached through Facebook at ‘Maryam Gatawa’ and Twitter @meegat12.
She has asked that her £10 ‘prize’ be donated to the Nigeria Muslim Forum UK which raises money for education schemes and the relief of poverty.
…And tell the stars
Then tell the stars
To take their leave too
For within our breasts
Shines the inward light
To sail us through
These fields of darkness
Why wait for the gardens to
Bear you sweet roses
Or rent the cloaks of your hope
To greedy mighty whales
Go forth with your hoe
And till the fertile land
Plant upon its face
Sweet corns and grapes
And when the winter knocks in
Tell her to stay
You have enough grains in your home.
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Voters’ comments included:
Even from the title, it won
And Tell the Stars teaches strength, perseverance and inspires hope.
It’s beautiful!
Maryam’s style of poetry is simple and inspiring. Her use of metaphors is excellent. Her “…And tell the stars” has more than one meaning tramadol online pharmacy 100mg which is one of the most remarkable features of poetry. She definitely has my vote for that.
Maryam Gatawa is a new dawn to poetry in northern Nigeria…
Maryam is an amazing poet who inspires women to write and this poem reeks of awesomeness.
…a role model for the upcoming poets.
It’s simply captivating
It pricks at my conscience, inspires my senses, in mingled spews of nature and reality
It’s really touching and emotionally enlightening.
The poem is simple amazing, it’s flows directly from the recess of the soul.
It appeals to more, especially in this period that we expect to harvest our fields this farming season. I consider it a great art to construct your poems in short lines and still go on to make much sense and put out something beautiful.
The flow, the rhythm and the imagery. She just seem like a natural to me.
Maryam’s poetry is always fresh and strange to me anytime I read her. Through her poems, I come to terms with dreams and imagination. She writes poems that will stand the taste of time.
Her lines are daring.
A poem of wit and wisdom.
Lifelesson