IF I WERE TO WRITE A SPEECH LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING

IF I WERE TO WRITE A SPEECH LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING

If I were to write a speech like the great Martin Luther would I even know where to start?
If I were to write a speech, I wouldn’t know what else to say than the groaning of my heart

If I were to write a speech like Martin Luthers’s
I don’t know to whom it will be addressed
Will it be to my people? The ones who do not see themselves as my people
The ones who make me think our nationality is a product of an imagination that’s fickle

If I were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s, will I be addressing hearts?
Will the words that pour from my soul
Rip into shreds and parts—
The very fiction that divides us
From seeing the divine umbilical cord that unites us?

If I were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s
Will it pass a drip of patriotism
To the veins of your soul?
Will it undeaden your hardened skin
And burn through your hardened walls like Sheol?

If I were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s
Will you see the picture that brings me peace
The picture I see with my kids and yours in it?
Playing in neatly kept parks
Reeling with laughter from liberated and unified hearts

If I were to write a Speech like Martin Luther’s
Will the dead in you arise?
Will the Phoenix flames birth new magical life
Will it cease the strife?
Will it cut sharp like a knife?
Release you like an ocean dive?

If were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s
Will it make you see we were made to be brothers?
And not have our heads at loggers
We were made to be giants,
And not crippled wailers
Who complain about things so minute
Eyes too dark to see the greatness in them
If I were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s
Will It show you a vision of heaven
Of GOD’s only begotten Son
And how He sees us as one
For it is written, He was not ashamed to call them brethren

If I were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s
Will your heart break, will it disintegrate,
Collapse everything you have ever thought was
Tear it all apart
So you could be given a new heart and we could have a new start?

If I were to write a speech like Martin Luther’s
I’d say, Dear Country Man
I have nowhere else to go
With you I have found a home
Could we stay together and build a Nigeria of our dreams
Or should we let the world laugh us to scorn
Of how we lost a chance at a beautiful thing?

Temitope Ola-Sunmonu
13/10/15

FROM AFRICA WITH LOVE: BY TEMITOPE OLA-SUNMONU (EXCERPTS)

“Set in the 80’s a man’s aunt who plays the role of his mother pays the bride price on his behalf for a woman he has never met. She is soon to arrive London and eventually there is a twist of fate. From Africa With Love, enjoy!

I studied the letter before I opened it. I was hesitant and suspicious as though every letter from Nigeria bore a tale of woe.

I decided to go into my study and attend to the books I had piled up on my desk, just in case its contents were upsetting and capable of disrupting my study.

 

 

After an hour of constantly tossing aside the thought of it, I finally gave in and opened the envelope. Indeed, I dreaded it like it was a letter bomb.

It read;

30, Alayode Street,

Surulere,

Lagos, Nigeria.

 

14th June, 1982

 

Mr. Kayode Agbaje

105, Walton Street,

Oxford, Oxfordshire,

England.

 

Dear Sir,

 

How is England? Hope spring is warm enough. I do not know what else to ask but I hope this letter meets you well.

Dunni told me what kind of man you were, which is basically why I could summon the courage to write you this letter. I hope you are unhappy about this contracted marriage as I am. I am in search of something else and I am sure you do not want a wandering wife. We can forget the marriage and pretend back here that we are just alright.

Please, reply before I arrive England so I could know my next move.

 

Yours faithfully,

Mofe Afolabi

 

I was aghast. The letter was absolutely out of the blue, nothing I had contemplated. Was this the woman of my dreams and specifications Aunt Yemi said I’d be thankful for? A con artist, who probably has many schemes up her sleeves?

Going over the letter again, I became curious as to the extent of her literacy. Did she write the letter or did she ask someone to write it for her? How did she get my address? Who gave it to her? Was it Aunt Yemi or perhaps Dunni? Yes, she mentioned Dunni. But, I never knew Dunni to keep bad company. She was a well cultured girl. However, that was many years ago, Dunni was twenty five now, a lot could change in the span of fifteen years, I decided.

 

The letter said she was in search of something. I wondered what it was. I already had a problem figuring women; I certainly did not want a wandering wife that would add to that burden.

So, I decided I would sleep over it rather than act on impulse and write a hasty reply.

The next morning I got down to my study where I did all my productive thinking and wrote:”

HELP A NIGERIAN AUTHOR BREAK A RECORD, BUY HER BOOK BEFORE IT IS PUBLISHED

HELP A NIGERIAN AUTHOR BREAK A RECORD, BUY HER BOOK BEFORE IT IS PUBLISHED

I Learnt from my twin cousin who is only 7years old, the fundamental difference between an author and a writer. While he wrote On Monday, I asked him if he wanted to be a writer when he grows up,and he answered ” No, I’ll be an Author”. Prior to that conversation I have always prided myself as a writer, always writing and never publishing, now I have been challenged by a 7 year old.

Next year, I’d be entering a couple of literary competitions (The Etisalat Prize, The N.L.N.G Prize For Literature, The Wole Soyinka Prize For Literature) and only published authors are welcome. I have a collection of stories and poetry I want to publish in order to make it to the competition and win! But I don’t have plenty of money or time on my hands. So, I have started a crowdfunding to raise money for the publishing. I’ll need you to buy my book in advance so I can go to press. You’ll be buying it for N1, 000. It’s totally worth it and you’ll be a pioneer for this project. A few of my friends have taken it up as a project and I might just end up setting a record as the first author to get sold out before publishing.

Would you buy my book and would you share this post?

Book Title: From Africa With Love (The Collection)
Author: Temitope Ola-Sunmonu
Pages: 212 Pages Pre- publishing
Genre: Fiction and Poetry

Account details: Fidelity Bank 6170696101
Temitope Yinka Ola-Sunmonu

Kindly send your name and details to +2348065110251 or temitopehephzibah@gmail.com so the book can be delivered to you when it is published. Thank you.

#FromAfricaWithLove2016

CROWD FUNDING FOR MY FIRST BOOK?

CROWD FUNDING FOR MY FIRST BOOK?

I never thought I would get personal on Facebook or any social media again, as I have kept away for a while until my dad’s birthday. Some of my close buds are gonna wanna kill me for this because I didn’t run it by them but this is really a haunting dream.

“The earnest expectation of the creature awaits the manifestation of the sons of God”. Well, that scripture seems to describe my life and writing since forever, as I have been up since 1:00am thinking about the dream of being published.

First, I’d like to introduce myself, not as that “thousand words” poster on Facebook who calls herself a writer, but as Temitope Ola-Sunmonu the author (God calls those things that be not as though they were).

It will interest you to know that I have been writing since, not just formally at age 9 or 10 but at age seven…I am sure a love letter I wrote to Sola, some older boy, a friend
Of my aunt (Aunty Seun Fagade) telling him about my life and school, counts as writing,because it was written in the first person point of view and most of my works these days are narrated in the first person point of view. It is easier for me to take on a character and speak through their thoughts. I write faster that way and you’ll soon get a chance to see.

I was recently struck by my twin cousin Ayomide Afuwape who is seven by the way. He writes as well(my cousins Tosin Sofolahan, Igbagbo Agboola and Nifemi Agboola write too. So proud of all of them). While Ayomide wrote on Monday I asked him if he’d be a writer when he grows up, and he answered “No, I’ll be an author”. How smart! You see the distinction, for me that’s the turning point right there! An author is a doer while a writer is just a dreamer who scribbles on endlessly and does it proudly too. So, you see I need to get my act together and metamorphose from a caterpillar into a butterfly. I need to stop writing and start publishing!

Now here is my odd proposition. I’ll need you to buy my first book in advance for a thousand naira. So that I can go to the printing press already. Is it really worth a thousand bucks? You might say. Folks, it sure is because it is an entire collection of striking stories I have written since age 17. They’ve been re-written and commended. A good Nigerian writer, Ayo Sogunro author of”The Sorry Tales of Senator Boniface and Other Stories” and ” Everything in Nigeria will Kill you” was gracious enough to read one of them and he wasn’t bored.

It also contains a poetry collection and a poem that won me 5th place at the Goethe Institut, “Freedom and Words” competition in 2015, I think. The central idea is to tell you that I have been on the move. My neighbour and dad’s friend, Mr.Akintunde Ogoh, a journalist has repeatedly told me to enter the Etisalat Prize for literature but I cannot just yet because I don’t have a published work yet. Also, the NLNG $100, 000 prize for literature for new authors woke me up from literary slumber some weeks ago but more than the money, being published is something I have waited my whole life for. The manifestation of what Kenneth Ogbebor my class mate in S.S.3, maybe after reading my writing, said. He said he could see his children reading my books when they are in school. That is the sheer dream!

I have also searched for Professor Wole Soyinka tirelessly, I have got to see that man before he passes on, and winning a prize might just be the only way. I dropped my manuscript with his P.A at the Kongi Gallery, Freedom Park but I don’t know how that story ended. Sadder is the fact that he was right above our heads at the Kongi Gallery at Freedom Park on my 25th birthday, the Be Inspired literary/charity event in honour of children of the orphanage, a cause which some of you on FB made happen. I knew the Professor was around(He has an office there) I knew this because he sent for the D.J to turn down the volume of the music. See how I got evaded on setting sights on my Numero Uno Legend.
To be frank this is a risk but think about it this way, you’re buying my book in advance especially for y’all like Rita who have requested. I also probably get to set a record for being the first author to get sold out before being published(that’s however not the goal) . And yes, this may not seem as dire a need as someone who needs  seven million for a kidney surgery abroad, but this is helping to birth a dream.

I need you on this one, and I have put aside timidity or arrogance and dared to ask. Let’s make it happen. Tag or tell a book lover, so this ship can sail.

Yours Sincerely,
Temitope Ola-Sunmonu

PS: I need you to comment if you’ll buy my book, that’s the only way the paying process can begin. Yes, I am open to questions and suggestions too. Thanks. (I really hope I don’t wake up with that embarrassing feeling and thinking to myself “What have I done?”)