As I was flipping through the book Torus of Verses – Anthology of Poems and Poetic Eulogies, I couldn’t help but notice something intriguing. It reminded me of another book by the same author, Kufre Ntuk, titled Tribe of the Wet Sun. What struck me was the seamless transition the author makes from prose to poetry; it seemed as easy as crossing a highway with little traffic. Going from prose to poetry is not always easy. Prose has a conversational rhythm, while poetry often conveys an esoteric feel.
The bull from the verses of Kufre Ntuk
Mr Ntuk seems to lean more towards poetry, as even when he puts his pen to prose, some of the tip drips poetry. Great poets seem like ethereal beings when one delves into their works, because good poetry sounds like speaking in tongues. It is not perceived merely as a result of intellectual contemplation, but rather as messages from a spiritual realm in the mind. William Wordsworth describes poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling that has its origin in emotion collected in tranquillity.” It goes beyond the ordinary.
Isaac Barrow considers poetry to be “a kind of clever nonsense.” This is because poetry often includes elaborate, exaggerated language and embellishments that can seem absurd unless the reader takes the time to explore further. Like messages from the spiritual realm, some poetic pieces require interpretation, which can lead to a different understanding than the creator originally intended. However, some poems are simply panegyrics when the poet becomes a praise singer.
In the preface, Ntuk acknowledges that unlike prose writings, which are easy to understand and appreciate, poetry has attributes that sometimes generate contemplative and even negative dispositions. He attributes the negative dispositions towards poetry to its elegant and elevated language, which makes understanding somewhat difficult and instinctively activates the virus of reading apathy that is rapidly dulling the reading fluency that has hitherto existed in our society.
Nevertheless, he felt it necessary to pursue this path of communication because he believed that the spiritual fire that inspires speaking in tongues about contemporary life and events, which would have kindled the sensibilities of young people and students, was fast losing its intensity and needed to be rekindled. He hoped that the book would not only breathe new life and energy into the numbed veins of poetry, but would also elevate its status to a position of honour and prominence, both as a fundamental literary genre and as a profession with practitioners who can earn a decent and respectable living from it. Therefore, he decided to pursue the path of free verse poetry.
In Torus of Verses, Mr. Ntuk moves between the world of esoteric incantations and the physical worship of entities and those he seems to like. In some parts, it is a collection of sonic vibrations about personalities and mockery of institutions. In most parts he sticks with narratives of gratitude and in others of omnipotence and loneliness. He tends to be dramatic in some cases and sombre in others. For example, the dramatic side of his art is represented in 29 where he has “Rumble in Ruskra”:
Kpaaw! Kpaw! Russian tanks fire! Kpaaw! Kpoow! Ukraine responds, kpoow! It’s not fireworks but fire and fury! Where the strong seek the frail to bury. On page 38 he reveres “afrobeat,” especially in the fourth verse: Afrobeat is largely African, now more Nigerian. It’s our beautiful bride to all, even seminarians. It used to be another genre on the world stage, Since afrobeat ruled the world, those are caged. But on pages 40 and 41, he pokes a little fun at the “National Assembly,” as read in the first two verses: Like Vespasian’s coliseum, it stands, A fortress for eclectic men, motions and laws, Come through a passionate rush, A deadly choice, we wonder, for what? To serve us, save us, cage us, or enrage us? To make us grow a belly and hideous sideburns? Mr. President, is yours a mace of honor Or a sausage of sacrilege and shame?
Article page with promotion of financial support
There is an unmistakable effort to accommodate rhyme and rhythm in each poem, though not in every line. There are hints that the author loves to combine sounds to produce phonetic verses, some grandiloquent, some figurative, some pure and simple. It is a book adorned with a variety of rhetorical figures.
The bull of verses contains 79 poems, of which 28 deal with various themes and 51 focus on Nigerian icons and celebrities. The collection praises almost everyone who has had the privilege of staying at the Hilltop mansion in Uyo – business moguls and people who occupy positions in corporate boardrooms across Nigeria. Why such a number of people? It is the author’s attempt to address a debilitating condition – the neglect of poetry.
Quoting Adrian Mitchell, he noted that people ignore poetry because poetry itself ignores people. He observed that not many poems praise people for their courage; instead, they feed on their wiles.
Ntuk, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, delivered 33 of the 51 eulogies to leaders of various stripes in the state, including all the indigene governors – Obong Victor Attah (1999-2007), Obong Godswill Akpabio (2007-2015), Deacon Udom Emmanuel (2007-2015), Pastor Umo Eno (present); and some prominent sons of the state including Senator Udoma Udoma, Chief Assam Assam, Barrister Uwem Ekanem, Mr. Nnamso Umoren, Obong Ufot Ekaette, Obong Chris Ekpenyong and Engineer Patrick Ekpotu, the last three also served at different times as deputy governors of the state.
Outside his home state, the author praises Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka; global entrepreneur, Aliko Dangote; business moguls like Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga, Folorunsho Alakija, Tony Elumelu, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Jim Ovia, Nduka Obaigbena, the late Raymond Dokpesi and football maestro, Jay Jay Okocha, among others.
Among those dealing with various themes are: God, The Poet, Africa, Too Green to Die, Ibibio, June 12, Benevolent Earth, Love Letter to Love, Time is a Beggar and Seed of Justice of the Seasons. There is a poem on Afro Beat, Football, Gun, Nollywood, Ikot Abasi, Woman, Church Sister, National Assembly, etc.
The Torus de Versos is composed of 12 pages of introduction and 135 pages of content, and ends with an epilogue on “Poetry lives” and the recommendations of two knowledgeable people who reviewed the manuscript before publication. The first 48 pages introduce the anthology, 85 pages contain panegyrics, and one page was dedicated to the epilogue and recommendations.
Although the page numbering is the same throughout most of the book, the last eight pages are inconsistent, resulting in the repetition of three elements. Two pages have no page number at all. Thus, five pages are wasted, and yet the final page is numbered 136.
The cover features a simple design adorned with a rather intricate motif, a “witty nonsense” sophisticated enough for a book of poetry. The entire cover is primarily gold and black on a white background. The back cover has a simple design with a mugshot and a brief profile of the author. The opening page is a silhouette of the cover, with the publisher’s logo at the bottom. The body of the text is printed in 10-point Georgia font with 1.5 line spacing, making it easy on the eyes and quite readable.
However, the copyright and dedication pages (ii and iii respectively) are written in large print, creating a scattered and distracting appearance. Although the book bears the copyright year 2023, it is still in the process of being formally presented to the public.
The author has a background in law and international relations, which may have enhanced his natural gift for using language fluently and elegantly. His writing is often richly embellished with aesthetic beauty. However, although he often explains issues related to poetry, his language could also be accused of being too grandiloquent even in introductory explanations.
The variety of collections in Torus of Verses and the language employed to present them make the book an indispensable compendium for students of literature and related courses in secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and even for those who appreciate artistic excursions and are given to rich intellectual offerings.
Mr. Ntuk is a Judge of the Customary Court of the Akwa Ibom State Judiciary and has two published books, one of which is Tribe of the Wet Sun, which offers a literary exploration of the historical origins of the Ibibio people of the Niger Delta region.
Akpandem James is a member of the Editors Guild of Nigeria.