WHEN LOVE SINGS: A Review of Ndigis Henry's poem, Love Music
Title: Love Music
Poet: Ndigis Henry E.V.K
Genre: Poetry
Lines:44
Stanzas: 11
Released Date: 14th February
Year:2021
Reviewer: Bizuum Yadok
There are millions of songs and poems that are being devoted to love and somehow we never get enough of them. More than two-thirds of the world's best musicians dwell on the theme of love whether it is erotic, philia or agape. It would seem as though music, poetry, and love are inextricably connected because they always go hand-in-hand. Little wonder, it is often said that when a man falls in love, a poet is born. Conversely, when a human becomes heart-broken or falls out of love, another poet is born.
It is said that famous American singer, Adele, started her musical career as a means of coping from the heart-break she encountered. Perhaps in this sense, we should be thankful for some hurts because they bring out the best in us. Who knows, there would have been no globally-acclaimed Adele had she not had the heart-break.
Adele's story is not far from the story contained in "love music", a poem by fast-rising singer, Dikis Henry. The forty-four lined poem split into eleven stanzas of four lines each recounts the experience of a man who falls in love with a girl. The girl's love for him quickly dies on account of his meagre resources. She leaves him. Heart-broken, he decides to venture into music 🎵 and then he becomes a star after recording an 'audio' at Cricket Music 'Studio' which is repeatedly played in 'radio' while he prepares for the 'video'. Wait a minute, did you feel the rhyme? If not, reread the penultimate sentence but it comes alive when it is seen in the poem like this:
Arriving at Cricket Music Studio
I first produced an audio
Repeatedly played it on radio
And got ready for the video
(lines 21-24)
But that is not the end of the story. The girl who deserts him now comes back with a plea and he, considering, the love of the cross - Christ - accepts her and the love music 🎶 plays on.
The flow of the narrative in the poem is further strengthened by the rhyming schemes, some in couplets and others in quatrains. However, the poets desire to adhere to the flow and rhyme robs the poem of certain poetic ornaments that could have made the poem sublime. I should add that some of the rhymes were forcefully injected but the poet is not left alone in this situation because it is a frequent problem encountered by second language speakers of English, which actually boils down to impatience with words and unproficiency of the English language. Nonetheless, the poem still retains a good literary quality as it still remains relevant to the discourse about love. What is love without forgiveness?
Dikis Henry, by his attractive love poem, "Love Music", has demonstrated that love is incomplete without forgiveness and, of course, as an artist says, "love makes the world 🌎 go round. The poet is certainly someone to look out for in the near future.
Bizuum Yadok is a veteran teacher, poet and novelist. He holds both BA and MA degrees in Literature from the University of Jos.
Bizuum is the co-founder of Plateau Writers' Society (PLAWS) and the author of 'King of the Jungle' (a novel) and 'Echoes of the Plateau'(poetry). He curated JOSTICE (an anthology of short stories) in 2018.
