ALL ARRANT VERSES

“Precisely 60 minutes of poetry and prose from a voice that prompts visceral and verbal response. Olai-

tan’s collection of scribed writing is a wonderful way to pass the afternoon. Notorious; manifest; unmit-

igated; downright rogue. All Arrant Verses”

—CARINA NEBULA, Global Art Director at The Gift of Chess

“Minkail Olaitan’s collection navigates the precarious intersections of creativity and madness, ritual and

resistance, heritage and betrayal. With audacious metaphors, Olaitan transforms ordinary experiences

into profound meditations on survival, identity, and transcendence. Whether evoking the chaos of a concerto

or the depths of ancestral struggles, his verses possess a visceral power. This collection reaffirms

poetry as a space for both reckoning and rebirth.”

—CHINUA EZENWA-OHAETO, Author, The Teenager Who Became My Mother

From the first whispers of “In the Beginning” to the solemn echoes of “Everything Ends,” All Arrant

Verses unfurls like a sacred text, rich in metaphor and rife with the weight of being. Minkail Olaitan, a

poet whose words transcend ink and paper, invites readers to journey into a labyrinth where emotions are

grains turned into eternal odes and where silence and chaos coalesce into a hymn for the soul.

Olaitan does not merely write; he orchestrates. Each poem is a passage into the human crypt, a corridor

where the poet’s voice morphs into a symphony of grief, resilience, and discovery. In his hands, words

are not tools but living entities—fusillades of poignancy that pierce, heal, and transform.

Take “Singing Dogs,” for instance—a masterpiece of metaphor where dogs, mute poets with fettered

tongues, roam between lines. It is a reminder that freedom often demands a death, a resurrection, and

reckoning. And yet, in every burning word, Olaitan assures us of light waiting to be flung open.

In “What Burns Didn’t Start as a Threat,” Olaitan resurrects the spirits of Kaminsky, Bukowski, and

Neruda to stand trial for the delicate insanity of art. Here, madness is not a curse but a revelation, a flame

that purifies, burns, and reshapes. Each verse is a lantern carried through dark alleys of the mind, illumi-

nating not only the poet’s truth but the universal truths we often flee.

The genius of Olaitan lies in his ability to speak the unspoken, to name the nameless, and to render the

invisible visible. In “Concerto,” words become razors and metaphors intruders, each key striking a note

that lingers long after the symphony ends. Yet, even as he complicates the simple, Olaitan offers us solace

in the layered complexities of his verse—a concerto for the heart and soul.

Amidst the chaos, “To Demons Within” stands as a testament to the poet’s defiance. With vinegar, salt,

and the chaos of life itself, Olaitan toasts his demons and sends them back to their inferno. It is a decla-

ration of survival, a reminder that healing is both art and revolution.

The collection is steeped in paradoxes: love as both a burden and liberation, silence as deafening as the

loudest scream, and home as both everywhere and nowhere. In “My Hostel Is a Couple of Blocks

Behind the Wood,” Olaitan seeks a home within himself, redefining belonging not as a place but as a

state of peace.

As the book crescendos to its denouement, “In the End, Your Ruin is Your Size” delivers the final

blow—a poignant realization that ruin and salvation are tailored to each soul. Poetry, for Olaitan, is not

escape but confrontation, a sacred act of sharing peace and chaos with the world.

All Arrant Verses is not a collection; it is a cosmos. It is the poet standing at the edge of his universe,

inviting us to gaze into the abyss, to drown and emerge anew. Minkail Olaitan does not merely invite us

to read; he invites us to live, to bleed, and to heal through his words.

This book is not for the faint of heart but for those brave enough to walk the corridors of the poet’s

mind, to wrestle with his demons and to celebrate his triumphs. For in every word, Olaitan offers a mir-

ror—not just to himself but to the reader, reflecting a world that is as brutal as it is beautiful, as fleeting

as it is eternal.

—ADEWOLE DANIEL BAMIDELE, Author, Vague, A Poet’s Narrative

Minkail Olaitan’s All Arrant Verses is a poignant collection of verses that bleed with vulnerability, laying

bare the sharp realities of loss, love, and haunting trauma. These poems navigate the complexities of

life, likening it to a chess game of strategic resilience. In the face of life’s heavy punches, “All

Arrant Verses“ issues a powerful call to readers to rise above seeking solace in a fragile world.

—TARES OBURUMU. Winner of the 2022 Sillerman

prize for African poets.