Hijra by Odu Ode

In this gazelle, Odu Ode returns us to the poet’s quintessential occupation as a sojourner, and he not-so-subtly revels in showing his penmanship, as in the poem “Dear Benue Pyrite” signalling Soyinka’s grandfather style and aureate musicality. Ode is more interested in language even as his themes are revealed to his readers without the compromise of stylishness. “I seek refuge against the illusion of this voyage,” he writes. There’s the familial in this gazelle; there are poems about the road and travel; and there’s the understanding of loss and trauma.

Odu Ode is the author of the chapbooks Calligraphy of Demons (2020), and Back Home, There's a Box of Chocolate (2023). His poems are inspired by memory and loss.