Face Me I Face You by Oyindamola Shoola

Face Me I Face You is a vision and experience for the ages, and an expose to the local everyday epics that play out in the lives of common people.

Poetry has always been a special genre for me. I went from disliking it in totality to being a writer of several poems (inspired by fair muses, of course) in the span of a few years.

Oyindamola’s humorous take on the many indiscrete hypocrisies of tenants in Face Me I Face You living conditions is a celebration of the many social facets of Nigerian tenement living.

Premise and Context

In the real world, Face Me I Face You is a term that refers to specific local tenements with distinct architectural layouts. Such properties consist of thousands of residential buildings across Southern Nigeria, housing populations often anywhere between 20-80 souls.

The buildings themselves typically consist of a single rectangular block of micro-mini apartments with a straight, narrow alley condoning off the space into two rows, one to either side. Within this setup, the rooms lie adjacent to one another, stifling in their disregard for the necessity and right to personal space and privacy.

In Face Me I Face You, we see the lives of the inhabitants of one such local residence from the point of view of an initially unnamed character. It’s a feel-good read, a glance at the things that make humans such exciting creatures.

Thoughts

The author’s tone echoes strongly through each poem in this excellent collection as we see her unique take on the eccentric characters.

The sentences meld neatly into multiple lines, with varying metering styles explored, to equally different effects- a testament to Face Me I Face You’s claim to Kermit Moyer recognition for craft in lyrical writing.

The imagery in Face Me I Face You evokes humor and sarcasm within a bustling and unique backdrop- the tapestry of the realities of tenement living.

Unlike many poems wrapped in several layers of wordy obscurity, Face Me I Face You uses fresh, relatable writing that doesn’t compromise the quality of the lyrical delivery.

Verdict for Face Me I Face You

I’ve always found William Wordsworth’s definition of poetry to be thoroughly encompassing.

… the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.

Poetry springs from depths, is borne from experience, and is, in its purest form, unbridled thought given flight.

Face Me I Face You is a vision and experience for the ages- an expose to the local everyday epics that play out in the lives of common people.

Copies of the Face Me I Face You poetry collection are available on Selar, RovingHeights, and Amazon.