Popular poet, Classicist and Lawyer, Alexander Olomo, is not a name that suddenly leapt out of nowhere. Through sheer hard work, dedication and determination, he has risen to the ranks of his career. In this interview with Alao Abiodun, the author of ‘Nature is In Everything’ talks about his academic sojourn, the issues that inspire his poems and writing; and how far it has taken him within Nigeria and beyond
Can we meet you?
I am Alexander Olomo, a native of Otan Ayegbaju town in Osun state. I was born and raised in Ibadan. I earned a B.A Classics degree in 2014 and an Ll.B degree in 2020 at the University of Ibadan. Basically, I write poems. I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2024. I am a poet, classicist and a lawyer. I have poems published in Latin and translated into English in the University of Southern California’s Multilingual Journal titled ‘Trojan Bloom’. I have also been published by The Society of Young Nigerian Writers in an anthology titled, ‘Moonlight Songs for Pa Nelson Mandela’. I am currently a graduate student at the University of Southern California.
How did you begin to write?
I remember writing my first poem probably as an eleven years old boy one night, while it rained. I wrote it with a kerosene lantern we had then. The title was, ‘rain’. It was short. I didn’t keep it. However, I can say my writing started in its full emergence in 2010 in my first year when I started studying classics at the university of Ibadan. I wrote poems in a notebook. Some of them are on nature and included in the collection of poems I published last year. But in 2012, when I was in my third year of studying classics, I started writing love poems about a lady I fell in love with. I wrote a lot about the lady. Some of the poems are featured in my recent book too because they still connected to the subject-matter of nature even though they talk about love.
What does writing mean to you?
Writing pacifies the surge always within me. The surge bears many messages that are tired of living in wherever they come from and through me, want to begin to live in lines and pages. I am just a medium. It is often very disturbing. A lot of things surge all at once and I get restless and disturbed deeply. It was when I started writing profusely at the University of Ibadan when studying classics that I became aware of the therapeutic service writing could render. I have no choice than to continue If I want to keep including peace in the features of my life. Also, I see writing as an activity that is both metaphysical and physical. It is metaphysical because after writing, I return to what I have done and not only marvel at it but learn from it too. I still wonder where they do come from. The physicality is in the actual penning down or typing. I see myself as an initiate in the cult of literature with no choice than to keep being its symbol. I view writing as a very sacred thing that requires ritualistic seriousness and devotion.
For how long have you been writing?
I have been writing for 15 years now and publishing poems and essays (since 2011) which are both literary writings.
Why did you choose poetry out of the three genres of literature?
I will not say I chose it. I just discovered myself having the outstanding ability to write poems. I have attempted short stories but never published them. I see myself extending to fiction and drama, with time. I view art as a body with different arms that carry the overall identity of it. So, there is a representation of the entire body of art in the separate arms of it. This is my way of demonstrating the relationship among the branches of art.
What are the functions of poetry and would you say the works you have written represent these functions?
Generally, functions of a writing include (but not limited to): educating, informing, criticizing, satirizing, and so on. Poetry has these functions too since it is a type of writing. However, I think poetry may have more specific functions like: philosophizing, telling of truth, driving out of emotions, setting of morals and values, outstanding use of language to its finest form attainable and so on. Yes, my works reflect these functions. They have the high capacity to plunge one into a deep thinking about things one may either be learning for the first time or relearning in a different fashion, thus, leading to a total overhauling of the mind.
Many people seem to be less interested in poetry. What do you think are the reasons?
You are correct. Many times, I have heard that poetry is difficult to understand and that fiction and drama are easier to comprehend. I don’t think that view is wrong. Notwithstanding, I think it is due to the uniqueness of these genres. The philosophical and cryptic characteristics of poetry may be reasons why it is considered tough to read. In as much as I support participatory writing whereby everything should not be given to the readers and have then do some work to interpret the work, I also think poetry should not be extremely difficult to unravel. My book, Nature is in Everything’ has poems that are comprehensible. I think an interesting thing about my book is that one does not need to read the entire collection to feel intellectually satisfied. A poem may be so stimulating and enough at a point in time. In fact, a phrase or stanza may create a light in one’s mind and that may be on for the day or even the week. Many poetic works are like that.
Have your classical and legal backgrounds influenced your poetic writings?
Classics and law are two disciplines that have the capacity to enhance one’s reasoning and analytical functioning. So far, my writings do not have legal content. However, there are various instances of the inclusion of classical antiquity in my debut collection of poems, ‘Nature is In Everything’ which just got published. I don’t think I staged-managed it to be so. I just wrote the poems and later discovered they contain some features of classical antiquity. In the poem ‘Silence’, there is a line there that goes thus: “Silence, the telephone line through which the nine daughters of Zeus communicate with mortals…” The nine daughters being referred to here are the Muses who are in charge of different aspects of art. They are seen as the source of inspiration to artists. This is Classical Greek Mythology and literature in display. In another poem in the book, I write, “Hope brightens, like the eyes of Athene. Athene is regarded as the Greek goddess of wisdom always depicted to have glistening eyes. This poetic construction is to demonstrate the degree at which hope increases in the context being examined in my poem.
How did you write your works?
I mostly write when I conceive ideas. One significant way to conceive ideas is for me to read. That can easily create the creative spark. Other forms of arts like music, drama and visual arts can help give me ideas as well. Arts are unified in a magical inter-play. Sometimes, I force myself to write but it may not be easy to do compared to writing when what to write hits me naturally. I get pierced by ideas anywhere and anytime. So, I find a way to write it instantly. If the poem comes complete, I finish it right there. If fragmentary, I jot down the fragment and return to it later when I can go further. When I was writing,’ Nature is in Everything’, most times, I was with a blue file that contained white numbered A4 sheets which I was using as my writing pads. When I had written a lot of poems, I started typing them on my computer to prevent the loss of the poems.
What can you say are the usefulness or importance of your book – Nature Is in Everything?
The work is useful in terms of messages it contains and also in terms of the effect it can have on the reader. I think the following are the messages in the book: Nature as a metal-smith that forges life and its components and puts everything to check; The functionality of Nature in its mingling with our lives as humans; Nature’s qualification of time; Nature as an instrument for clarity in communication; The correspondence among time, seasons and Nature; Nature as a tool for reflection ; Nature as an agent for the propagation of love; Nature as the trainer of men. The work can have influence on its readers in the sense that it can inspire them to write their own works which will either extend the frontiers of nature-centered literary assessments or explore different subject-matters and themes. The work can create a sensibility and consciousness in its readers toward the utilization of nature to live a more satisfactory life.
What is your piece of advice for aspiring writers?
I have read biographies, autobiographies and interviews of writers and the message a lot of them have given on writing is, “to read a lot and sit to write habitually”. Writing just has to be your practice if you want to gain a mastery of it, just like everything we do in life with the intention of excellence. When I was writing my book, I was reading a lot of Classical authors like Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Plutarch, Thucydides, Herodotus, Petronius, Martial and so on. Also, I consumed contemporary authors like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Peter Abraham, Steve Biko, Rabindranath Tagore, Maya Angelou, Niyi Osundare and so on. Although, one can focus on books on the exact type of writing he / she does, it is still alright to read books that do not focus on the type of writing one does. Those books can still offer learning in terms of diction, subject-matters and themes.