Lagos is Killing Me

Poems depicting the life of a man living in Lagos, written about life, love and Black Lives Matter. I’m not always a fan of poetry, but the way Oloyede writes some of these, he captivates the reader. There is high use of intellectual words, which for the majority, give depth to the poems, but for some, it made them a little too complex.
Every person is able to relate to the words written, which makes you stop and think. But by far, my favourite poems were those which focus on Black Lives Matter, and the SARS at Lekki Toll gate, both very recent and paramount in society today!

Such a heartfelt collection on love, life's hardships & very important social issues! Oloyede Michael Taiwo puts his thoughts in extraordinary lyrics, ''dressing'' such heartbreaking and inspiring emotions in gorgeous and deeply descriptive words. With themes that both unsettle and soothe the reader, I think the variety of poems has something for every poetry lover! From poems about heartache and love to outcries against every kind of oppression, reading this was a really emotional ride.
The poems I personally found most influential and touching were the ones bravely talking about the hardships of life in Nigeria and the ones embracing African culture. Especially those discussing white privilege and western exploitation and the ones reporting the violation of human rights and the danger that is SARS were not only incredibly powerful but educational, as well! There are also quite a few feminist gems that I highly appreciated and cherished! A very refreshing and moving debut collection!

This book is a candid and splendid evocation about every spice of life. The author weaves words like an adept craftsman. He employed all necessary literary devices to embellish his experiences and narrations. He is indeed a brilliant writer and his works to be explored and savored. The line up pf poems are didactic, poignant and thorough. Only folks with literary depth and a spongy heart would vibe to the weight and color of words used by the writers. The visceral readers and fickle poetry warts would just cast unnecessary aspersion on this great work. Poetry is personal and surreal and astral and neural in form. We need to understand the etymology and context and ontology of words to relate with them. This is one of the finest strings of poetry i have come across in a while and it is an enthralling piece. My favorite poems were curly smoke, sepia, cowries, sacrament of bullets, covid too; to mention but a few.

The writing was very beautiful and the poems covered a variety of topics such as politics, society, history, love, and family. I also enjoyed the complexity of the poems and having to slow down to absorb them and their meaning, I think that is part of the point of poetry. However, there were some poems that were somewhat too complex (having to look up words and then still not fully grasping the context) but I still finished this book with thoroughly enjoying most of the poems.