Tania Runyan wrote that poetry is about freedom and the imagination. Ocean waves and flying geese. The human spirit, for crying out loud. It is a two-way thing: yes and no. Yes to inviting—immediately and enthusiastically—the images, feelings, and ideas bubbling through your pen or keys. No to crafting “that perfect poem” the right way.
In this way, poetry is a process of conversion and conversation between the spirit and the soul, with the body recording it. Poems become a crucial sacrifice, a journey from which those who embark on it often return with scars marked on their tongues and papers. Does this explain why writers of the same generation sometimes address similar concerns? For instance, fourth generation Nigerian writers seem to be writing a lot about grief. Why? What does that say about the human spirit.
The question now is: when and what makes a poem a perfect poem? As Runyan noted, poems are not perfect because they contain frivolous language and descriptions—Socrates was particularly indifferent to the Sophists, people who believed that poetry was the beauty of language and not the depth of communication—but because they carry the wounds of the poet.
What makes poetry good poetry? The founder and editor of Arts Lounge, Adaeze M. Nwadike, shared that poetry succeeds on two levels. On the first level, a poem is successful if it achieves what the writer wants it to achieve. She gave the example of emotional intimacy, such as love. “When the poem is able to make someone feel love as they read, the poem has succeeded. This success comes with emotional clarity and clarity of thought. So, if the emotion you’ve set out to achieve is clear and your readers are able to feel what you want them to feel, or think what you want them to think, then you have succeeded.”
The second level of perfection lies with the readers. “But that is one level of success. Poetry depends on two parties to make meaning. The reader is not an island. The reader approaches a poem from their own experience. It is an exploration. What they know and what they are thinking are very important. When they bring that experience on board, they are able to connect with what the writer wants to communicate, and then meaning-making happens.”
Essentially, a poet is able to create a “perfect poem” when the two ends of communication—from sender to receiver—are fully achieved. For instance, among today’s fourth-generation Nigerian poets, an underlying principle is writing what the public can fully relate to. Commenting on this, Adaeze wrote that Nigerian poets are writing about today’s environmental issues. “They are writing about migration. People are writing about love, intimacy, sexual orientation, and so many other things. Of course, there’s always grief lurking somewhere; it is a very central recurring motif, but that is not the only thing they’re writing about. People are writing about other things as well.”
