Four Box Poetry

I invented a poetry style for Igbo, but it's a lot more than that.

Jun 07, 2024

What?

I dared to show my face after abandoning my blog?

Yes.

I didn’t abandon it. I was just…. trying and failing to write.

But I’m here now which means I’m succeeding ever so marginally to actually distill my thoughts in ordered form, so as far as I’m concerned, a win is a win.

I think writing today’s post is a lot easier because this time, I have something I’m actually really excited to talk about.

It has always been a resolution of mine to write in Igbo every single day, but don’t worry, I’ve already failed colossally at this goal, so you’re not missing anything, trust me.

That said though, after failing to think of anything to write about, I surmised that writing poetry might be an easier, and potentially funner starting point.

The problem was, I didn’t want to have to write a whole poem, and I strongly doubted that I could even come up with a whole poem at gunpoint, so I needed something shorter, and I’ve been thinking about how to create a condensed form of poetry for Igbo for a long time.

In light of that, earlier this year, I devised a simple, but frankly I think genius poetry style that I’m calling Four Box Poetry for now, until I can think of a better name for it.

If you want to suggest a name, feel free to do so in the comments by the way.

Anyway, so last week, I decided to try it out with a couple of friends and acquaintances, and I was actually really shy about it because I didn’t think people would get it, and in the beginning, they honestly didn’t, at first.

Here are the rules as I explained to my friends.

A Four Box Poem is a poem made up of boxes.
At minimum, a poem must have one box.
At maximum, a poem may have four boxes.

So, what the hell is a box?

A box is a sub unit of a poem that can serve as a chunk of a longer poem, but can also stand on its own as an entire poem itself.

So if a poem has more than one box, technically, that poem is made up of X poems since each box poem is a full poem itself.

Each box is made up of four lines.
Each line is made up of exactly four syllables.

Not four words.
Four syllables. Four little chunks of sound e.g. Ba / Cha / Da / Fa
Oh, and one last rule.

Each box has to make grammatical sense.

I persevered in explaining the concept however, and bit by bit, people started to understand the idea, and even tried to come up with their own poems, which was so exciting because I didn’t think anyone would be interested.

It ended up being so much fun, and my friends came up with such amazing poems in Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, and even Itsekiri.

Me in Igbo:

Nẹkwá ènyò!
Bùté kā ń gó
Ń g'àkwụ gị
Órù ìlí

Regard the mirror! Bring, let me buy. I shall pay you… ten slaves.

Elnathan John

in Hausa:

Yarinyar ce
Babu miji
Wa zai ba ta
Ci mai dadi?

This girl... No husband… Who will give her… A good fucking?

Layo in Yoruba:

Jeje ore!
Aye ole
Funmi l’owo
Ka jo gbadun

Slow down my friend … Life is not that hard … Give me your money … Let’s go and enjoy ourselves.

Misan in Itsekiri:

Oritse mi
Towi noran
Molagbe mi
Jemi nuwa

My God… that is in heaven…. Bestow upon me wealth… And make me prosperous.

MacKenzy in Hausa:

Karuwanci
Ya na kawo
Iskanci a
Sabon Gari

Prostitution… brings… immorality to… Sabon Gari.

I.K. in Igbo:

Bùté m mili
Ka n sa aru
N’abani a
Na chi efo

Bring me water… That I may bathe… This night… For the day dawns.

Teni in Yoruba:

Mi o tii lo
Mo ni fe e
Su gbon amo
Gba ti se tan

I haven’t left yet. I love you. We know that we aren’t done.

OmoAkin in Yoruba:

Ebin pa mi
Mo be ishu
Mogbe lena
Kin to momi

I hunger… I peeled yam… I placed it on the fire… And then drank water.

Jonathan in Hausa:

Maganan nan
Da kun fara
Ba zai kawo
Mun hankali

This conversation… that you started… will not bring… me peace.

Which one did you think was the best?

I’m pretty pleased with myself.

So far, I’ve held three different audio conversation rooms about this, and between us, we’ve come up with over 20 poems.

At first, everyone’s poems were very simplistic and crude, but as we kept going, there were some surprising gems that sounded so elegant, and even employed double entendres, puns, and metaphors.

Towards the end, it took a hilarious turn because

Elnathan John

wouldn’t stop making raunchy ones, and we couldn’t even keep our faces straight reading them aloud in Hausa.

Elnathan’s R-Rated Hausa Poems:

Tsuliyan ta!
Babu gashi
Harshe na fa
Har can ya je

Her pussy! No hair... My tongue has… gone there.

It was such a good time, and I’m looking forward to not only renaming my little poetry art form something more elegant, but actually trying to push myself to see how witty I can be with such a restricted style of poetry.

I’ve tried my best to transcribe the poems but I might have made some spelling mistakes. If you spot an error, please let me know.

If you want to try writing your own four box poem, share it in a comment below so we can all enjoy.

💛,

Lotanna

Chelugodu

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