Jordan Hill Poetry Slam

The sun rose high to a bright new day. The spirits soared. The children were excited. Room filled. The atmosphere fully charged. Audience with looks of anticipation. Such was the ambiance at the first ever Jordan Hill Poetry Slam in collaboration with The Bunker in celebration of the World Poetry Day on Thursday 21st March 2019.

The programme which was held at The Bunker, a literary and relaxation hub, situated in the heart of Lekki Phase 1, had pupils from various schools across Lagos in attendance for a Poetry Recital Contest.

According to the Educational Director at Jordan Hill, “Poetry is the richest literary genre because it brings a great bounty of writing skills and tools, and many of these spills over into other writing forms, sprinkling them with just a little of the magic that is poetry.” She further asserted, “Poetry writing is fun and provides a creative method for improving children’s writing in general.”

At the event, shortlisted young poets from different schools took part in the poetry recital contest.  Prior to this event, the children enrolled in The Young Authors’ Club across schools in Lagos submitted poems written by them in a Poetry Writing Contest. From those submissions, best-written poems were selected to be recited by their writers at the Poetry Slam in a poetry recital contest and winners walked away with book vouchers and cash prizes, as the reward to them for their efforts and most importantly, to motivate them to continue in this path. Such winners have their poems published on the Jordan Hill Creative Writing & Reading Workshop website. “This is our own way of reinforcing the learning sessions in class, encouraging the children to get into writing and also inspiring them to create their own poems,” enthused Mr. Eze, Managing Director at Jordan Hill, while giving his address. “Jordan Hill,” he added, “presently runs the Young Authors’ Club in different schools in Lagos and ten of such schools are represented here today.” The Poetry Slam had ten schools having their pupils contest for the grand winner of a N20,000 Book Voucher plus N10,000 cash price endowed by the Ajike Foundation, a non-governmental organisation focused on promoting the values of education in Nigeria, even at the grassroots level.  Pupils from Corona School Gbagada, The Pottersland School, Cedar Oak School, Corona School Lekki, Corona School Victoria Island, Buuk’s Ark School, Corona School Ikoyi, Kids Station School, Busy Minds School and Children’s House Montessori School contested keenly for the grand win.

To further accentuate the power of the spoken word, there were various presentations and exhortations from spoken word artists like Mrs. Phebian Adekunle-Oguntoyinbo, a performance poet, writer, lecturer and the Creative Director of House of Phoebe; Atilola Morounfolu, a multi-faceted entrepreneur, writer and editor who has had the opportunity to perform for the United Nations at the UNAIDS PCB Thematic Segment in Geneva. Other young spoken word artists like ten-year-old Nachi the Poet, Ibukun, McNaevet, and Solutionist Clementina, all members of Poets in Nigeria, featured in the Poetry Slam.

As part of the celebration was the public presentation of ‘Night’ – a collection of short poems written by the nine-year-old-young author, Jeremy Ojochugbo Essienete. Night, published by Jordan Hill books under its’ Butterfly Series imprint focused on inspiring, promoting and celebrating young authors, is a product of the author’s engagement with The Jordan Hill Young Authors’ Club in his school, Rosemore House International School, Lekki. The collection features different types of poems like limericks, colour poems, haiku, shape poems, acrostic poems cinquains, lyrics, and couplets; a rich blend of literary devices and figures of speech, appealing to children across the world. The World Poetry Day celebration presented a great opportunity to introduce Night to the public. And as a way of spurring creativity in other children, the young poet, Jeremy Essienete specially endowed an award for the Most Creative Poem at the Poetry Recital Contest with a gift prize of N5,000 book voucher and N5,000 cash prize.

Ms. Sola Alamutu, aka Green Queen, GQ, a Child and Environmental Rights Advocate was also at the event to encourage the children to engage in regular reading activities in order to enhance their literacy skills, more so, read lots of poems. Ms. Sola is the brain behind Children and The Environment, CATE, an organisation that creates awareness in children and young people about the importance of education and the environment.

It was a heated battle of the words at the poetry recital contest, and through the professionalism of the judges, members of Poets in Nigeria Association, under the leadership of the PIN President, Mr. Ken Eriata, a fair assessment of the pupils’ recitals were done and results arrived at. The award presentation was truly exciting for the pupils. The following pupils got the Jeremy Ochugbo Award for The Most Creative Poem: OluwafirefunmiDepiver of Corona School Gbagada and OreoluwaGiwa of Kids Station School, Ajah for the junior and senior categories respectively. At the third position were Busy Minds School’s Oluwatemilorun Afolayan and Cedar Oak School’s OsariemenOmosigho for both the junior and senior categories respectively, specially endowed by the Children and the Environment (CATE) with a N5,000 book voucher each. OluwafirefunmiDepiver, Corona School Gbagada got the award for second place in the junior category while OlaedoNwabueze, Corona School Lekki was awarded for the same position at the senior category. The award for the second position of a N5,000 book voucher and N5,000 cash prize was jointly endowed by Poets in Nigeria and The Bookworm Café. The spoken word champions of the day for the first position at the junior category and senior category with the special award of N20,000 book voucher and N10,000 cash prize endowed by the Ajike Foundation were KaitoAnigbo, a pupil of Cedar Oak School, Ajah and OreoluwaGiwa, a pupil of Kids Station School, Ajah. The children were well applauded for their commendable efforts at writing and reciting their own poems.

The event was heavily supported by well-meaning Nigerians who appreciate the value of educating the young minds and enriching their communicative competency.

SUPERHERO by Kaito Anigbo, a pupil of Cedar Oak School, Ajah.  Winner of the Jordan Hill Poetry Slam, Junior Category

Light is bright as the sun

It looks big

Glows in the dark

Helps in seeing things in darkness

Torch light and light are both bright

Hot sun is bright as torchlight

On a lighthouse, light is pretty bright

Up on the building

So bright in the darkness

Energetic as a shining sun

Beauty by Oreoluwa Giwa, a pupil of Kids Station School, Ajah. Winner of the Jordan Hill Poetry Slam, Senior Category

Beauty feels like me on a runway
Or just pretending while I play

Beautiful butterflies bounce with bugs
While I get bear hugs

Beauty tastes like ice-cream tempting you
As you hear a pigeon coo

Beauty smells like cookies freshly baked
While you go for a picnic by the lake

Beauty sounds like your fans screaming
But not you leaving

Beauty looks like what God made
But not when it starts to fade