Friday Poetry: Ejiro Edward’s The Migration of White Crows

By Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan

Ejiro’s "The Migration of White Crows," published in Lolwe, is a melancholic pictorial collection depicting the plight of a typical household in Zamfara state, one of the northern states in Nigeria currently grappling with heightened insecurity. Although Ejiro wrote from the southern part of Nigeria, she recalls, captures in pictures, and vividly presents scenes of the challenges faced by many families in Nigeria’s insurgency and terrorism-ravaged North-East. Ejiro establishes that art transcends borders, highlighting that an artist is often cosmopolitan.

In Ejiro's own words, “This city has become an inferno of fear, it sits below a cloud of accusation, waiting for the rain of bullets.” The imagery crafted from the opening lines of this poem is poignant and heart-rending, mirroring the reality in numerous families in the northern part of Nigeria where insecurity has deeply permeated their lives. It's not even a hyperbole to assert that the clouds there release more bullets than rainwater, as accurately portrayed in the second line of the poem. This rings especially true if one has closely followed the escalating death toll due to the pervasive insecurity in that region.

To delve further into this narrative, Ejiro leads us into the weightiness of the nights in this part of the country. In her words, “our nights are spent with our eyes gazing into the blanket of the sky, awaiting the fall of a miracle, instead we measure a cloud of harvested grief waiting to flood the earth.” The heaviness in the atmosphere and the enveloping fear as night descends become palpable; it's as if the people are more certain of their impending demise than their survival. It's akin to a grim omen hovering, ready to manifest in an instant. To enhance this grim panorama with even more vivid imagery that truly reflects the state of affairs, she continues, “We listen to the movement of ghosts, a reminder that we may soon join those whose bodies were greeted by bullets. A rifle sleeps under our bed so we might wrestle with death if it comes for us. Our bags lie close, ready to flee the city, false hope slicing through our tongues.” For me, this marks the climax of the poem. This is precisely where the poem allows readers to confront the trials and dilemmas faced by these victims of insecurity. Here, we witness all the despair that grips these victims, how they strategize to preserve their lives, how they are ever prepared to abandon their comfortable homes for refugee camps, and how they coexist intimately with death due to its disturbing proximity. Towards the poem's conclusion, we see the writer recounting God’s perceived inability to rescue them, and His unending silence in response to their sorrowful pleas for help.

Through Ejiro's acumen in crafting translucent imagery with lucid metaphors, readers can connect with the poem as though they themselves have experienced such a backdrop. She achieves this by inviting her readers to traverse each line, each imagery, and every facet of the poem alongside her. The poem itself experiments with form, adopting a free-verse structure that grants the writer a boundless journey. This, I believe, significantly contributes to the poet's ability to narrate this ordeal with an admirable fluidity, thereby fostering a stronger connection with her audience. The "White Crows" mentioned in the poem's titular line symbolize death, and as the poem is written from the first-person perspective, it immerses every reader as an attentive observer into the exploration of its central theme: insecurity.

The poem is precise and forthright in addressing its primary theme, maintaining its focus consistently throughout the journey it takes us on, from start to finish.

Read the poem here.

Ejiro Edward is the winner of the Antoa Poetry Contest. She has been published in HOAX, Down River Road, Olongo Africa, Agbowo, and many others. She is the co-convener of the Benin Art and Book Festival.