I know many persons who read the poem “The Ijaw Astronaut” when the poem was
initially published may be wondering what the message of the poem is all about.
Some may be like: What’s this dude saying this time around? I know my words get
many people confused because they sometimes seem not to be making any sense at
all. But they do, and this I shall prove. But be minded, the interpretation
will be limited to just the giving of flesh to the meaning, so I will not venture
into the discourse of literary devices or figures. My usual style I guess.
Now let us see the poem once more before we
discuss it together.
THE
IJAW ASTRONAUT
In the Moon’s sea of tranquility,
He alighted with Nembe
02
Epie 03 and
two, he flew with you
In the winds of witchcraftcy
The first Ijaw man in the ministry of witches
Pitching and pinning his wings in the stars
Behold the Ijaw feather from a distance
From the home wide gallery and gabby pitches
With a robototically operated Ogbia 04
Exploring elements other than Oil boom
He rides on our darling home
Using craft of witchcraft-neither-nor
All the Ijaw men maintain their jurisdiction
Because they sail in ships in the air
Because they in air could seat in chair
Because the space is for no man’s personal action
Because all BecauseS
are because
Black man must high-fly
Because Ijaws are not dry
Somehow he must break the curse
He longs to see a space station
To be controlled by a Nembe man
A Nembe Mayday to rescue a craft-man
An Ijaw’s call in an Ijaw’s mission
Out of Outer space his space is spaced
In wonder tourism he does his tour
Using craft of witchcraft-neither-nor
On celestial beam he tied his taste
INTERPRETATION
PROPER
In
the Moon’s sea of tranquility,
He
alighted with Nembe 02
Epie
03 and two, he flew with you
In
the winds of witchcraftcy
The moon’s sea of tranquility? Yes. I do not think I
need to explain that. Google it, it’s well explained. Just know we are talking
about outer space here and astronauts travel on space ships otherwise known as
space objects as defined by the Convention
on the Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, entered into force Sept. 15 1976, 28 U.S.T. 695, 1023 U.N.T.S. Of course, astronauts are good at naming their space
ships using the combination of numbers and alphabets. I once argued about the
crash of Couluer. Oh, am sorry, only
few know that. But just be minded that our astronaut here traveled with a space
ship.
So he traveled to space with a space ship named: “Nembe
02”. When he got to the moon’s sea of tranquility, he alighted from the space
ship, and boarded another space ship named “Epie 05”. Oh! 05? But I said 03?
Yes, I did but I also said “Epie 03 and
two” which means 03 plus 2 which will give you 5. Guess it’s pretty simple?
Just relax.
So he flew with the ship (He flew with you) after
boarding same. Remember, we speak of the IJAW man, so it’s no strange affair
that the two ships are connected, NEMBE and EPIE. It simply means, both ships
are owned by one man and that one man is the IJAW man.
He flew in the winds of witchcraftcy. Why not wings?
I am just speaking about space. But why witchcraftcy? I don’t know why, but
somehow, some Africans believe that science is supernatural, demonic connected
and so on. So here I am using what those set of black people cast believe on to
explain something deep.
The
first Ijaw man in the ministry of witches
Pitching
and pinning his wings in the stars
Behold
the Ijaw feather from a distance
From
the home wide gallery and gabby pitches
So stanza two, tells you of the first Ijaw man in
the ministry of witches. What I mean is that, though some are surprised at the
entire drama of outer space exploration, we say an IJAW man explore the outer
space that seems or looks like a task of impossibility, pitching and pinning
his wings in the stars. Guess you can now behold the Ijaw feather from a
distance? Oh, don’t be surprised. Feathers are used for flight. So feather here
means his space ship. Just be calm.
With
a robototically operated Ogbia 04
Exploring
elements other than Oil boom
He
rides on our darling home
Using
craft of witchcraft-neither-nors
So the Ijaw man in his flight makes use of a robototically
operated Ogbia 04 to exploit the
resources in outer space. Now you see why the IJAW man explores the outer
space? The exploration shows how the IJAW man could rely on something else for
survival other than Oil. Here we see an Ijaw man, highly scientific, that he
alongside other advanced fellows also takes advantage of other opportunities to
make life worth living. He rides on our darling home using craft of witchcraft-neither-nor. This means that outer space
which is part of the universe belongs to man, and so it is as well the IJAW man’s
home as it is the home of other men. He rides on this home using a space craft which
is neither evil nor witchcraftcy as
many may think. (Using craft of witchcraftcy-neither-nor)
All
the Ijaw men maintain their jurisdiction
Because
they sail in ships in the air
Because
they in air could seat in chair
Because
the space is for no man’s personal action
All Ijaw men maintain their jurisdiction as it is
the conventional practice of outer space exploration of civilized nations. They
must, because they are civilized. (Because they sail in ships in the air). For
it is only civilized men that can build ships and aircrafts to sail in the sea
as well as the air, and not just that, only civilized men can travel to space
and seat there in a chair. But then, the civilized Ijaw man who has risen above
the fight for OIL money is now counted amongst those set of people who reason
above one item of limitation and now as a civilized man he also maintains his jurisdiction
like others because no one is a sole owner of outer space. (Because the space
is no man’s personal action).
Because all BecauseS are because
Black man must high-fly
Because Ijaws are
not dry
Somehow he must
break the curse
The IJAW space agent must live by the code because
all the rules are made for a reason. (Because
all BecauseS are because) But by living by the Code, the IJAW man will fly
high above all expectations because he has more to offer the world than what
many think. So by so doing, he breaks the chain of thoughts many have about
him.
He
longs to see a space station
To
be controlled by a Nembe man
A
Nembe Mayday to rescue a craft-man
An
Ijaw’s call in an Ijaw’s mission
Not only will he explore, he shall be a master of
the act controlling same and building his own space stations that will be controlled
by his own person or should I say, brother, using all the necessarily codes of
communication so needed to explore and also rescue other astronauts that need
the needed help of rescue as recognized in the Agreement on the
Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts, and the Return of Objects
Launched into Outer Space, entered into force Dec. 3, 1968, 19 U.S. T.
7570, 672 U.N.T.S. 119 (A Nembe MAYDAY to rescue a craft-man)
Out
of Outer space his space is spaced
In
wonder tourism he does his tour
Using
craft of witchcraft-neither-nor
On
celestial beam he tied his taste
So out of outer Space, in his space of supposed nothingness,
you see in him well spaced; that is to say, well organized. In other words, his
space is filled, occupied with many activities. This he does in a wonder
tourism which is to say, he does this to the wonder of many. He does this with
pure science that he has learnt and discovered, and so on celestial beam he does
his exploration.
The poem in general is appealing to the IJAW NATION
that while we argue that the Oil in the land belongs to us, we should be
mindful of the fact that beyond Oil, there are other opportunities we should
not ignore. The outer space exploration here symbolizes every golden
opportunity open to us beyond oil, because the Oil we see today may not be too
useful tomorrow. It appeals to the Ijaw youths that this is very possible as
there is no magic in it. But to do this, the Ijaw must remain united, hence,
the use of different space ships representing some of the tribes of IJAW EBE
(territory) to achieve this.
Now I guess you understand the poem better.
You can now drop me your comments!
Enlighteng...good one brother
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