Storms and Magic: Poems by Enitan Ige
Storms and Magic is the debut collection of poetry from the Nigerian teacher, poet and mental health advocate, Enitan Ige. Storms and magic indeed, this collection is deeply infused with the pulsing presence of both.
Ige writes deftly about selfhood, both feminine and feminist, charting the yearning of girlhood as it emerges into the lessons of womanhood, love, sex, and claiming her identity. Connection to her cultural roots and heritage is explored with deep care, letting her ancestors know she sees them:
To all the women before me …
I can’t say I’ve seen what you’ve seen
I haven’t. but I have traced footmarks from the moment I learnt to crawl
And I have found parts of myself in your being.
Believe me
that I cannot be without you and I cannot become without you.
(p.12)
It’s a strong message that Ige gracefully moves across her past and places firmly in her present, sharing lessons learned from her mother and she dedicates a few of the poems to her ‘mama’ directly. In to my fellow african daughters, Ige reiterates the message with a call for being seen:
and only you know how to love your people well
yet the world may still look at you in dismay
_a sadness meant for a lost daughter, but honey
you have just been found.
(p. 23)
The collection itself is split into two parts. Part one, ‘Storms’, and part two, ‘and Magic’, are completed with a final poem: a letter to you. Themes of beauty, self-care, love, longing and loss ring strong throughout the sometimes nameless verses, with part one leaning heavily into ideas around being enough in a society that questions your very being: you deserve to take up space. Darling (p. 15)
In part two (And Magic), I particularly liked the way Ige weaves magic into the mundane, finding meaning in the minutiae of the details she captures. She continues to explore her experiences of love, longing, loss, and sex, using powerful imagery and textures coupled with dreamlike prose.
a death.
A resurrection.
Magic.
Pure magic.
Sweet, delicious magic.
that’s how we become and grow and sit_
a stillness in all the chaos. we learn. we simply learn, unconsciously, the process of stitching our dreams into our reality_
(p.66)
And Magic is also suffused with a reflective quality. Many of the verses read as though Ige is looking back at her girlhood self, sharing the secrets and lessons she has learned the hard way through her tentative emergence to womanhood. I got the feeling that she is not only speaking to us, the reader, but to her younger self and all the younger selves of women suffering in the quiet complex ways that are a staple of this transition:
Love isn’t always magic.
and in the days you can’t find the strength to show up.
rest. breathe. then free yourself of all the Ghosts. love is not a weight you must carry.
weightless (p.48)
Despite the heaviness of the topics Ige has chosen to explore, the closer we get to the end of the collection, there is a focus on redemption, acceptance, and self-love. She leaves us with a clear and powerful message that our fates, love and bodies are firmly in our own hands and it is to them we owe our personal allegiance above all else:
selfishness
once in a while
makes room for selflessness
you have to hold you
before you can hold them.
may we always remember this (p.55)
For a debut collection, there is a quiet power to the way Ige has put this together. While it is not quite perfect, it does beautiful justice to the clear messages she conveys (one of which is avoiding the trap of perfection and accepting our flaws). One of the last poems in the collection is a soulful reminder for the importance poetry plays, and how often and easily we forget its place in our lives:
A lot of people don’t know they need poetry to survive.
it cant be explained. just like air and breathing can’t be explained.
poetry is life that finally makes sense. yet, is still unexplainable.
(p. 67)
Ige has set herself up to be a powerful voice in the contemporary poetry space.
About Elaine Mead
Elaine is a freelance writer and editor from London, currently residing in Tasmania. She is passionately interested in the ways in which we can learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves, and believes in the power of words to connect. She's also obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her on Instagram @cestelaine
