"One sick man can bury a country with his iron boots,
though he may lack the sense to cover the mass grave.

From the kind of groans the earth has witnessed,
from the faces that have disappeared,
from the blood that has soaked the flag" 

-Delta Blues and Home Songs
"A General Sickness" (50)

Sometimes it is easier to ignore a problem because it is not right before our eyes. Due to a distance by land, we excuse the distance by heart. People who are struggling become numbers and statistics that we glance over, consider for a moment and then forget about. Humanity is lost somewhere in the calculation of numbers. 

It is often in poetry that we manage to capture the human soul. That which can not be quantified or simplified becomes exemplified and immortalized in the written word. Award-winning poet, Tanure Ojaide expresses a feeling of loss and concern for the Nigeria that has been spoiled through the oil spills. 




Through a study of Ojaide’s poetry in the collection called Delta Blues and Home Songs, the main theme that resonates within the lines is that of the people of the Niger Delta, portraying the people as the victims of a robbery of the oil companies stealing their land, their livelihoods, and their way of life. Ojaide connects people to their home, illustrating a degradation that extends from the land to the people who live there. 

“Nigeria sleeps in a makeshift grave.
If she wakes with stars as her eyes,
the next world will be brighter
for me and my compatriots”
--"Sleeping in a Makeshift Grave," (24) 

Ojaide writes of a Nigeria that was beautiful and familiar. In a poem called "When Green was the Lingua Franca" Tanure Ojaide describes the land as full of color and life. The poem then takes a darker turn as the land is corrupted by oil. The people are shown in the light of the victims, and the oil companies as the monsters who mean them harm due to greed. Again in "Delta Blues," "Pregnancy of the Snake" and then in "Visiting Home," Ojaide illustrates the horror that has been done to his people and their home. He writes of a Nigeria that has been stolen, and of sickness that has been cast onto the land.

While Ojaide never demands anything in his poetry, the outrage sparked through reading his works is enough to inspire others to seek change. Tanure Ojaide uses his ability to encapsulate the pain of a people to build sympathy and understanding.