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Postcolonial Speculative Fiction

"Spider the Artist" in Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu-Kabu

I am not an English major, and so I never heard of the term found poem until, by accident, I created one by listing all my favorite quotes in “Spider the Artist” in the order I found them.
The quotes, from the story’s female narrator, Eme, appealed to me because they were honest declarations with no excuses or blame shifting.

Favorite Statements

“My village was shit” (101)
“But I married a stupid man” (102)
"We are pipeline people" (102)
“Nigeria supplies 25% of U.S. oil and we get nothing in return.
Nothing but death by zombie attack” (105-106)
“I was stuck” (107)
“I needed courage” (107)
“My life is shit” (108)
“I began to hope” (109)
“They were thinking creatures” (113)
“Whoooooooosh” (114)
“So I lived” (115)

The statement that strikes me the most is “We are pipeline people”. What does it mean to be pipeline people? According to a Google search of Nigeria pipeline people, the results show a list of headlines announcing the numbers of people found dead after a pipeline explosion. The images show similar stories of explosions and people’s lives disrupted. The information offers little about how people are living along the pipelines. From this information, people are miraculously alive despite having to cohabitate with pipes carrying flammable fuel.

Interestingly, in “Spider the Artist” the pipeline explosion saves Eme’s life.

“My life is shit”
Eme was a fourth-generation woman living with the pipeline running through her village. Her great grandmother used to lay on the pipe and listen to the fuel, which she called “magical fluids”, sloshing down the pipes (102-103). What was once new and mysterious became a deadly borderland between human survival and the Anansi spider droids, kill on contact protectors of the pipeline. The narrator’s village was made shit by the introduction of the pipelines, her husband was forced into stupid activities, like bunkering, to survive. Her life was stuck and shit because the fuel poisoned her village’s water, that “shriveled women’s wombs,” leaving her childless (101).

“They are thinking creatures”

The “they” are the Anansi Droid 419 spiders.
“Made to combat pipeline bunkering and terrorism” (104)
Has wire for silk, three feet tall, liquid blue eyes.
The pipeline is its web to repair and defend.
Senses pipe intruder from vibrations.
Has artificial intelligence.

Udide Okwanka was the name Eme gave to her secret musical spider droid companion. They met each evening in the three-foot easement, the kill zone, between the pipe and her yard. There they communicated with music. Her guitar “wanted to tell you its story because only it could” (102). Udide’s music was like “communing with god” (111). The exchange was courage and hope.

“Whooooooosh”
Udide set the spark so the bunkered fuel and its takers would die, but shielded Eme so she could finally start her life. “So I lived”.

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First, as an English major, I'd like to point out that I have also never heard of a found poem, so you aren't alone! This is a really interesting concept that I definitely want to experiment with at some point. It would be interesting to use quotes like these to make something entirely new that still comments on petro-related issues. Also, if you were interested in typography at all, you could probably do some equally interesting things with presenting these quotes in a new way. In addition to using the words to comment on something, you would also be including a visual aspect that can hold deeper meanings than the words alone. Of course, that's the art major in me talking, so if you're completely appalled at the idea, I understand! Now, about your actual content. I love that you select a few of the quotes and provide some context for the audience. I only wish you had told us more! Why did these particular quotes stand out to you? Did you think they were important to the story or just important statements in general? Maybe you just thought they were amusing? I'm not sure, but I want to know! I also have questions about your poem. Did you arrange these in a specific way with the intent of conveying a particular meaning? Would you ever create another found poem based on your own personal reading? I think I create one of my own in the future.
Contents of this reply:
1. "Spider the Artist" in Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu-Kabu 19 Pipeline people: the good, the bad, the ugly, and a found poem. plain 2019-05-02T00:08:13-07:00
  I am not an English major, and so I never heard of the term found poem until, by accident, I created one by listing all my favorite quotes in “Spider the Artist” in the order I found them.
  The quotes, from the story’s female narrator, Eme, appealed to me because they were honest declarations with no excuses or blame shifting.
  
  Favorite Statements
  “My village was shit” (101)
  “But I married a stupid man” (102)
  "We are pipeline people" (102)
  “Nigeria supplies 25% of U.S. oil and we get nothing in return.
  Nothing but death by zombie attack” (105-106)
  “I was stuck” (107)
  “I needed courage” (107)
  “My life is shit” (108)
  “I began to hope” (109)
  “They were thinking creatures” (113)
  “Whoooooooosh” (114)
  “So I lived” (115)
  
  The statement that strikes me the most is “We are pipeline people”. What does it mean to be pipeline people? According to a Google search of Nigeria pipeline people, the results show a list of headlines announcing the numbers of people found dead after a pipeline explosion. The images show similar stories of explosions and people’s lives disrupted. The information offers little about how people are living along the pipelines. From this information, people are miraculously alive despite having to cohabitate with pipes carrying flammable fuel.
  
  Interestingly, in “Spider the Artist” the pipeline explosion saves Eme’s life.
  
  “My life is shit”
  Eme was a fourth-generation woman living with the pipeline running through her village. Her great grandmother used to lay on the pipe and listen to the fuel, which she called “magical fluids”, sloshing down the pipes (102-103). What was once new and mysterious became a deadly borderland between human survival and the Anansi spider droids, kill on contact protectors of the pipeline. The narrator’s village was made shit by the introduction of the pipelines, her husband was forced into stupid activities, like bunkering, to survive. Her life was stuck and shit because the fuel poisoned her village’s water, that “shriveled women’s wombs,” leaving her childless (101).
  
  “They are thinking creatures”
  The “they” are the Anansi Droid 419 spiders.
  “Made to combat pipeline bunkering and terrorism” (104)
  Has wire for silk, three feet tall, liquid blue eyes.
  The pipeline is its web to repair and defend.
  Senses pipe intruder from vibrations.
  Has artificial intelligence.
  
  Udide Okwanka was the name Eme gave to her secret musical spider droid companion. They met each evening in the three-foot easement, the kill zone, between the pipe and her yard. There they communicated with music. Her guitar “wanted to tell you its story because only it could” (102). Udide’s music was like “communing with god” (111). The exchange was courage and hope.
  
  “Whooooooosh”
  Udide set the spark so the bunkered fuel and its takers would die, but shielded Eme so she could finally start her life. “So I lived”.

This page references:

A Spider
A man washed soot from his face Tuesday in Lagos, Nigeria, after a gas pipeline ruptured by thieves exploded. At least 260 people were killed in the blast, which spewed fire and black smoke. It was the latest oil-industry disaster in Nigeria.
A woman walks along an oil pipeline near Shell's Utorogu flow station in Warri A woman walks along an oil pipeline near Shell's Utorogu flow station in Warri, Nigeria, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006. Nigerian troops battled militia fighters in swamps around a Royal Dutch Shell oil platform that militants attacked at dawn Sunday, the third assault on Shell oil facilities in less than a week in the troubled region. Shell confirmed the attack on the Benisede oil platform in the southern oil-rich Niger Delta and said some of its staff had been injured and taken to hospital. The company also said it had begun evacuating personnel from vulnerable facilities in the region because of worsening security. (AP Photo/George Osodi)
The local fishing community in Nigeria's delta region have been hardest hit by recent oil spills-Reuters