Becoming a Whisper by Joe Odey

Nigeria-based poet Joe Odey presents 100 poems touching on human hopes, connections and failings in Becoming a Whisper.

These short works occupy one page each, most examining what Odey calls “flawed human experience.” The five-part “Letters to Ada” laments that after a beginning in which “the whole world felt like a fairytale,” it becomes clear that “Fate had dealt us the worst of the deck.” “Our Guardian Angel” poignantly recalls an infant brother’s passing. In “That We May Live Again” a woman scorned turns to “a bottle in hand and a strange man for company.”

Odey uses language deftly and gracefully; his musings making classic notions soar again. His words are well chosen and piercing, at times ironic, as when he questions, “Who invented goodbyes?” and “Why are they supposed to be good?” There is hope hidden in his saddest offerings: his characters don’t let go easily; in the midst of pain, they “will surely rise.”

The accompanying black and white photos include an hourglass perched on a lakeside in the setting sun, a man quietly musing beside an old pier, a forest in starlight, which are subtle and evocative. From this well-conceived collection, one senses that Odey is thoroughly at home within the poetic medium, and will have more to say.

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