Ella's Poems Project: Four Years of Defying the Indomitable Metered Poem

Almost Four Years on, Ella’s Poems Project Still Battles with the Indomitable Metered Poem

Writing in the ‘Innovative Research Journal of Sociology and Humanities’ in 2025, Dr Ben-Fred Ohia (of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria) states that Africans use oral traditions to spice up their writing.

I’ve observed that the rhythmic features of oral tradition are present in most poetry originating in sub-Saharan Africa.  

The absence of a love for reading has also negatively impacted on creative pieces, leading to a disproportionate amount of formal or metered poetry being produced and published in the continent.

By way of definition, meters or metrical phonology is a linguistic theory which concerns itself with stress in relation to the relative prominence of syllables. 

-SOURCE: Hogg and McCully (1987)

One glaring disparity is that poets like the ‘The Poetic A**ssassin’ - a Nigerian based in America - have a far larger following than pushcart-nominated Nigerian poets. One would argue that the ass**assin’s simple meters, inversions and shallow subject-matter are easier to grapple with than the metaphorical content of a PhD Creative Writing student. This abysmal fact shouldn’t be dismissed highheartedly because in the long run, good poems are not being read in the continent as much as funny ones.

Inject a project like mine. It has suffered immensely, because I promote the written text over spoken word poetry.   The written word has more pedagogical value that words spoken and soon forgotten.

The submissions or competition entries I receive are about 70% meters and in order for them not to be unusable, I’ve had to adapt my approach. I do not include metered poetry in competition entries forwarded to judges but have had to create an online repository of metred poems.

What’s a way forward? I don’t have all the answers.

Perhaps all good writers in the continent have to look at how to actively promote reading. The onus is on the writer/poet to use social media platforms to share their work/ links to their poems and support projects which champion and laud their efforts. Otherwise, against a growing popularity of digital content creation, we would struggle to create another generation of Chinua Achebes or Christopher OKibgos.

However, the likes of the Poetic Ass*assin would thrive.