I wrote the poems below, ‘Gele vs The Gele’ as a response to a conversation I had with my supervisor about putting an article ‘the’ before Gele when referring to it in writing. We were talking about the discomfort I was experiencing when I put those words together and how they made it feel distant from self.
Now, picture this,
You are at a party A Nigerian party It is loud, colourful and noisy A very lively atmosphere You walk up to me because you want rice I tell you “go and meet Iya alase to give you rice” “Which one is Iya alase?” you ask because I have pointed to a group of 3 women dressed in the party dress code, lilac purple and locust beans brown. And I tell you “the lady on silver Gele”
Vs
Now, picture this, A group of art collectors have come together to curate an exhibition of ‘found objects’ The few they enjoy amongst all their priceless possessions They have laid the objects out on different sized tables, and different colours of plinths The ones they think suit the objects best A way to freely express And you get into the exhibit away from the noise, music and pleasant smell of wine You walk over to the side of the room on the right And under 5 different white lights is a long piece of cloth Just one colour It’s called ‘The Gele’ and it’s from West Africa
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“the lady on silver Gele” The lady on silver Gele because she is putting on silver Gele. ‘To wọ silver Gele’- she is wearing silver Gele. Gele on the head is seen as whole. It is tied, it is full, it is Gele.
She is wearing the adornment. She is wearing Gele
It is now a part of her- not a separate thing.
Lagos, Nigeria.