| NA: How literally should we look at your poems? Is the poem ‘A Quiver Full Of Questions’ simply about abortion and ‘She Was Only Five’ about child molestation? I mean, do you sometimes employ womanhood and its associated experiences – your comfortable tools, as apostrophised metaphors masking weightier thrusts the simple forms of your poems present?
LS: I do indeed and you will find an example of that in ‘Coup D’etat’ where I employ the politics in a chicken coop as a metaphor in trying to illustrate what Nigeria experienced during its military era.
However, about the two poems you’ve mentioned, I’m going to have to disappoint you: ‘A Quiver Full Of Questions’ was about abortion and ‘She Was Only Five’ was about nothing other than paedophilia: an existing phenomenon rarely addressed in Nigeria.
NA: Why do you favour satire as a way of presenting your messages?
LS: I have a great talent for laughing at myself, especially after a good cry. I also like to think that I have a good sense of humour. Growing up in my family, there was always a lot to laugh about. My Dad was a great mimic and my Mum was really good at recounting humorous events. We were never afraid to laugh at each other or at situations that maybe didn’t start off being funny. Humour was part of my life. Those who know me personally never find it surprising that I adopt the use of satire in my creative work.
NA: With regards to shifts in subject matter and treatment, what may we expect from your forthcoming collection ‘For Love of Flight’?
LS: It is third in a series of books of poem. In the first title, there was reference to an egg. The second title makes mention of a bird. In this collection I speak not only of flight but the love of the act of flying itself. I think you will find confirmation in my third collection. Confirmation of whether or not my writing appeals to you, confirmation of my feminism, activism or whatever. I say confirmation because I have reached a place of comfort as far as my method of expression goes. I am comfortable with myself as a woman. I am humble enough to still want to improve myself literarily but in the mean time, I am doing alright.
NA: Would you be comfortable sticking a womanist, feminist or other label on yourself?
LS: I generally don’t stick labels on myself but I don’t have any problems with others doing so, partly because critics are not happy unless they’ve done so. I have been called everything from a man-eater to a lesbian to a feminist. the truth is that as a writer, your job is done when your book is on the bookshelves. Apart from members of your immediate family who you can badger into loving your work whether they like it or not, you have very little control over what people opinions of you or your work. One must also come to terms with the fact that poetry, because of the very nature of it, puts you at a disadvantage. You are not there to say: hey this poem about the nympho is not about me even though it’s written in first person. Readers and critics will develop their views based on their perspective. You see a man lying by the side of the road, he’s either sleeping, drunk, taking an afternoon nap or maybe even dead. It all depends on how close you look and what angle you are looking from.
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