Ugochi Ugwuanyi's Blog

  Today, I was going to make a post whose subject matter would have bothered on, “choose to be happy no matter what life throws at you (in extension, choose to succeed against all odds).”  But then, it occurred to me, I could only think this way because I have the privilege of choosing. What about the people who sincerely can’t choose? Like the young lady I saw one day on my way to Ebenebe, whose whole mouth is painfully blocked by a giant,malignant, tumour? Or the people permanently made unaware of anything else asides the pain that comes from the ailment of body/life which they suffer? Pain is in grades. And though neither of the grades invalidates the trauma of one another, it’s still true that some people suffer more than others.  Thus, for this reason, I would rather put it this way, if you can afford to be a chooser, especially career and “relationship” wise, but you are currently depressed because you seem to be making no headway, here are important things to note:...

The poem is one of those birthed during my final year in the university. It was born out of deep emotions, of which chief fronters included confusion, anger, pain...  As at when I wrote it, I was greatly disturbed by a particular incident. It wracked the whole of my being, and made sure to come up at any point I seemed less busy. Hence, once opportunity presented itself at my place of work in an idle moment, I tried processing my thoughts through writing things exactly the way they came. By the time I was done putting down different words in various forms and styles on the A4 paper that formed my writing pad, I had a stretch of about five pages of poem I didn't think many people would be interested in seeing. I mean, Gen-z doesn't appear to be much of the reading type, lol.  But I really wanted the poem seen, and heard. I wanted every atom of emotion I invested in it felt by everyone who comes across it. Thus, it became that the only way to do this, if I seriously yearned for ...

This month marks it exactly one year since the inception of this poem. Home has always been a special for me, and this, I make very obvious at every given opportunity. As a matter of fact, my blog article titled, "Of the Already Formed I Ran to" was actually born out of nothing else but love and value for the place I call home. This strong love for my home combined with my affinity to nature led me to thinking of how I could do something remarkable for the place I adore so much. Of course, as a writer, the first thing I thought of was "write." Thus, I wrote, and the result of this writing became "Nsukka my Home." As a ritual, each of my works ends up drawing a particular level of respect from me because sincerely, even I, the writer usually don't know the outcome of my work until I am done with it. Yes, creative writing is most times mystery even to the writer. It's like following a road you don't know. You only see where it leads when you have...

    A certain animal farmer once had a wingless and tailless hen. The Nsukka people would call it an “avuke”. it is valued more than other types of fowls that would be seen as complete, because the traditionalists use it in their special religious sacrifices. They use other hens too. But, in the rank of importance and potency, the avuke would come first, and then there are other ones - the spotless white feathered, the naturally bouncy feathered (also known as the “iyaya”) - before the ones that would be considered normal or complete.  Well, certainly, in the realms of the humans, this might be a little the-other-way-round, being that things considered complete are first ranked before the ones that would be be looked upon as deformed. However, blood sacrifices are for the gods, and in the realms of the gods, there is always a tendency to ask for things not easily gotten, like the eyeballs of a crocodile, the egg of an eagle, the vagina of a virgin, and so the list goes… T...

    Yesterday, I heard Mummy's visitor say, "Not even a pin can be found there now. Everyone has ran for their dear life", and I wondered how long it is before it gets to us in this part.  I turn my eyes to the road at every single noise these days; a prevent - the - danger before - it's -too - late protocol I knew was all useless. I want to protect the ones I love, at any risk, even if I have to give my life. But, my spirit and I knew how useless that wish was. Do whatever I may, I knew I was helpless, and not even my death could save others. I fear for my family, fear for my home, fear for the ones I love. I fear I might go out and not meet my home the same again. I do not base here, but this is my home, my root, and mama lives here. My kins, my relatives, people who I call my own all live here.  I worry about my friend-turned-stranger. A once-upon-a-time good friend, Deraa. We share the same root, and Isiuzo is his home. For some confused moment, I was not sure wh...

    It was a double blow for me yesterday. I came back from work at night absolutely famished. And then, my brother gave me the news, "Ugoo, you know that hen? Omee ka onye ọchá? She died today".  You know, until yesterday, I didn't know I was capable of missing an animal, much more one that isn't necessarily a pet. Yes, I can understand I have not been such a good bearer of people's absence, especially people I am close to. Of course, I miss a people a lot. But until okukọ onye ọchá died, I hadn't missed any animal in my whole life. My mum has hens too, and sometimes they also die. As a matter of fact, we even eat some ourselves; even though I do hate the point where they are being killed, wishing on some of those days that we didn't need to kill to eat, but I never missed them. Why was okukọ onye ọchá's own different? Maybe it's because I watched it grow, maybe it's because it's the first time I have taken a special notice of any animal; ...