TITLE: EMOTIONS AND BELIEF
AUTHOR: KELVIN OBARETI
GENRE: Poetry
NUMBER OF PAGES: 140
PUBLISHER: Lulu
DATE OF PUBLICATION: June 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4477-9872-9
REVIEWER: Shoola Oyindamola
KELVIN OBARETI’s EMOTIONS AND BELIEF is a journal, very realistic about how we communicate to (and with) ourselves and the unseen but real beings we love.
It is down to earth with its style and simplicity. Obareti skillfully brought poetry to a simple level, so much that you cannot help but understand each poem.
This anthology stands out for its simplicity and its display of the Yoruba culture of Nigeria. Obareti’s words brought me back home and put a smile on my face. I particularly admire the love poems in which Obareti carefully mixed languages to show his appreciation and affection for the beautiful, admirable and unknown female persona in the collection.
Also I must mention his commendable way of appreciating God. He wrote about God and Christianity in an exalting way. I did not need to carry my devotional all through the days that I read this book because his words satisfied my thirst to worship God and say my admiration towards his good deeds.
If I were to go back to my introduction to poetry in my secondary school days at Nigeria, EMOTIONS AND BELIEF is the book that I would love to read because it is unlike the American poetry collections that were forced on us through education.
I recommend this collection to very open-minded individuals who read diverse styles and forms of poetry. They will enjoy this thoroughly.
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SHOOLA OYINDAMOLA was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a published poet, a feminist, a mentor, a blogger and Co-founder and Resource manager of Sprinng Literary Movement. She loves to writes poems, essays and her non-classifiable opinions. She uses her writing skills with her feminist drive to discuss the gender injustices that need to be fixed. She published her first collection of poems titled “Heartbeat” in New York, USA at the age of 16.