Nigerian-Canadian poet and filmmaker Bayowa Ayomide Michael is the first-place winner of the JUNE/JULY 2021 edition of the bi-monthly Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC). Serial BPPC finalist Hussani Abdulrahim moved up one spot to 2nd place from the last edition while Akinlua Oluwaseun Mercy, a Bowen University medical student, completes the top three. Themed ‘TELL TALL TALES’, the June/July edition sought fun-filled poetic yarns with humorous or sensational twists.
The winning poem, NOT ALL FATHERS LEAVE, adopts a near-vernacular diction and language to deliver the poet’s perspective which is both a humorous and valid analysis of a critical social issue. Hussani’s MELANIN GIRL features perfectly woven hyperbolic metaphors and images that are warm on the mind. The genius of history and culture in humorous verse is what ‘Akinlua’s DEITIES DONT SMILE delivers in twenty-seven deliciously original lines.
BPPC awards ₦30,000 in prize money shared among the top three entries The other poets in the top 10 of this edition are Zaynab Titilayo Abodunrin, Inyang, Inimfon Kufre, Eniola Abdulroqeeb Arówólò, Ariyo Ahmad, Nnadi Samuel, Olayinka Samson Aremu and Ogedengbe Tolulope Impact. The top 10 poems are automatically entered for the Albert Jungers Poetry Prize (AJPP) 2021.
The TOP 20 poems of the edition are published in a chapbook titled ‘NOT EVERY FATHER LEAVES’.
