Dotun Saseyi is a media maestro, one of the strongest voices to grace the broadcast media landscape in Nigeria. But his voice resonates resoundingly even in his art. That is my impression of his work, Atatantoto, a collection of poems published in 2002 by Kins Publishers. 

I was browsing through my shelf recently and found the collection. And I decided to write my review of the work.  

In the collection, Atatantoto written by Dotun Saseyi, are seven sections and 34 poems, and these poems potently make an audacious announcement of the poet. It is a work that perpetually reminds you that you are in the word smith’s company as the fiery darts from his forge of words fly at you in their flaming potency. In the work, the poet persona beckons. He calls you: “Ask me my craft/and skin your pupils./From now till/three tomorrows, your/vigil spans.” 

And before you come to, he winks at you invitingly, teasing you and inviting you to familiar grounds: “I set word beads/in threads of thought,/if it is not hanging/about men’s necks,/look! It is under their/women’s wrappers.” (P24)

There in that poem, ‘Smith Songs’, the poet persona informs you that he knows his way through the maze of words, and that you can trust him to take you to Muse’s summits. And here, he sprays his darts of words with certain dexterity. 

In this collection, Atatantoto, the poet sings sweet songs about nature. For instance the sun is described as “tropical darkener” with “the golden beam” and “fertile caresses that crops the soil”. In the same vein the poet adopts the process of tilling a farmland as a metaphor for the nuptial experience of humans and its result of making a “veteran of the labour wards”. For the poet persona, this is also concomitant to the man’s “tilling’s toil” and “irrigation course” as well as the “quick dropping of salty sweat”. (Pp. 36-37)

The poetic appreciation of culture and the cultural elements of the Yoruba cosmology ooze from the poet throughout this collection. The poet’s well-travelled pen meanders through time and space to give us a hint of the poet’s rustic knack and knowledge. And he deploys this knowledge effectively for effect.

In this work, the poet persona dedicates time to exploring the problem of underage pregnancy. In the poem, ‘Babymummy’ (Pp45-52), the poet digs out his whip and points it to preying men whose predatory pastime is to rupture baby hymens, rape innocent girls, and turn them to baby-mothers. 

Still on the baby made to have a baby, the poet gives us a peep into the life of the unprepared man who sings “hymeneal song” to an orange hawker and their new home riddled by poverty. Their home is an overcrowded “civilian barracks” where cockroaches, “musical mosquitoes”, and ticks take over the “ageless form” and feed on “freshly brewed blood” of the baby.

Interestingly, even though the collection was published in 2002, over two decades ago, the poet laments about lack of basic social amenities, which today still remain a mirage. He writes (P47) about going to a government-owned hospital and paying for practically everything, including bagged water “to shame the hospital’s thirsty pipes” and for doctor’s gown, surgery gloves, and still “hanging on NEPA’s mood”! In 2002!

In Atatantoto, Dotun Saseyi writes eulogies about mother. And he promises to be there for her when age catches up. He writes (P55), “When your back bends/I shall be behind/a straightening prop./Age on,/when the horizon/dims,/don’t squint./I shall be your sight/in front./Age on,/Tred softly to Iwere ile./The calabash,/the sponge trails you.”

In the collection, the poet writes about Michael Jackson as one with “nose cropped to Caucasian cares, soaping off his castle’s paint”. He writes a dirge on the passing of Fela. The poet persona declares that “Fela has left this soil/Our pupils pain.” He pens eulogies and dirges for Ken Saro-Wiwa, Gani Fawehinmi, and pens tributes for Obafemi Awolowo, MKO Abiola, Bola Ige, Adefarati, Lam Adesina, Bisi Akande, Bola Tinubu, Niyi Adebayo, and Segun Osoba.

This 198-page collection is a strong statement and potent pointer to the poet’s depth and understanding of the Yoruba cosmology. Even though it was published over two decades ago, Atatantoto is a must-read collection, because it speaks to now, and is a collector’s item. 

. Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via [email protected], on X @miketunbosun and +234-802-351-7565 (SMS only).