The Unfaithful Bride E-Book

Fortune Nwaiwu

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

“Yet, you remain like you are,” the pastor admonishes his bride in The Unfaithful Bride. And despite conflicting his-and-her perspectives of what is responsible for their fraught union, it’s evident that both partners can’t help but remain like they are—for better or worse. In relationships we may attempt repairs, many times and to different parts, but what often results from these improvements is the sad fact that “You buy a half-litre of fuel/For a journey of three miles.” When a union is ill-fated, no amount of effort or derision or even begging can make the road smoother.That road is also unlikely to ever reach a beneficial destination. If what’s “Spoken by a Man of God” assails this bride to such a degree that readers question why both partners don’t choose to halt this shared journey in recognition that together they are headed nowhere, intangible elements—in contrast to mechanical—such as attraction and chemistry must be credited for an intimacy that’s both painful and passionate. As the preface asserts: “Both the pastor and his bride are bewitched.”

In order to ensure that readers experience a similar bewitchment, however, and as customary practice for poetry collections, a grounding explanation in the form of the preface should be excised so that readers are permitted the freedom to form their own interpretations and reactions to the writing and what it seeks to convey. This content is not without value, though, as you might choose to incorporate it into your eventual marketing and promotion of the book. Ultimately, such a guiding opening detracts from the natural progression of the poems and readers’ considerations of them.When the pastor asks, “But how long must I continue to repair you?” the question's directness is likely to strike readers as a plea; and in this plea, they are sure to perceive emotional depth. The contrast between bride and bike is recognized, but the interior comparison should also be recognized in what’s imperceptible—the pastor’s disappointment in his choice of bride and possibly his personal guilt for being responsible for this choice—and revealed in what isn’t said or how it’s voiced. As an example:

How long will you continue to disgrace me,

O thou old, rugged KYMCO?

The first line is sure to evoke feelings about the pastor’s circumstances, the language compelling yet clear and concise, but the “O thou old” that follows may be perceived as establishing a wall; where in the first line there was intimacy and a spirit of connection, in the second there is formality and even ego.

                                       ~ Dr. Mark Weinstein, UK. ~

Leseprobe

Fortune Nwaiwu

The Unfaithful Bride

A Dramatic Poetry

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

The Unfaithful Bride by Fortune Nwaiwu

The Unfaithful Bride by Fortune Nwaiwu

Preface

‘The Unfaithful Bride' is a dramatic collection of poems that encapsulates the palpable indifference between pastor and his bride. It is imbued on the unfaithfulness of the rider's bride, who has never meant good for her lord. As a result, the poem is a metaphysical piece of art wherein the poet uses a mechanical object to articulate the phenomenon of nuptial indifferences between a couple. There is no direct relationship between a motorcycle and a bride, but through the use of metaphors, the poet illustrates a clear link between the two seemingly unrelated ideas. To his credit, the poet Fortune Nwaiwu, is able to achieve this very well. The poet is believed to have been a fan or an avid reader of George Herbert’s poems, especially that of his “Pulley”.

In this collection of poems, the poet attempts to convey the pain and suffering some pastors undergo during the course of their ministerial careers. The poet-persona laments on the manner in which his motorcycle has disgraced and disillusioned him before the eyes of men. Despite spending a substantial amount of money to repair his motorcycle, the poet-persona still feels dissatisfied as he pushes the spoiled motorcycle to a far distance, sweating profusely. The poet then threatens to sell his motorcycle before it makes him go bald.

Interestingly, both the pastor and his bride are bewitched. The pastor is bewitched by the beauty of his bride, which is why he paid her bride price. On the other hand, the pastor's bride was bewitched by some evil men in order to prevent the man of God from efficiently piloting his ministerial affairs. Here, it can be surmised that it is not only human beings that endure or suffer, even some humans, through inanimate primates, are not impervious to such temptations as well.

The bride is seen as a wilful, wayward woman who had had a husband before her beauty enamoured the pastor. Thereafter, she is abandoned. She wanders in Aba, a commercial centre in Abia State, where she prostituted herself with lovers. This is really enshrined in the fact that when one buys a fairly used item such as a motorcycle, the machine typifying the woman is believed to have had lovers. Since KYMCO, the motorcycle could not serve her lord, which leaves him stranded on roads and heaps shame on him, she is then viewed as an unfaithful bride.

However, this literary piece of art is written in a plain language, more of prosaic, although it is redolent of poetic style and forms. The poet's thoughts are very concise, which are arranged in lines and stanzas, albeit with unequal lengths. This is the reason why no unified or definite sets of rhyme schemes are observed. The rhythms are felt by repeating words that have added more beauty to the musicality of the poem. Such repetitions help the poem flow better, and enable readers to flow concomitantly to discover some semantic and metaphorical extensions encrypted in the poem. Since this poem uses metaphorical extensions, readers can read and interpret it in myriad ways, depending on their state of mind.

Fortune Nwaiwu.

The Unbearable Shame

(Spoken by A Man of God)

See how you have disgraced me

In the eyes of men!

You drain my joy.

Each morning I wake up;

The thought of you spoils my spirits.

I no longer derive joy, nor do I feel confidence

To drive you again.

You afford me no delight,

Nor do you know when my money runs dry.

At this critical time of COVID-19,

Of hardship, fear, and lockdown,

You become a liability,

A nuisance to me,

Forcing me to spend unnecessarily.

Can you see how much you’ve made me suffer?

Many a time, you left me stranded

On a lonely, dangerous road.

Drenched by the rain,

Scorched by the sun,

I staggered in exasperation,

Pushing you like an old truck.

With the little strength left in me,

I pushed you a long distance,

Soiling my shoes in sordid puddles.

When I tried to start you,

You squealed like a dying, pregnant pig.

I thought of buying a spark plug to replace the old one,

And reviving you with fresh fuel and oil.

I wondered how you could consume

A few litres of fuelI

I purchased at the petrol station

On a journey of three miles.

After attempting resuscitation

I consider handing you over to

The roadside mechanic.

But how long must I continue to repair you?

You make me mad

When I think of the cost of buying you,

And how many years I have ridden you

On the road.

How long will you continue to disgrace me,

O thou old, rugged KYMCO?

While taking you to church, your presence drives

All joy away.

Today, didn’t I put enough fuel in you?

So why must you embarrass me

Before that nurse and those gossiping mobs?

I tried to kick-start you,

But you refused,

Got yourself loosed,

And your kick-starter fell off.

I picked it up in shame,

And fixed it back.

The next thing I noticed;

Your clutch cable was cut off.

Do you think I,

As a school tutor

And a pastor,

Earn huge sums of money?

Take your time,

Or else I’ll set you ablaze.

***

Where Is Your Glory?

(Spoken by A Man of God)

You weren’t like this before;

You behaved well

When you were newly purchased.

People from the north, south, east, and west,

The four cardinal points of the world,

Came to behold your glory

Like a newly wedded bride

Because they heard about you,

How you ran like a Peugeot 404.

They admired you and cast

Their envious, lustful, eyes on you

Like a promiscuous man willing to

Snatch his kinsman’s bride.

But God thwarted all their plans.