GIVE ME A WORD

Hader Otaki

 Hader Otaki is the author of the poetry collection GIVE ME AWORD. He is from Nasarawa state but was born and raised in Lagos.

He is a graduate of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos state. He’s a lover of art and poetry and has performed several pieces at the Abuja Literary Society and also graced the 2020 second edition of Worth-Word Nigeria, an Islamic Poetry Event.

He was a guest poet at the Nile University Book Club’s first open mic and Thought Pyramid Art Gallery, Abuja. He was among the six chosen creative writers recruited in 2020 by NCBN (NIGERIA CUSTOMS BROADCASTING NETWORK) for a spoken word poetry project for its cable network. He was also part of the team of poets selected by the BBC MEDIA ACTION in 2021 for political advocacy and promotion of the Nigerian brand, using spoken word poetry as a tool. He was a featured poet on the NTA channel, Abuja, a weekend program titled UR WEEKEND.

He published his first book in September of 2021, a poetry collection, and has sold over hundreds of copies. He is currently busy working on his second book. He writes from Abuja and hopes this art will be a career path for him. He is a social media buff, a partner at Nasara Creative, and one of the organizers of the Lafia Literary Series, a platform that promotes the literary event in Nasarawa state.

ABOUT THE BOOK, GIVE ME A WORD (A POETRY
COLLECTION)

The poetry collection GIVE ME A WORD is divided into 6 sections
and contains 47 poems, starting with the poet’s SELF-PORTRAIT
that contained 11 poems. In this section, the poet ripped the
interior of his life and exposed it to the world.

It is obvious that the poet has drawn a thin line between
ethnic-sentiment and POLITICATION of his homeland in the second
section of the collection, which contains 4 poems.

“Some FEELINGS are better felt….” and this is exactly what the
poet illustrated in the third section of the collection. The
poet is torn between the girl in his imagination, Otusha Ozegya
and the one lurking in his reality, making her the object of his
muse.

If there is anything that’s consistent in the entire book is the
EROTICISM that played out across all sections of the collection
and it is safe to say the poet is erotica in his approach,
however the direction of his poems leads.

The fifth section ‘BEREFT’ of the collection questioned death
disguising as God when the poet asked “Who is God and what does

He want?” this question lingered in the tone that illustrated
the writer is mourning a lover or a beloved.

RAPE CULTURE AND OTHER POEMS has scattered poems, ranging from
poems about the female child and the sexual violence committed
on her by her male counterpart. Some poems in this section also
celebrates the unionism of a man and woman, and the celebration
of a mother, in the poem, SOME MOTHERS ARE NATIVE DOCTORS.

You can find Hader and his work on Instagram

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