# data[].attributes.body
Niyi Osundare was a nigerian poet, essayist, playwright, and nonfiction writer.
He was born in 1947 in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

He gained degrees at the University of Ibadan (BA), the University of Leeds (MA) and York University, Canada (PhD, 1979). Previously professor (from 1989) and Head of English (1993–97) at the University of Ibadan, he became professor of English at the University of New Orleans in 1997.

He then had three children and moved to America.

Osundare was a very political poet. He believed in conveying his ideas of Nigerian politics to everyone through poetry and language that everyone could understand.
Under the rule of the dictator General Sani Abacha (1993–98), Osundare regularly contributed poems to a Nigerian national newspaper that criticised and commented on the lives of people in Nigeria.

# data[].attributes.headline
"The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence."

# data[].attributes.subject
"The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence."

# data[].attributes.body
No-one is there for the poet, everyone is just like he was-they don’t want to know.

# data[].attributes.headline
"A knock on the door froze my hungry hand."

# data[].attributes.subject
"A knock on the door froze my hungry hand."

# data[].attributes.body
The time for him being picked up has come, he is the next victim, but will anyone object, will anyone defend him, do anything to save him?

# data[].attributes.body
This poem is written by Niyi Osundare, who is an immigrant from Nigeria.
From our research about the time of when the poem was written, it is said that the poem is meant to be set in 1993 to 1998. It was written in accusation of the murderous dictatorship of Sani Abacha

# data[].attributes.body
The poem also went in a order of time as in the events were taken place in order of time; as they start abusing in the morning and the poet ends the poem when he has come back from work in the evening. This shows that all these actions are a daily thing in these families of nigeria

# data[].attributes.body
Shows that people do not protest or fight for their rights against them abusing and abducting people.
Why?
Because if they speak against them, they will take away the necessary things in life, for example food, shelter and jobs - which is also talked about in the poem later on.

# data[].attributes.body
“Lengthy absence” makes us think that the victim may never return to his home and family.

# data[].attributes.body
Repetition of use of a first name.
Aggressive verb “dragged”

# data[].attributes.body
The word "booted'' is an agressive word.
And personification of the house getting awake as a person

# data[].attributes.body
this conotes to the phrase "mouth watering" or his mouth is desperate for the food which relates back to the HSC that there is a lack of food,

# data[].attributes.headline
"And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam

# data[].attributes.subject
"And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam

# data[].attributes.body
The next evening though brings the soldiers to the poet’s home in the special for him time of supper

# data[].attributes.headline
"No query, no warning, no probe –
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.

# data[].attributes.subject
"No query, no warning, no probe –
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.

# data[].attributes.body
(Links to above) Being without a job means being hungry and poor and even dead as there will be no money for food.

# data[].attributes.headline
"What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.subject
"What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.body
Third repetition of the chorus, another reminder that the poet does not want to know about the horrific things happening to people around him.

# data[].attributes.body
The pesonna is quite selfish, if he gets his food he does not care. He just wants to mind his business

# data[].attributes.headline
"Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone"

# data[].attributes.subject
"Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone"

# data[].attributes.body
The next victim is named by first name again to tell us she is well known by the poet.
The act of injustice is not so or as shocking as the previous ones but still leaves someone hurt.

# data[].attributes.headline
"And stuffed him down the belly of a waiting sheep"

# data[].attributes.subject
"And stuffed him down the belly of a waiting sheep"

# data[].attributes.body
The word "stuffed" shows aggresion
Use of personification on the jeep, symbolises a hungry person who swallows the victims into his belly.

# data[].attributes.body
Shows how he can easily be mis-shapened just like clay

# data[].attributes.body
The use of first names suggests that persona knows the character/ Akanni personally

# data[].attributes.headline
The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.

# data[].attributes.subject
The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.

# data[].attributes.headline
And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam
A knock on the door froze my hungry hand.

# data[].attributes.subject
And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam
A knock on the door froze my hungry hand.

# data[].attributes.headline
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.subject
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.headline
Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone:
No query, no warning, no probe –
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.

# data[].attributes.subject
Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone:
No query, no warning, no probe –
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.

# data[].attributes.headline
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.subject
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.headline
They came one night
Booted the whole house awake
And dragged Danladi out,
Then off to a lengthy absence.

# data[].attributes.subject
They came one night
Booted the whole house awake
And dragged Danladi out,
Then off to a lengthy absence.

# data[].attributes.headline
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.subject
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

# data[].attributes.headline
They picked Akanni up one morning
Beat him soft like clay
And stuffed him down the belly
Of a waiting jeep.

# data[].attributes.subject
They picked Akanni up one morning
Beat him soft like clay
And stuffed him down the belly
Of a waiting jeep.

# data[].attributes.body
This poem tells us about life in Nigeria, and how it is like living amongst these terrorist.