Not My Business - Niyi Osundare by Jiya Desai https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw By Jiya & Faye en-us 2019-03-05 07:12:51 UTC 2019-03-14 05:15:02 UTC hello@padlet.com Overall meaning of the poem jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337790971 This poem tells us about life in Nigeria, and how it is like living amongst these terrorist. 

]]> 2019-03-05 07:15:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337790971 They picked Akanni up one morning Beat him soft like clay And stuffed him down the belly Of a waiting jeep. faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791067 2019-03-05 07:16:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791067 What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth? faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791106 2019-03-05 07:16:39 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791106 They came one night Booted the whole house awake And dragged Danladi out, Then off to a lengthy absence. faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791167 2019-03-05 07:16:54 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791167 What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth? faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791288 2019-03-05 07:17:29 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791288 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. faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791351 2019-03-05 07:17:46 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791351 What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth? faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791472 2019-03-05 07:18:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791472 And then one evening As I sat down to eat my yam A knock on the door froze my hungry hand. faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791532 2019-03-05 07:18:46 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791532 The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn Waiting, waiting in its usual silence. faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791575 2019-03-05 07:19:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/337791575 "They picked up Akkani up one morning" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339171881 The use of first names suggests that persona knows the character/ Akanni personally ]]> 2019-03-08 03:36:15 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339171881 "Beat him soft like clay" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339172091 Shows how he can easily be mis-shapened just like clay]]> 2019-03-08 03:37:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339172091 "And stuffed him down the belly of a waiting sheep" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339172251 The word "stuffed" shows aggresion 
Use of personification on the jeep, symbolises a hungry person who swallows the victims into his belly.]]> 2019-03-08 03:38:41 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339172251 "Chinwe went to work one day Only to find her job was gone" faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339172757 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.]]> 2019-03-08 03:41:49 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339172757 jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339173186 The pesonna is quite selfish, if he gets his food he does not care. He just wants to mind his business]]> 2019-03-08 03:44:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339173186 "What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth? faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339177135 Third repetition of the chorus, another reminder that the poet does not want to know about the horrific things happening to people around him.]]> 2019-03-08 04:13:49 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339177135 "No query, no warning, no probe – Just one neat sack for a stainless record. faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339177225 (Links to above) Being without a job means being hungry and poor and even dead as there will be no money for food.]]> 2019-03-08 04:14:23 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339177225 "And then one evening As I sat down to eat my yam faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339177469 The next evening though brings the soldiers to the poet’s home in the special for him time of supper]]> 2019-03-08 04:16:45 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339177469 "Savouring mouth" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339841212 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, ]]> 2019-03-11 08:40:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339841212 "Booted the whole house awake" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339841615 The word "booted'' is an agressive word. 
And personification of the house getting awake as a person

]]> 2019-03-11 08:41:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339841615 "And dragged Danladi out" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339841990 Repetition of use of a first name.
Aggressive verb “dragged”]]> 2019-03-11 08:43:20 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339841990 "Then off to a lengthy absense" jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339842172  “Lengthy absence” makes us think that the victim may never return to his home and family.

]]> 2019-03-11 08:44:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/339842172 Life In Nigeria jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340301837 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.]]> 2019-03-12 09:10:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340301837 jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340302583 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 ]]> 2019-03-12 09:14:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340302583 Historical Social Context jiya2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340303498 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]]> 2019-03-12 09:18:00 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340303498 "A knock on the door froze my hungry hand." faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340791081 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?]]> 2019-03-13 10:42:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340791081 "The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn Waiting, waiting in its usual silence." faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340791328 No-one is there for the poet, everyone is just like he was-they don’t want to know.]]> 2019-03-13 10:43:20 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340791328 Background on the poet... faye2022 https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340791535 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. ]]> 2019-03-13 10:44:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jiya2022/tabi8oye7vcw/wish/340791535