My life, my art-- Iyanu Adebiyi

...But what is Ori?

Is it that frame caput that serves 

as a host for the face and brain?

Or is it that thicker part of our body where hair 

freely sprouts?...

Excerpt from Ori by Yusuf Gemini

‘Ori’ in Yoruba cosmology isn't just a referent of the physical structure that houses some of the vital organs in the body, it connotes a far deeper spiritual significance. As explained by Apena Fagbemijo Amosun Fakayode, the Otun Amufawuni of Ibadan Land, ‘Ori’ is human consciousness and our direct connection to Olodumare, the Supreme Force and can conceptually be interpreted to mean destiny or fate. In expouding this a little further, Babalawo Aworeni calls it a supernatural being that controls the destiny of an individual as he journeys along this path called life. It is this being that chooses what one becomes (rich or poor, very rich or very poor) and controls the events characterizing the core of one's existence through discoveries, ideas, opportunities, wrong or right decisions, hardiships, disappointments and joys, failures and successes, etc. For Iyanu Adebiyi, a young Nigerian spoken word goddess, her sojourn here on earth took a painful but dramatic turn to discover what ‘Ori’ has chosen for her.

Iyanu Adebiyi was born on the 25th of March, 1993 in Abuja, Nigeria to educated parents occupying the middle class of the social strata. Her formation years were shaped by religious experiences of Christianity and her addiction to books. There was another addiction. It was repeated nightmares that left her most often troubled, shaken and over-feeling everything. She hated her womanhood, fought hard to be someone else with the low cut she wore and the continual bending of her back to hide the breasts springing out of her chest until she developed a slight hunch. Like most kids her age, she wanted to be many things in adulthood: a doctor because she hated to see people in pain. At another time, she wanted to be a singer because she grew up singing in church. Then a nurse, then a lawyer, then a painter, then a teacher, then a dancer, then an actress. A writer? Nah!

Her first manuscript was inspired by a schoolmate (a boy) who wrote very interesting stories that she loved to borrow and read. One day, after begging for one of his books, he asked when he was going to read hers. The question was both a surprise and a quickie. All she said unconsciously was 'I have my own book joor. When I finish writing, you will read it'. But as it turned out, she never finished the manuscript and the boy never read anything she wrote. 

Although Iyanu Adebiyi still finds it hard to complete any story she starts writing, her career (in creative writing) officially kicked-off when she was preparing for the Senior School Certificate examinations (WAEC). She would write different stuff, submit them to her English teacher who would edit and make her write the stories again and again. This display of potential made her English teacher set her up for an essay competition she backed out of at the last minute because she thought she wasn't good enough. She looked down on her writing. She didn't trust it. She didn't love it. So, singing was the god her writing worshipped, she thought. She embraced it and became a song writer. Hmm...

Ori... it didn't just come to be from the 

footprint of a cock

The fatalists teaches that whatever will be 

will be...

The work that Kehinde has done will be better if Taye tries it 

you can bear honey

...ori loni se. Our success, our failure lies in 

head inside

the Ori inu--the ori bearer of our ipin, Ori 

basket 

Asiniwa ye the guardian 

there is no deity standing behind the head 

but if we are left to choose what we become 

on earth

why are some kings and some slaves?

Why are some rich and some poor?

Why are some always beaming with smiles

and some teardrops?

A good destiny is ignited with iwapele

Morality is the errand boy to Ori

no one has chosen the ugly side of life

but when we get to earth, we get influenced

by things that don't exist

then we get stranded, we loose our way

the search begins and that is life

some get missing on the road to find 

nature

some embrace the soil on the road to find 

nature

some give it all up but whose fault is it Ori or 

one?...

Excerpt from Ori by Yusuf Gemini

That continued until her self consciousness had been fully developed as a young woman. But instead, she woke up into darkness, into self-disgust. She sought refuge in a relationship that had her life and emotions crumble practically. She became broken. Pain became her constant companion and everywhere she went, even in the midst of people, she would retire to herself and weep bitterly in silence. She was hurting. All the while, what played like a song on a loop in her head was to get drunk, have sex, kill him and kill herself. Ori knew she was missing it yet, the pain was a necessity for her to fulfil purpose. In 2014, after graduation from the University of Abuja where she studied Law, at the height of the pain, God came through for her at a prayer meeting. Right there, she felt the tingling of the oil dripping from her hands which was later confirmed in her spirit as a pouring of the healing anointing with a word of knowledge that goes 'There will be a transfer of spirits as you transfer the words your hands have made to the broken, the hurting, the tired, the scared, and they shall recover'. That singular encounter jump-started her healing process and her true purpose (of pain embedded in poetry): '...to scribble power upon paper with the ink of spirits…'. From then on, she wrote poetry on paper, on social media, everywhere. She got positive feedback from people that read her poetry including those who got healed, aborted their suicidal thoughts like she did and decided to hang on regardless. She got encouraged to do more even while she healed with her tears mixing with her ink. The pain of her past became her paint and she made art with it. 

In 2016, she began to recite her poems because she needed to reach out to many more people who were not reading. So, she became a spoken word poet with great trepidation. She stumbled all over the stages that welcomed her, learning that her words would always be enough. In 2017, she reached rock bottom again which she considered was the best place for rebuilding faulty foundations. She searched for new truths to build her life on and finally conquered the voice of suicide. That same year, she published her first book which was a compilation of a story and poems as part of Sevhage Publishers chapbook series titled The Road Leads Me Home. At the end of the year, November precisely, she won an award for a spoken word video in the U.S Mission Nigeria's video contest on 'Strength in Diversity'. Since then, she has written more poems, performed on more stages, taught at workshops, made more videos including: 'Pointing At Love With My Mother's Finger' , 'Up Nepa', 'Identity', 'Voices', 'A Touch of Red' , 'Giving Birth to God'. 'Playing Hard to Get', 'I am Something', 'Time Piece', 'Keep Moving' and worked on her spoken word album. Today, Iyanuoluwa Adebiyi hasn't just found purpose but is privileged to be a young poet with a passion for hurting and broken people. Privileged to experience how being a writer is the closest thing to being God; how it is an opportunity to co-create with the creator. How it is the highest form of living, how it is away of multiplying and stamping one’s DNA all over the world.

By Yamilenu Bamgboye