D.A.Y

Director of the National Theatre, Ahmed Yerima, won the NLNG Nigerian Prize for Literature last weekend, beating his predecessor at the theatre, Femi Osofisan, to the $20,000 award. Yerima pulled it off with his play, Hard Ground, and Kole Ade Odutola's poem below, celebrates the feat.


D. A . Y

Doctor Yerima it's your day.
The rewards of long nights
and no light.
The many reworks of words
and thoughts....
The walk up and down
just to set down the plot.
The days of writer's block
as heavy as Aso Rock,
have now been made up for
by a well deserved solid prize
from the Gas company owned by our country.
Doctor Yerima it's you day
and we all salute you, the son
of him, who once took salutes.

© Kole Ade Odutola

• Reproduced with permission.