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Whirlwinds in the Heart

Posted on by Victor Osa Asemota

Jolaade was born on the cushion of glamor in New York. Oludayo was born alone in the deep jungle of West Africa.  They are from two opposing worlds, but they are inextricably tied together.

One is supposed to die; the other is supposed to live.  As the intricacies of their lives unfold, they find that each must save the life of the other.  Who dies? Who lives?

As a modern world reaches through the ages to make sense of the past, we have a buildup where love and sacrifice defy conventional definitions.

Will Jolaade, born in New York, evolve into a natural-born African princess who must battle with forced child marriage, sexual abuse, and ritualistic female genital mutilation to become a beacon of hope to a multitude?  Will Oludayo survive orphanhood from day one, a congenital heart defect, a vindictive stepmother, bloody communal wars, and murder accusations to become a plausible candidate to one of the most prominent thrones in Africa?

What happens when they come face to face?

Hi friends. What you’ve just read is a brief description of the first book I hope to get published withing the next few weeks. The title of this write up is the the title of the book. It’s been five years in the making. No, I haven’t been working on ‘Whirlwinds in the Heart’ all the while.

I’ve got a full-time job as a high school teacher. I am a minister of God. Therefore, I dedicate a couple of hours a week to the service of my maker. I’ve got a family – a beautiful wife and two gorgeous boys. They are the love of my life. So, if you’re a father of a family, or a mother of a family, you probably know more than I do about the whirlwinds involved in joggling to balance all these important facets of our lives.

Yes, five years working on Whirlwinds, two more novels, and an anthology of some of my poems. The two other books I hope to publish while you enjoy Whirlwinds are ‘There was a Home, and A Place Called Love.‘ Now you know: I’m into poetry too. Being a poet has helped a lot in honing my work in fiction writing.

Thanks for reading this. Congratulations too! This is the first time I have written about the coming Whirlwinds in the Heart. Pass by here in a few days to catch a glimpse of the other upcoming two releases. And look forward to something more from or about ‘Whirlwinds…’

See you around.

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Poetry My Own

Posted on by Victor Osa Asemota

I know not what the falconer

would be without the falcon,

nor how miserable the fish without water.

But how life would be without poetry:

the brain would atrophy

like a burdened mind in nirvana.

If birds were without song

and  I could not fly on the wings of poetry,

spirits would corrode my soul;

the seeds of my mind would asphyxiate

like hapless larvae in an airless cocoon.

Though it caresses my ears

and stabilizes my sensibilities with smoothness like silk,

a dose of one line steels my spirit:

rhyming my life with rhythms of creativity

as I become a god into eternity.

Self-Renewal for Relevance

Posted on by Victor Osa Asemota

The only thing constant in life is change. Anybody whose desire is to stay in the realm of relevance must relentlessly seek opportunities to do things another way. For example: you can say “Hello” today, change it to “Hellooo,” tomorrow etc. You see, it is not difficult to do. A minor change of intonation goes a long way. Just start with the little things.  It is needed everywhere: the arts, sciences, family, relationships, medicine, education…

First, a few words on self-renewal in education, the vocation that puts food on my table now and shirt on my back. Any teacher that strives to maintain the status quo in the classroom is an exercise in torture, either to self or the students. The teacher that must remain necessary must, as a matter of necessity, scout for ways to do things differently. Not from one year to another, nor one term to another: rather from one lesson to another, from one day to another. The relevant teacher is the unpredictable one. That is the teacher whom the student comes to with eyes peeled, ears raised, and mind wondering: “What does the teacher have in store today?”

Now, self-renewal has to be self-imposed. When newness comes from without, the satisfaction is finite, whereas the newness from self begets satisfaction that is infinite. The former condemns to conformity while the latter propels to fulfilment. One may wonder how self-renewal can be maintained.  No big deal. We don’t have to propound theories and concepts, nor move mountains. More often than not, self-renewal is most effective in the little things as I have said in the beginning. A smile, a pat on the back, a word of encouragement and such minutiae can help us renew ourselves, thus keeping us in the loop of relevance.

More details on how will follow. Keep on the look out.