Search This Blog

Showing posts with label soyinka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soyinka. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

ILLUSIONS -colours -

Observe the GRID. 


Every 2 seconds read aloud the pure colour you see: GREEN (the first one) not the word “yellow”.


                                                                                      
      YELLOW     BLUE     ORANGE   
          BLACK        RED         GREEN     
          PURPLE          YELLOW            RED   
    ORANGE        GREEN        BLACK    
             BLUE        RED        PURPLE   
        GREEN     BLUE       ORANGE   
                                                                             

PS: your brain is ambidexterous (aka ambi-clumsy) and multitask:
we  have a conflict:
READ SEE THE COLOURS WITH THE LEFT BRAIN
THE WORDS WITH THE RIGHT SIDE.


PD: TO REALLY APPRECIATE (from brownie to toffey) the colours of our skin: read our previous entry on all the shades of Brown.
To read about a racial clash in England in the 60's ( a poem by Nigerian poet W. Soyinka) read this here.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

Telephone Conversation
by Wole Soyinka (1936-...)


The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent.
The landlady swore she lived Off premises.


Me: "Madam," I warned, "I hate a wasted journey—I am African."
lady: "HOW DARK?" . . . "ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?" (Considerate she was, varying the emphasis) "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?"
me: "You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"
lady: “AHA...”
"West African sepia"--and as afterthought , "Down in my passport."
....Silence ...
"WHAT'S THAT?" conceding "DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS."
"Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?"
"Not altogether. Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused-- Foolishly, madam--by sitting down, has turned My bottom raven black--One moment, madam!"- -"Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather See for yourself?"

Now the poem of our Nigerian Nobel Prize -1986


The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. "Madam," I warned,
"I hate a wasted journey—I am African."
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was foully.
"HOW DARK?" . . . I had not misheard . . . "ARE YOU LIGHT
OR VERY DARK?" Button B, Button A.* Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis--
"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came.
"You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"
Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,
I chose. "West African sepia"--and as afterthought,
"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding
"DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see
The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused--
Foolishly, madam--by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black--One moment, madam!"--sensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my ears--"Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather
See for yourself?"