PIANO AND DRUMS

When at break of day at a riverside
I hear the jungle drums telegraphing
the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw
like bleeding flesh, speaking of
primal youth and the beginning
I see the panther ready to pounce
the leopard snarling about to leap
and the hunters crouch with spears poised;

And my blood ripples, turns torrent,
topples the years and at once I’m
in my mother’s laps a suckling;
at once I’m walking simple
paths with no innovations,
rugged, fashioned with the naked
warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts
in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.

Then I hear a wailing piano
solo speaking of complex ways in
tear-furrowed concerto;
of far away lands
and new horizons with
coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint,
crescendo. But lost in the labyrinth
of its complexities, it ends in the middle
of a phrase at a daggerpoint.

And I lost in the morning mist
of an age at a riverside keep
wandering in the mystic rhythm
of jungle drums and the concerto.

Gabriel Okara

Born in Nigeria, Gabriel Okara focuses much of his poems on the disparity between African and Western cultures and how it further influences one’s frame of thought. As the name suggest, the poem merely expresses Okara’s thoughts on this issue and through the use of various poetic devices, such as symbolism and imagery, he successfully puts forth his feelings. The poem begins by describing the ‘mystic rhythm’ of the drums which automatically takes the reader to what the West would refer to as a ‘primitive land’. Towards the end of the poem, Okara writes about listening to a ‘wailing piano’, symbolising the West.  It is evident that Okara is going through a process of identifying himself i.e. whether he wants to be associated with his ‘primal’ land or the ‘advanced’ West.

While analysing the poem, one comes across the fact that Okara has structured the poem in such a manner that it begins by describing the primal lands and then talks about the West. This can be seen as a representation of Western colonisation wherein the tentacles of Western culture barges its way through that of the indigenous. The imposition of the Western culture on the indigenous leads to a transformation in ideologies as well. Okara, here, accepts the superiority of the West by describing the complexities of a piano through the use of words such as ‘ crescendo’ and ‘diminuendo’ and at the same time hinting at the simplicity of a drum. This further perpetuates the belief of the ‘white man’ that he is the superior one compared to the indigenous.

The effect of the imposition of such notions on the native individual’s psyche has been well portrayed in the poem. Although the narrator wishes to abide by the ‘rhythm of the drum’ he is interrupted the sound of the ‘wailing piano’. This represents the identity crisis he goes through as a result of the coloniser’s influence. He is faced between accepting his ‘primitive’ culture or being the submissive colonised, giving in to the ‘coaxing’ rhythms of the piano and thereby mimic the White man.

Further, this poem can be seen an example of the consequences of identity formation for the colonised who is forced into accepting the status of the ‘other’.  Okara internalises the belief that the ‘drum’ is a primitive instrument compared to the piano i.e. the drum is everything that the piano isn’t. One way of interpreting the poem is that he tries to overcome the traumatic belief of his inferiority by trying to inculcate the ideals of the western culture, as Fanon did with reference to the French culture. However, the fact that he hasn’t come to a conclusion could be indicative of an attempt to decolonise the mind. According to Fanon, more than political or economic change, the end of colonialism is marked by psychological change. Hence, the poem which could be interpreted as a quest for identity can also be seen as the beginning of decolonisation for Okara.

Elizabeth Korah

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