In The Ones Before You, the love is palpable; you feel as if you can touch the love as it happens, as it unravels in those lines, as much as they have touched you in their tenderness; the tenderness with which they are shaped. Whether they are talking about food, or about a lovelorn lover, or newborn child, the poet's love for words, and for love as a thing, can be sensed. There are echoes of loneliness here and there as the poet navigates his emotions through the lonesome road of adulthood…. And even in all this, there's a certain musicality resonating through the verses, a rhythm to how the lines move to become these songs — songs of love, of loneliness, of praise; shadows of Osundare, if you may. And there are the linguistic tricks of oscillation between tongues that happen in places.
Olubunmi Familoni, award-winning author of The Road Does Not End (Winner, Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2024)
“In The Ones Before You, the love is palpable; you feel as if you can touch the love as it happens, as it unravels in those lines, as much as they have touched you in their tenderness; the tenderness with which they are shaped. Whether they are talking about food, or about a lovelorn lover, or newborn child, the poet's love for words, and for love as a thing, can be sensed. There are echoes of loneliness here and there as the poet navigates his emotions through the lonesome road of adulthood…. And even in all this, there's a certain musicality resonating through the verses, a rhythm to how the lines move to become these songs — songs of love, of loneliness, of praise; shadows of Osundare, if you may. And there are the linguistic tricks of oscillation between tongues that happen in places. ”
Olubunmi Familoni, award-winning author of The Road Does Not End (Winner, Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2024)
“Every so often, an outsider poet appears on the poetry scene, usually from the sciences, with vibrant language and unconventional methods. This is ’Jọba Ọ̀jẹ̀labí's approach: An off-kilter lyricism influenced by pharmaceutical sciences, Yoruba worldview and a penchant for mischief.”
Dami Ajayi, author of Affection & Other Accidents
Whether it's shaping a brand voice, launching a campaign, or telling a story that matters, be in touch.
