For this piece, we had the pleasure of speaking with Prosper Ifeanyi, a distinguished poet and literary writer who has his works beautifully littered in several local and international journals/magazines.
Prospers’ literary prowess extends beyond poetry, showcasing his versatility in various genres and forms. His work explores alluring themes such as identity, and family, reflecting both personal experiences and broader societal issues.
In this interview, we will look into the inspirations behind his work and perspectives on contemporary literature.
We will also discuss his latest projects and future aspirations, offering insight into the mind of a true literary luminary.
Join us as we uncover the thoughts and experiences of Prosper Ifeanyi.
Can you tell us about you?
My name is Prosper Ifeanyi. I am from Delta State. I was a student at Delta State University a
a few years back.
I am a first-class student of Delta State University, English and Literary Studies currently doing my NYSC at Imo State University.
I write poetry and I get my works published. I have some works published in notable magazines and university journals.
I have my works published in notable magazines like; the University of Oxford, the University of
Denver, etcetera.
Tell us about your education journey from Primary to Admissions.
My primary school was just a few blocks from home, nothing regular, nothing much. I was not always a bright student in primary school.
I had difficulty with Mathematics, the world of numbers. But, I loved the English Language. I loved reading novels and back then people classified novels as a kind of female thing.
But, I found peace in it as I could relate to characters, words that I had not seen before, words that would take me straight to the dictionary, those kinds of things.
I was in awe with that kind of world, that was how I came in contact with words but not poetry. Poetry came later on.
In secondary school, pretty much the same thing. I came in contact with poetry in SS1. I came
in contact with different genres of literature that is; drama, prose and drama.
Thanks to my principal then, she made us recite poems by Woke Soyinka, JP Clarke, Wallet Frost. Those kinds of poetry laid the basis of the foundation in which I wrote.
So, when I was in SS2, the greatest influence I had on my writing was my mum, because she was there all through. She paid a publisher back then to publish one of my stories. One story I wrote. It was not much but it was something.
The title of the story was, “The Journey”. So, when I published it back then, in school, I was like a prodigy because people wanted to read the work even teachers. I just knew that there was something there for me in writing, that I could actually do something in writing.
When I got to the university, it was quite tricky because juggling creative writing and academic
writing was a difficult thing entirely.
While you have to keep up appearances for your GPA and CGPA, you still have to write. The body wants what it wants.
It was a no-brainer actually, I got to school. In 2018, I said I was going to study English and Literary Studies so that it would give me the time I needed to write something about the field of English, that is literature.
So that I could get in contact with authors, and poets and at the same time I could write and read them.
How do you feel to be the best poet in your department?
It didn’t come as a surprise that I was the best student/poet in my department. I would not say it came as a surprise because it was just as if I was built for this moment.
I am not good at maths, even now.
But, when I knew that I could write and express myself through words, I just plunged into it and I knew that nobody was going to take it away from me so I gave it my best shot.
What makes a good poem?
Honestly, what makes a poet a good poet is just reaching for that innermost part of you that longs to say something, that thing you want to say but you feel like society might frown at it or emotional blockage.
That is what will make a good poem. If you can tap into that emotion and harness it, you can create a good poem out of it.
How to be a successful poet?
I will not say I am a successful poet, for me, everything is a process. You just cannot be the best writer or best poet.
Even with the prizes I have won, I won’t say it because I was very very good at it.
I just feel poetry is subjective. What one person might see in your work is not the same thing another person would.
Success is not something that can be measured. A poet should develop hindsight and work on feedback.
Success itself is having people read your work.
How did you react to the nomination?
That one happened earlier this year. I was with a friend. You have the impulse to check your emails every second or every 5 minutes, so you want to check whether you have any opportunities or any writing gigs.
I saw an email from Suzy Muth, she’s an editor at George Mason University, from the English
department.
So, she wrote to me saying that I was amongst the few people selected during the final stage of
selection.
I was a finalist there and she told me that my poem had a lot of potential and it was up to the judge
to determine the final winner.
The price was $500 and publication. I was excited but in this line of poetry, you have to keep your mind open there’s no assurance that you might win.
But, for me, being recognized is enough. I didn’t win the price per se but I was a finalist, so it
was a big deal for me.
What niche or theme do you specialise in?
I speak a lot about “self and family”.
Family is almost everything to me. Because I have this idea that memories are created through bonds.
Happy people, relationships are both the ones that have failed and the ones in progress. Like it or
not, I have met people, I have made mistakes some that I wish I could correct, I can go back to
correct and some that need me to let go but I just can’t let go.
We all come from different families with different backgrounds, and things have happened.
I can say I have watched my family for example go through different kinds of struggles with my mom, and dad, sickness with job issues.
Those kinds of things inspire me to write and document them.
Do you go through writer’s block? and how did you overcome it?
I go through writer’s block almost every single time I try to write. What I do most time is that I go away from writing. I just focus on basically two things; movies and reading.
I read a lot, like a lot. That’s what I do.
Sometimes, if reading is not working, I listen to songs, the kind of songs I listen to, most people
might find them outlandish or old-school.
I listen to those kind of people. For me, it’s not about the connection they are trying to build with their listeners, it’s the words.
I could be listening to a song and the singer might start saying something, I would be like what
was he thinking or what was his mind frame when he said that?
I would say poetry is 30% writing and 70% investigating what other people have said, looking
for how you can reconstruct their idea to suit your timeline.
That’s just basically what I think writing is.
Are you worried about the future of poetry? As there’s reading decadence.
I think about the future of poetry, these days because people resort to the use of AI to write things. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, I know people who have won prizes with the use of AI.
There was a poetry prize that was organized by a literary magazine at the University of Arizona,
it was won by a woman who used AI to write her poem.
There were lots of controversies, why would you use AI? When other people are writing from
their innermost thoughts and affection, that kind of stuff.
I don’t have any problem with people using AI, because when we do that, we tend to recycle ideas.
Like it or not, the information fed to the computer comes from the prototypes of others
who have written stuff and said it to the same computer.
That is knowledge lost because I feel there’s nothing new that you are trying to say. You are just saying what others have said over time.
As a poet, you have to tap into your innermost thoughts most times. Because, like It or not, the
AI’s or the computers they use cannot experience what you would experience out there in the
field.
The AI cannot experience heartbreak, the AI cannot measure or try to see what you have seen
in the society, the moral decline and what the society has mounted on you.
I feel AI can be used as an accompaniment to the human thoughts/emotions not come to take
overwriting.
It should be used to aid. I know quite well that there are people who want to write but they have
disabilities.
People who cannot hear for example, who have the urge to write. Merely speaking words into
the computer to decode what you are saying is something precious to them. The way they can
do that is to use the AI machine.
People with disabilities, people who do not have the privilege to write and people who have
been involved in one accident or the other can actually use AI as an accompaniment.
As a writer, that is just starting, using computers and AI is not good for you in the long run. It
would not aid your growth.
Personally, I have scraps I have written in 2020, and 2021, old poems that I have written that I can
just pick up to measure. I would feel irritated and ask, “If I wrote this thing?” Because this is not
what I am writing now.
But AI, would give you a false sense of perfection and in the long run it would deter you from the
process of writing which is, “growth”.
I wrote an essay yesterday about a fellow contemporary poet, that was just trying to understand
his psyche when he wrote that poem, titled “The Lens Theory”.
So, I juxtaposed these two ideas, that is, the poet’s poem and the article I read online. So, I sure
similarities because the poet was trying to use imagery to talk about starvation, hunger children
went through, how people were led to be slaughtered by leaders, bribery and these kinds of
things.
Sometimes, when I come across ideas, I cannot just give my two cents on something I know little about it and don’t know anything about it.
Reading, reading and reading, I was able to formulate my own and why he writes like this.
One thing you should understand is that I do not think any poet writes in a vacuum.
You cannot just write, like it or not, you have to be influenced by history or a memory. We are all products of history. We are all cosmically affected by one part of our lives.
