Not
MyBusiness
Business
Not My
By
NiyiOsundare
Osundare
By Niyi
Political riots
Victims
Innocent people left without homes
They picked Akanni up one
morning
Use of first
names
makes us
think that
the poet
knows the
victims
Beat him soft like clay
Simile shows how a human can be
easily misshapen just like clay.
And staffed him down the belly
of a waiting jeep.
•Use of powerful verb
“staffed” to show high
level of aggression.
•Personification- the
jeep symbolises a
hungry person who
swallows his victims
into his belly.
What business of mine is it
so long they don’t take the yam
from my savouring mouth?
Whatever
happens around
if the poet gets
his food then he
does not care
They came one night
Booted the whole house awake
•The soldiers’
Aggression is
shown by the
verb “booted”
•Personification
of the house
getting awake
as a person
And dragged Danladi out
Then off to a lengthy absence.
•Repetition of use of
a first name.
•Aggressive verb
“dragged”
•“Lengthy absence”
makes us think that
the victim may never
return to his home
and fasmily.
What business of mine is it
so long they don’t take the yam
from my savouring mouth?
Repetition of
the chorus,
gives stronger
impression of
the poet not
wanting to get
involved as long
as he is safe.
Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone
•The next victim is
named by first name
yet again to tell us
she is well known by
the poet.
•The act of injustice
is not so shocking as
the previous ones
but still leaves
someone hurt.
No query, no warning, no probeJust one neat sack for a stainless
record.
Being without a
job means to be
hungry and poor
and even dead
as there will be
no money for
food
What business of mine is it
so long they don’t take the yam
from my savouring mouth?
Third repetition of
the chorus,
another reminder
that the poet does
not want to know
about the horrific
things happening
to people around
him.
And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam
The next
evening
though brings
the soldiers
to the poet’s
home in the
special for
him time of
supper
A knock on the door froze my
hungry hand.
The time for him
being picked up
has come, he is
the next victim,
but will anyone
object, will
anyone defend
him, do
anything to save
him?
A jeep was waiting on my
bewildered lawn
Waiting , waiting in its usual
No-one
is
silence.
there for the
poet,
everyone is
just like he
was-they don’t
want to know.
Structure
The poem has four stanzas.
The first three stanzas are the same
The fist four lines of them describe what happens
to three people the knows, then there are three
more lines which are the same in every of the
first three stanzas and they form a chorus which
shows the passive reaction of the poet to the
horrible, shocking events.
The forth and final stanza is a contrast to the
previous three, it is about how the time for the
poet to be taken away comes and finishes on a
cliff hanger as we do not know what happens to
him.
What is the poem
about?
Structure
Voice in the
poem/narrator
Poetic devices used
Tone of poem
What is the
effect/purpose of the
poem?
Quotation
Poetic devices
‘beat him soft like
clay’
simile
'stuffed ... down the personification
belly' of the jeep
How does it relate
to life in Nigeria