MASTERS AND MISTRESSES BY AKIN OJO OLUWASEYI

GENRE: POETRY TITLE: MASTERS AND MISTRESSES WRITER: AKIN OJO OLUWASEYI, NIGERIA REVIEWER: SESAME MOOKODI, BOTSWANA
 
One of the most prominent forms of power is one that cannot be bestowed upon oneself. It is obtained in convincing those around oneself of the power and can only grow through the numbers of a shared belief in it. Relinquishing this power is something that is done with the belief that it shall benefit the believers and requires a gift of persuasion often embedded with false truths and if unlucky, with underlying malicious intent.                                                                                         
Masters and Mistresses is a quintet anaphora that repeats the line “When they get there” at the beginning of every stanza. The first stanza sets a narrative tone and the jargon suggesting premonition. The writer speaks of promises that will not be fulfilled and speaks of this action with a level of certainty and conviction that could only be cemented by past experiences. Describing these promises as scripted jargon (S1, L4) removes any intention or meaning from the words which is a total contradiction of the term promises.

In stanza two, the malicious intent is made clearer as the writer warns that lives are in danger. The pretence under which their power will be gained; the guise of refuge and safety all of which will amount to nothing. Their deception and lack of integrity are highlighted in the third stanza; committing crimes in manners that are socially acceptable and under the sheath of leadership, calling it professional (S3, L3). The methodology that makes their corruption so effective comes from the power they were given, a power the people are helpless against in the way they are helpless against the devil himself.

The fourth stanza foretells an attempt to appeal to public sympathy. Yet another tool of deception that only the naïve shall respond to. The last stanza is much more explicit in its statements depicting patience that has run out. The holders of power are called thieves, gluttonous, liars and murderers in their abuse of power. The last line may be referring to the way power has seldom relinquished another demonstration of their gluttony is how they hold on to the power till the day they pass on.