What Do I Call My Love For Your Body?

Art has always been about the expression of emotions and desires. We have a favourable sentiment about poems that explore love and the intricacies of the heart, which poets such as Pablo Neruda excelled at. But we get conservative when a writer explores Eroticism as a theme. This is why Jide Badmus' What Do I Call My Love For Your Body is brave.

 

But, this bravery isn't what gives this collection its crowning glory. The juice of this collection lies in the fluidity with which Jide weaves words and the cheekiness with which he conjures imagery. Like a blacksmith, he beats similes, metaphors, and imagery into poignant form.

 

In the poem 'Weatherman', he writes,

 

Is it not beautiful that you could always tell when my dawn is pregnant with a storm?

You spread like an umbrella to meet the morning rain.

 

In What Do I Call My Love for Your Body, words wear layered garments of double entendres that call for the reader to unwrap them like a present. And there are poems that are bold from line to line, that needs no cloaking with metaphors:

 

Dressed in nothing but weaves & heels,

I stand, poised before you as a street sign: This Way to Eden.

 

 

In this collection, body parts become edible. Sex is worship. Sex is sacred. And sex is...rough! The poet captures romance, love, and lust in their wholesomeness with a magical command of language. Jide Badmus approaches the theme with deft dexterity. He approaches the subject with the sacredness it demands. Jide Badmus approaches the Erotic with veneration. Words are flowery, and each poem is like a honey drop on a craving tongue.