' I can discern at least three distinct uses of 'free' in "Free Vanity": conditions forced upon us about which we have no choice; the abandon with which a few acquire illegal luxury; and the dishonesty behind some promises of free this or tha...t in the country. Many are wont to give the poem a political interpretation. But i think the poem transcends mere realism. It asks or, rather, answers metaphysical questions. "Vanity upon vanity, all is vanity," says the wiseman. If everything has no intrinsic value, then, even freedom itself is worthless: nothing is free; the only free thing is vanity.How free, really, are we, if at all? From this perspective, the poem takes on deeper, more explorable and less cumbersome dimensions. Stanza eight is a piece of beauty. Keep writing, brother.'
FREE VANITY
Street poetry
Free vote; no free chance to revolt
Free Rigging, Free moping
FREE THIS, FREE THAT
Free Legislature; free laws no sure
Nothing is free
Free Press; freest chance to impress;free stress
Free Government, free free money in some tents
FREE THIS, FREE THAT
Free Vanity
Free speech;Free guns at reach
Free oil; free toil
Nothing is free
Free Jega*, Free me ginger!*
Free baba*, free wahala!*
Free shitters, free but forced packers
Free Vanity
FREE THIS, FREE THAT
IT CAN NEVER BE AS FREE AS TRIDAF*
Free inflation, free unemployment, free implication.
Free votes for free goats
Free gloat, free notes.
Free nation, Freely shared hunger invasion
Free exercise books and text books
Nothing is free and true in the budget books
FREE THIS, FREE THAT
NOTHING IS FREE, EXCEPT FREE VANITY
Free vanity.
13-7-2010
Tridaf: a hostel in Ibadan Nigeria which housed female students. It was expensively paid for by parents who sent their children to non-boarding schools.
Jega: Althahiru Jega is the new Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman
Ginger: Weed; Marijuana-the name given to it by street artist, Terry G.
Baba: means father and other related meanings
Wahala: means trouble in Hausa language
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