A layered exploration of the immigrant identity through the voices of multiple Nigerian American characters.
The Yoruba word Ará’lúèbó (/ah-rah-loo-ay-bow/), as the book tells us, means “an endearing term for a native who has gone abroad, and/or is returning” or “a person who becomes a foreigner everywhere they go.”
In his debut poetry collection, KÁNYIN Olorunnisola showcases the expansiveness of the immigrant experience through the form of the choreopoem, a non-Western style of poetry that incorporates elements of music and theater. The collection tells a multitude of stories through five people (Odunsi, beja, Levi, Sekina, and Ismaila), who, though fictional, represent the emotional truths of the lived experience of an African residing in the United States. As Ismaila says early on, “we r five fly kids hyphenated by time & / geography.”
Mixing Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin, and English, Ará’lúèbó: The Immigrant Monologues is a blend of linguistic influences, with debts to visual art and rap music. At the center of its expression is formal experimentation; poems are structured like movie screenplays, diary entries, flowcharts, pie charts, and dictionary entries. The book encompasses a broad span of American, African, and other world history, even as it is strongly rooted in the contemporary, with references to Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar, and other Black creatives. Ultimately, the book asks who is allowed to belong and paints a portrait of what it means to be American and from elsewhere.
The Yoruba word Ará’lúèbó (/ah-rah-loo-ay-bow/), as the book tells us, means “an endearing term for a native who has gone abroad, and/or is returning” or “a person who becomes a foreigner everywhere they go.”
In his debut poetry collection, KÁNYIN Olorunnisola showcases the expansiveness of the immigrant experience through the form of the choreopoem, a non-Western style of poetry that incorporates elements of music and theater. The collection tells a multitude of stories through five people (Odunsi, beja, Levi, Sekina, and Ismaila), who, though fictional, represent the emotional truths of the lived experience of an African residing in the United States. As Ismaila says early on, “we r five fly kids hyphenated by time & / geography.”
Mixing Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin, and English, Ará’lúèbó: The Immigrant Monologues is a blend of linguistic influences, with debts to visual art and rap music. At the center of its expression is formal experimentation; poems are structured like movie screenplays, diary entries, flowcharts, pie charts, and dictionary entries. The book encompasses a broad span of American, African, and other world history, even as it is strongly rooted in the contemporary, with references to Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar, and other Black creatives. Ultimately, the book asks who is allowed to belong and paints a portrait of what it means to be American and from elsewhere.
Table of Contents
Title Page
The Ara’luebo Chorus: A Prologue (A Choreopoem)
ARA’LUEBO I: Odunsi
1. The Ghost of SX MPhil
2. Alien Monologue #1
3. Willi Ninja
4. Adieu Freres
5. Me, Malcolm & the Smoking Gun
6. For You, Anton Fransch (1969 – 1989)
7. Ode to William Dorsey Swann, the Queen Himself (1860 – 1925)
8. Did You Hear About the Flaming Queens?
9. Nasty Boys
10. Brotherhood
11. Text Dada & the Crew & Let’s Have the Sickest Nigerian Night-Out Ever
12. I Hear the Monkeys Love to Dance
ARA’LUEBO II: beja
1. monologue on the first date: an oversharing masterclass
2. i ask google for my biography & it tells me all the definitions of the word “black”
3. ara’luebo as punchline
4. nomenclature (the audience wears beja’s shoes)
5. alien monologue #2
6. confessions upon hearing george michael’s “fastlove” for the first time
7. Retroactively Liveblogging the "Miss World" Riots. November 2002. Kaduna, Nigeria. (or the One Where beja Recollects Trauma)
8. letter to mother
ARA’LUEBO III: Sekina
1. (self-)portrait as anybody’s favorite girl
2. Christening
3. grandma diaries
4. sekina versus her mother aka mama sekina aka ms. khadija
5. mama sekina’s psychogeography (sekina’s mother gets a solo)
6. talking to this socialist chick at the lauryn hill costume party
7. alien monologue #3
8. Me, Viola Davis & Hattie McDaniel Make a Dadaist Film circa 1863
9. how sekina is feeling today
10. how sekina is feeling today (reprise)
11. The Miracle of the Red Sea in My Bedroom
ARA’LUEBO IV: Levi
1. A Three-Tongued Dirge for all My 3 AM Cigars
2. White Fish (Ara’luebo Discovers Beauty)
3. Shake It, Sweet Thing
4. Chiaroscuro
5. Upon Seeing a Queer-Coded Portrait
6. alien monologue #4: levi
7. Levi’s Reckoning
8. Ara’luebo Sestina (The Audience Wears Levi’s Shoes)
9. Western Culture I
10. Western Culture II
11. A Pantoum for My Executioner
12. diptych for the god of fate
13. Someday, I’ll Love Me
ARA’LUEBO V: Ismaila
1. 21 Reasons I Am Mad at White People
2. Shakespeare in di Ghetto
3. Redneck Monologue
4. Ismaila’s Soliloquy [duet with k.dot]
5. alien monologue #5
6. Di One Where di Roughnecks Flip di World Upside Down While Looking Fab as Fuck
7. POV: The Quiet Cousin at the Immigrant Family Reunion
8. A Very Niggaish Ars Poetica
9. Who is Built to Survive dis Shit?
Epilogue: The Ara’luebo Chorus (A Choreopoem )
Acknowledgments
The Ara’luebo Chorus: A Prologue (A Choreopoem)
ARA’LUEBO I: Odunsi
1. The Ghost of SX MPhil
2. Alien Monologue #1
3. Willi Ninja
4. Adieu Freres
5. Me, Malcolm & the Smoking Gun
6. For You, Anton Fransch (1969 – 1989)
7. Ode to William Dorsey Swann, the Queen Himself (1860 – 1925)
8. Did You Hear About the Flaming Queens?
9. Nasty Boys
10. Brotherhood
11. Text Dada & the Crew & Let’s Have the Sickest Nigerian Night-Out Ever
12. I Hear the Monkeys Love to Dance
ARA’LUEBO II: beja
1. monologue on the first date: an oversharing masterclass
2. i ask google for my biography & it tells me all the definitions of the word “black”
3. ara’luebo as punchline
4. nomenclature (the audience wears beja’s shoes)
5. alien monologue #2
6. confessions upon hearing george michael’s “fastlove” for the first time
7. Retroactively Liveblogging the "Miss World" Riots. November 2002. Kaduna, Nigeria. (or the One Where beja Recollects Trauma)
8. letter to mother
ARA’LUEBO III: Sekina
1. (self-)portrait as anybody’s favorite girl
2. Christening
3. grandma diaries
4. sekina versus her mother aka mama sekina aka ms. khadija
5. mama sekina’s psychogeography (sekina’s mother gets a solo)
6. talking to this socialist chick at the lauryn hill costume party
7. alien monologue #3
8. Me, Viola Davis & Hattie McDaniel Make a Dadaist Film circa 1863
9. how sekina is feeling today
10. how sekina is feeling today (reprise)
11. The Miracle of the Red Sea in My Bedroom
ARA’LUEBO IV: Levi
1. A Three-Tongued Dirge for all My 3 AM Cigars
2. White Fish (Ara’luebo Discovers Beauty)
3. Shake It, Sweet Thing
4. Chiaroscuro
5. Upon Seeing a Queer-Coded Portrait
6. alien monologue #4: levi
7. Levi’s Reckoning
8. Ara’luebo Sestina (The Audience Wears Levi’s Shoes)
9. Western Culture I
10. Western Culture II
11. A Pantoum for My Executioner
12. diptych for the god of fate
13. Someday, I’ll Love Me
ARA’LUEBO V: Ismaila
1. 21 Reasons I Am Mad at White People
2. Shakespeare in di Ghetto
3. Redneck Monologue
4. Ismaila’s Soliloquy [duet with k.dot]
5. alien monologue #5
6. Di One Where di Roughnecks Flip di World Upside Down While Looking Fab as Fuck
7. POV: The Quiet Cousin at the Immigrant Family Reunion
8. A Very Niggaish Ars Poetica
9. Who is Built to Survive dis Shit?
Epilogue: The Ara’luebo Chorus (A Choreopoem )
Acknowledgments