Deadlines and debuts

Along the road from J.F. Ajayi auditorium in Unilag, a young poet confided in her friend Victor about a vision she had for an audio poetry collection titled “Dirt and Divinity”. He listened and offered his home as a studio for the first set of recordings. Most of these rough drafts were never published. They still sit somewhere in the archives of the digital world today, but that was not the point. The point was that she started and could not be stopped. Such was the art of holding on to a dream.

Two years, many photo shoots, and a few collaborations later, finishing touches were added to pieces like “imago” and “sex is a kind of death,” and the project was slowly unveiled to the world. Shortly after its release, the sun-kissed poet was reminded of an instruction she received from the Sun to host a live show. This happened at her church’s annual camp meeting. She also felt a deep urge in her heart to participate in a poetry slam organised by Ouida Lagos, scheduled for a few days before the live show. It was funny how, whenever she doubted the practicality of planning a live show in less than four days, she would also question the “rightness” of participating in the slam. It was as if the two desires were twins, and one would not step out of the house without the other. She cried in a loved one’s arms and accepted that she wouldn’t go, but somewhere in the middle of a Triumph-30 prayer session and a warm meal, she resolved to do both. The doubt was a stumbling block, but she leaned into the strength of the Lord and overcame. She didn’t want to go to the slam heavy-hearted or worried, so she spoke to her soul, saying, “Let’s be light”. As she worked on the piece for the competition, every moment of hesitation in her soul was met with a soft and steady echo that said, “We will not stop”, and so she continued.

The slam unfolded smoothly, and she came in second place. The prize money was roughly the amount needed to run the event. Surprise discounts, donations, and divine timing covered the rest, and she could no longer reasonably doubt that God had said go.

Somewhere between walking (albeit an hour and a half late) into the venue, seeing her friends setting up, listening to guest artists share their work, and watching people place their thoughts about the EP on the “divinity wall” in the corner of the room, Moyo knew that even though they had planned this event in 3 days, God had been planning it for much longer.