What Great Fiction Writers and Good Gossips have in Common

I have often pondered this
What is it that great fiction writers and gossips
Have in common?

Answer:
Both can make up tales

But while the former have produced
Great people in every epoch
Shakespeare, Goethe, Dickens
Our own dear Soyinka, Osofisan, Achebe
So many of them from different periods
Producing immense literature of worth

The latter has created crises in every era
Producing no notable work
Nor persona
They remain irreverently unknown
Inventing and dispensing spurious stories
About people they envy

The interesting part is where both differ
Where the gossip keeps busy with tales of others
Using the crudest of person to person communication
Wasting human hours in telling tales to irrelevant folks
And talking him/herself into penury

The writer sits in his/her room
Puts the inventions on paper
Reaches more people than s/he will ever meet
Allowing his/her creation into palaces and royal courtyards
And in turn makes not only fortune but fame

Are you a gossip or a great storyteller?
The raconteurs of our glorious past
Were highly sought after
For the manner in which the tell even familiar stories
But gossips are avoided by people who have purpose
Because where a storyteller builds lives
Gossips destroy lives with foul tongues

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"My Husband washes my Undies"

My country is indeed an interesting place! I read with consternation as a couple of women reportedly emerged on social media to announce to the world what their spouses do and whatnots. I believe the whole noise came off one of the events on the ongoing BBNaija show where one of the contestants reportedly washed the pants of his love interest. And the dying-to-be-distracted throng of Nigerian youths started another session of tantrum throwing on the internet over whether Neo (so is his name) should have or have not washed Vee's (I hope am correct) panties. And the stuff even made it to  Premium Times  and BBC .  So much noise about nothing, if you ask me! This is not the first time this is happening. In a previous season of BBNaija, another housemate sparked controversies for washing the undies of his love interest. A lot of internet perfectionists came out with condemnations or adulations. Others came with nothing. I call it the dying-to-be-distracted throng. The mass of Nero'
Read more

Why Guys Don't Propose Fast Enough

Image
http://www.reception-wedding.com/wedding_rings.htm I have been refusing to blog on this for a long time for fear of being misunderstood. But the barrage of complaints for a number of affected friends has not abated. Let me use this story to buttress my point. Please note that the names have been changed not to point at any individual living or dead. Adaku has always been a reserved girl. Right through Secondary School and her early university days, she kept away from associating with certain kind of friends especially girls who do not think like she does and guys. Her upbringing has been under the strict and conservative instructions of her parents. But in the university she meets Haruna, a handsome, intelligent and promising young man who was a year ahead of her in the University. One thing leads to another and before long, they were dating steadily. Their relationship continued from her 3rd year in the university till seven years afterwards. Now, Adaku isn't very sure
Read more

Learning Deutsch

The first time we arrived purposely to learn German, we were so enthusiastic. For me, I haven't really sat down to learn a new language, perhaps because there are no formalised institutions for learning Nigerian languages as in Germany. And that strikes me as odd! No one seems to have discovered that we could actually create formalised outlets for learning some, if not all, of our 250 languages. If that had existed, I could have spent time learning good Hausa formally in the six years that I spent teaching in Gombe.  But again, there is yet another snag: why would one pay, sometimes heavily, to learn a language that perhaps has little or no global presence? People have been learning German, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and they are now learning Chinese even in Europe. Why? The people who own those languages have some value or so they think, that those who are learning their language want. Take a look at English language. Even with Brexit, a lot of European nations are still sc
Read more