Food Semiology in Selected Poems in 'Lere Oladitan's 'Poem of the Week'

摘要

Inspired by the popular view in the field of semiotics that everything is a sign of something or a sign for something, this article dwells on food significations in ‘Lere Oladitan's poem titled “Mounds for Sharing” in his poetry collection titled ‘Poem of the Week.' Using this poem as the paradigm to deconstruct some other poems in the collection, the article deconstructs this semiological practice (food symbolism) in four ways: first, as a sign deployed by the poet to contribute to the aesthetic and affective qualities of the poem; second, as an appropriation and exhibition of the values of giving and sharing which typify many (if not all) African cultures; third, as a semiotic strategy of self- depiction and fourth, as the strategy for developing the motif of sacrifice practically demonstrated by the poet in the manner in which the poems were first freely disseminated before they were compiled and published into a book form in 2016. Mounds for Sharing is used in this article as the paradigm of the other poems in the collection because there is ample evidence to show that the poem is the container of the general motifs developed in the other poems. First, the poet himself refers to it as “the signature tune” of the collection. Second, “Iyán tí mo gún, Baba má jẹ ǹ nìkan jẹ́” (the first two lines of the poem) is now Oladitan's sobriquet or designation in Obafemi Awolowo University community. The poet is now being referred to as Professor Iyán tí mo gún (Professor the Pounded Yam I Prepare) in the academic community. Third, in the inaugural lecture presented by the poet on August 23, 2011, the poem was given a theatrical performance by Awo Vasity Theatre, a theatre that is based in Obafemi Awolowo Universty Ile, Ife, Nigeria. The article indicates that food-related representations in the poem convey more than the general sense of food as the substance eaten for survival. The analysis, cast within the framework of food semiotics, shows that each poem of ‘Lere Oladitan is a kind of food which carries one or a combination of such connotations of food as: food for the thought, food for the social psyche and memory and food for personal spiritual and psychosocial growth.