Naseeba Babale

Nasiba Babale, a.k.a The Poet of Light, is a medical laboratory scientist with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. She is the Creative Director of Poetic Wednesdays Initiative, and the moderator for Glass Door Initiative's Poetically Written Prose contest from 2019 to 2021. She was one of the judges of the 2020 edition of The Nigerian Students Prize organized by Poets in Nigeria. Her poems have been published by Brittle Paper, African Writer Magazine, Ghost City Press, and others. She was shortlisted for the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Prize 2023. She is a columnist for Konya Shams Rumi and a lover of arts. She co-curated the maiden edition of Kano International Poetry Festival. She is the author of the chapbook The Rain is Like You (Konya Shams Rumi, 2023) and the poetry collection Pickled Moments (Konya Shams Rumi, 2024). She hails from Kano State, Nigeria.

Are Poets Cowards? – #Naseeba

Are poets really cowards? What if they are sadists who love to mock the whole world? What if it pleases them to see people wracking their brains trying to find meaning in their words while they sit and laugh at their foolishness? Maybe there is some sort of high that comes with writing what sounds like pure gibberish to most people.

I Hate Poetry – #Naseeba

Most importantly, I hate poetry for teaching me how to love. Poetry made a lover out of me. Before poetry, I didn’t know that the gaze from my lover’s eyes could loosen my joints. I didn’t know that a single touch of his hands could melt me like candle wax. . .

You Are a Poet, So? – #Naseeba

In essence, you are just like the children playing, oblivious of the uncertainties of life; you are like the lawyer filled with angst over what the judge’s ruling will be on his case; you are like the beggar on the street, unsure of the source of his next meal; you are like the teacher pondering over the best methods to teach his students.