Complex Metaphors and Naming features poet and Mississippi State University professor Saddiq Dzukogi in conversation with poet and fabric designer Star Zahra, whose sophomore collection, Girls and the Silhouette of Form, won the 2025 Association of Nigerian Authors/KMVL Prize for Poetry. Dzukogi was also a finalist for the ANA Prize for Poetry in 2012, 2014, and 2016. The interview was recorded in March 2025.
That being said. What on God’s green earth is wrong with you? I do not understand you at all! You have caused me a lot of trouble, embarrassed me, put me in situations where only the Grace of God saved me, and made me look stupid in places where I was supposed to maintain my steeze. And if you cared to know anything about me, you would know that I take my steeze seriously.
Zahra’s literary journey began early. Her debut collection, The Dance of Dawn (2018), published when she was just seventeen, went on to be adopted as a set text at the University of Abuja and other institutions. With Girls and the Silhouette of Form, she not only expanded her poetic voice but also made history as the first female poet published by Masobe Books, the vibrant publishing house founded by Othuke Omniabohs.
I am that song you nod and hum to but still can’t sing along with, because, sometimes, it’s too deep. Yet, it flows, attracting passersby who know nothing of the sadness within.
No one wants a gathering of aunts. They will sit in a semi-circle, with me before them: head low and my shame a halo above my head. They will pass my poem from one bewildered hand to another. It will be a love poem. They will shake their heads; make a valley out of their mouths, clap their hands, and let out both audible and inaudible sighs. They will look at me with eyes carrying both disappointment and wonder. They will wonder how I am able to write all these things. Wonder how I even know these things exist, the child that I am. They will try to reconcile their sweet daughter with the stranger on the page. Then they will ask for the identity of the one who has taken my heart..
