Three Poems by Tade Ipadeola || The Bala Selection

These three poems by Tade Ipadeola were especially chosen for The Bala Selection.

The Bala Selection is a bi-weekly poetry feature curated by Ismail Bala for Konya Shamsrumi, showcasing distinctive new voices and resonant works from across Africa and beyond. Through his discerning eye, each selection highlights the craft, music, and emotional clarity that define contemporary poetry in its most luminous form.

Ismail Bala is a poet, translator, and critic whose work bridges classical poetics and modern sensibility, and whose mentorship has shaped a generation of emerging African poets.

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The Owl In Winter

The owl, muse of silence
Gathers the night into both ears.
Before there were barns it kept
vigils through adverse ages
and though the earth harbored raucous crows,
the owl maintained its living monuments
to peace.
To learn statuary, artists come
for its resilient pose, its deep calm
that turns on an axis so infinite
the universe itself can borrow
a thing or two to pass the time.

The owl’s wings whisper truth
that none but the air can hear,
patron totem of snipers, dream
figure of assassins.

Tallow

For Ismail Bala

To have been called Ishmael, bidden
By the bearer of that name
Through generations now hidden
Amidst sea mist and the spray
From deep-ploughing ocean hulls– 

To have answered in ambergris 
Through the crossings
From Atlantic to the Pacific seas
Intent on the quest for more
Than words may furnish our lot–

Fading yet not faded, sailing
A synonym for the stubbornness of myth,
Our final essence rests in tallow
And stories told in its burning light.

At The City Library

For Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady

Here the authors of the world gathered,
Attentive rows of them summoned by a city’s will.
Nor heart nor mind knows whose turn next
It will be to be read. There is no telling
Who read would be remembered.

Two poets gathered tonight
To wine and finger food, even as they shared
The honors bestowed in memory of the Ingles.
Autographs issue from their pens
And there is cheese, just enough
To make the wine memorable.

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About Tade Ipadeola