Siren, from Songs of the Marketplace, Niyi Osundare’s first collection, has eight stanzas. It describes the visit of typical Nigerian politicians to rural dwellers. The poem takes its title from the police car siren whose blaring traditionally announces the presence of major political officeholders in the country.

It evokes the pomp and commotion that mark such an event: people dance and pretend to be happy to receive their leaders, while outriders and security escorts in their convoy visit violence on the same people in the name of clearing the way. The politicians arrive in imported air-conditioned cars, while the poor dutifully line the roads and endure the scorching tropical sun. All that the people get for their patience and endurance is empty promises. The visit ends without a sincere plan to provide such basic amenities as motorable roads or to address problems caused by erosion and drought. Ironically, the people themselves pretend to be satisfied with their leaders, and they dare not show ingratitude by raising questions. But the eighth stanza hints that innocent children who watch these senseless scenes will eventually raise questions about them.

The poem decries the alienation of Nigerian leaders from their people, ridicules the hypocrisy of their interaction with the electorate, and satirizes the poverty of the masses, which sharply contrasts with the opulence of their leaders. In this sense, the satirical intent of the poem is double-edged. While the politicians are presented as corrupt, arrogant, and insensitive to the needs of the people, the masses are equally indicted for being hypocritical. The poem, however, envisions an end to this cycle of mutual deceit.

The strength of Siren resides in its use of evocative images and suggestive expressions. The description of “kwashiokored children” lining the streets and waving “tattered flags” comments succinctly on their health status and the poverty of their parents and sharply depicts the contrast between the malnourished rural dwellers and their flamboyant leaders, who shamelessly ride in the most expensive cars made.

Structurally, the poem may be divided into two parts: the first seven stanzas depict the atmosphere that marks the civic receptions for politicians, while the last and shortest stanza states the vision of the poet about the necessity for change. A cynical tone runs through the poem. By repeating the word siren three times at the beginning of the first seven lines of the poem, the poet reemphasizes that the coming of the politicians is a rude intrusion into the serene life of the countryside.

The allusion to Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd further underlines that political power in this environment accelerates economic mobility, which inevitably estranges the beneficiaries of wealth and power from the rest of the country. The success of the poem also depends on the poet’s use of hyperbole, coinages, and the rhetorical question in the first stanza.

Bibliography
Osundare, Niyi. “Siren.” In Songs of the Marketplace. Ibadan, Nigeria: New Horn Press, 1983.

Categories: Literature, World Literature

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