My new poetry collection, Hail, comes out on the 30th of November 2020. 25 poems written at different times and stages in my life. Wale Akinmusire's blurb on the back of the book is one of the best ways to introduce it.

“We all must pause, reflect and hail” are the last words and the upshot of this brief collection of modern psalms, insightful odes and paeans of love to God as experienced by the author. The book takes the reader on a journey; a remarkable trail of life, with the highs and lows, usual joys and pains leading the reader to pause, reflect and be thankful.

Dejo Fabolude’s “steel -cased heart” has produced in this body of work authentic heartfelt words that are best described as his “Original Praise”. This journey that he invites the reader to accompany him on is an enjoyable homage to the beauty of words from a mind that has distilled the tested and tried Word of God through the pains of despair and the joys of victory.

Come along on this trip, and let us together hail, the words of this author certainly, but far much more - the Word and the Author of our faith.

-Wale Akinmusire

You can get Hail at Amazon for the Kindle app on all Apple, Windows and Android devices. You can also get Hail for iPhone, iPad and Android on the OkadaBooks app.

If you want physical copies, you can email me at "poet AT fabolude DOT com." 

 When I began writing poetry, I didn't just see the shape of the words on paper, I heard the sound of them in my ears. For me, poetry is often as much about how it sounds as what it says. There is a beauty to the sound of "why sing we songs of mistletoe, why exalt we the pure white snow" as there is to the meaning of the poem An African Christmas which challenges how we celebrate Christmas.

Which is why I would love to perform my poetry at your event, in person, so you can enjoy the sound, as well as the message, of the poems. To reach me to arrange this, please email me at "poet AT Fabolude DOT com."

 It is 2020 so if it doesn't exist on Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms, then it seems like it doesn't exist in this space-time continuum. So you can find the author at the following links in your favorite social media platforms.

• Instagram: @StillTheDej
• Twitter: @ReflectAndHail and @the_dej
• Facebook: facebook.com/fabolude
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dejofabolude (yes this social media, but for professionals)
• TikTok: Coming soon
• Email: "poet AT fabolude DOT com" 

Where else would you like to see my works and interact with me?

 The typesetting for Hail was done by a designer from 99Designs.com called Alison Davis. She did the artwork and layout for the book. I ended up changing the cover image and the photo accompanying An Homage to Beauty. The original image is what you see below. However, I wanted to not use a particular face Homage. She's a young, pretty model and I didn't want the concept of beauty to have the usual associations. Not with this poem. What you see on the digital versions on Kindle and OkadaBooks is the outcome of Alison's designs and my edit. 

The hard copy version was published in Nigeria by Sapient Hadassah’s Touch Limited which is led by Esther Dumbiri. Esther is an extremely engaging publisher who holds the hand of her authors all the way through the process. Thank you Esther and Alison for helping bring this to life.

In the titular poem, Hail, the first line talks about growing up in Palmgrove. Palmgrove (pronounced "groove" by locals rather than "grove") is an area of Lagos mainland with a mixture of middle and lower income households in the 70s and 80s. Palmgrove has not prospered in the decades since. It takes its name from Palmgrove Estate which is a gated residential estate, one of the older ones in the city, on Ikorodu Road.

 I wrote 2 poems called Original Praise. The first one crystallised the ideas I wanted to share using free verse. Being enamoured of rhyming however, i rewrote the poem as a rhyme. Both poems are included in Hail.  The poems were written out of a meditation on what praise really is. At the time I wrote them, I had begun to notice have praise, along with a lot of what was being preached, had become formulaic. You had to start with fast songs. Then move on to slow songs. You had to start with praise and worship. You had to sing. You couldn't have a conversation with God unless it was bookended by words and songs of praise and prayer would not work unless you followed this formula. Singers and choirs were accorded a special place because of their ability to lead us into His presence and there were whole seminars on praise and worship that were bizarre in their prose but amounted to sing and God would do anything for you.