Tolu’ A. Akinyemi is an amazing writer and a quintessential wordsmith who, through the mastery of literary devices, passes across his messages in a very simple, understandable and relatable way.

His collection of poems titled “A booktiful love” is one of the best works of a poet I’ve come across in recent times. This book is divided into 3 parts; each part having 16, 13 and 19 poems respectively to make 48 meaningful poems.

I love the way this amazing wordsmith takes us through messages that have to do with inspiring, motivating and encouraging oneself in the first part; to messages that talk about the reality of our society and humanity in the second part and finally ends it in the third part with some love messages appreciating humanity, beauty and nature.

All the poems carry weighty and powerful messages. But I’m just going to talk about my top 5 poems from this collection.

1. Isolation: this is the first poem in this collection and it paints a picture of what is happening all over the world at the moment because of COVID-19. Tolu’ A. Akinyemi ends this poem with lines that teach us what we’ll do when all this will be over. We will love again, hold hands without fear and cherish every moment we spend together.

2. Write for rights: this is the 7th poem in this collection and it has a great message for every writer. The poet makes us see that writing isn’t meant to just be for fun but to meet the needs of others, speak for those who cannot and write for a good cause. Writers are fighters and problem solvers. A wonderful poem.

3. Your dreams are valid: I really got value from this poem, which is the 10th in this collection. The author serves us some well-cooked words of encouragement and makes us see that as long as we are breathing, our dreams are still valid. I’m energized to forge on.

4. Revolution now (for Sowore): this poem is the 29th poem in this collection. The author opens our eyes to the fact that the revolution we desire can only happen when we are all tired of how things are and ready to change the narrative. He calls this “a revolution of the brain, pen and imagery conveyed by intelligence” and I can’t agree less.

5. Portrait of a fake friend: as the title implies, the author tells us how difficult it is to paint the picture of a fake friend. He however compares the smell of a fake friend to the taste of a bitter kola and advises that we flee once we recognize one.

This collection is an embodiment of wits. I invite you all to read “A Booktiful love”.

‘A Booktiful Love’ is available now: https://amzn.to/2SOLkWR and https://www.tolutoludo.com/shop.html