Ben Okri is a Nigerian-born British poet and novelist, widely regarded as one of the leading African writers in postmodern and postcolonial literature. His acclaimed works have earned numerous national and international honors, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. He has also received several honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions to literature. A self-described cultural activist, Okri’s writing challenges conventional perceptions of reality. In an interview with The National News, he observed: “I grew up in a tradition where there are simply more dimensions to reality: legends and myths and ancestors and spirits and death. You can’t use Jane Austen to speak about African reality. Which brings the question: what is reality? Everyone’s reality is different. For different perceptions of reality, we need a different language.” His Grenfell poem, featured on Channel Four’s YouTube channel, recently garnered over 6 million views on Facebook. In 2023, Okri was knighted for his services to literature.
I Held You in the Square
And felt the evening
Re-order itself around
Your smile.
The dreams I could never touch
Felt like your body.
Your gentleness made the
Night soft.
And even if we didn’t know
Where we were going,
Nor what street to take
Or what bench to sit on
What chambers awaited
That would deliver us our
Naked joy.
I could feel in your spirit
The restlessness for a journey
Whose beauty lies
In the arriving moment
Of each desire.
Holding you in the evening square,
I sealed a dream
With your smile the secret pact.
