My inclination towards poetry started at the same time I discovered my love for all things literature. African poets like Okot p’Bitek, Wole Soyinka, J.P Clark and so many other fantastic writers helped me appreciate the uniqueness of poetry as a form of literature and it was not long before I would start scribbling poems of my own.
My first collection of poems “Inside My Head” is a work spanning a period of over ten years. Poems like “The Magnitude Of Love” was written when I was sixteen. The journey continued till just last year when I finished the poem “Cruel Ink” and decided that it was time to share my collection with the world.
Upon compilation of the collection, I set about the task of coming up with sketches for the fifty poems which make up the collection. It was hard work but it was worth it when I was eventually announced the winner of the 2012 ANA Prize for Poetry during the ANA convention that took place in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state.
The best part of my winning was the review given by the esteemed judges of the competition. At this point, I am grateful for everyone who has been a part of my literary journey from my secondary school days when my first work “The Breadwinner”, a satirical play focusing on chauvinism was printed and acted by the literary and debating society, till this moment. Thank you all.
Review Given By ANA Panel Of Judges On “Inside My Head”
“Ayim deftly transmutes words into sonorous cadences in evoking variegated moods in life touching issues such as love, hard work, corruption, justice, humility, poverty, political power, revolution, bad governance, ethnicity, gender equality, national unity, European Imperialism and African unity.
Her dexterity in creating captivating sustained rhythms and patterns of visual and auditory imagery in simple diction is phenomenal.
Ayim’s ingenuity in the manipulation of diction makes a significant contribution to the development of Nigerian poetry in English.”