OGUN: GOD OF IRON


    1

  1. Hand a’ bowl, knife a’ throat


  2. our sacrifice dispatched
  3. OGUN EATS FIRST

  4. 2

  5. Iron in the blood feeds
  6. your red-hot energy; fires
  7. your metallurgy in the
  8. cauldron or smelter,
  9. transmits your power
  10. to the forge, transmutes
  11. carbon into diamonds,
  12. expresses oil from rocky
  13. strate, bends the centre
  14. of gravity to your sword.

  15. For the kill, you arm
  16. battalions, beat
  17. ploughshare into gun,
  18. unleash atomic energy,
  19. distil power from the sun
  20. to shape our potential
  21. for death or - if you
  22. choose - life, for power
  23. is your calling and
  24. manifest its ways

  25. You forge our
  26. connections, you fashion
  27. our handshakes, our
  28. friendships you seal,
  29. bind out oaths sworn
  30. in blood; for the life
  31. of the spirit is fuelled
  32. by fire engendered where
  33. our heartbeats
  34. spark into life.

  35. Yet, heavenly transformer
  36. of our weak impulses,
  37. you allow our fevers,
  38. the fire in our loins,
  39. our burning desires
  40. to consume us
  41. while, knife in hand,
  42. iron-hearted warrior,
  43. you coolly
  44. stalk alone.

Annotations to the Poem

(prepared by Olive Senior)

OGUN: Warrior god of iron and war. He controls much of the material in the earth and represents primitive force and energy. He is known as Oggún in Cuba and Ogun Feraille in Haiti (“ferraille” means “iron”). The worship of Ogun may be traced back to Iron Age civilizations in Nigeria and adjacent countries.

Commentary

Written by Robin Brooks, University of Pittsburgh, with Hyacinth Simpson, Ryerson University

“Ogun: God of Iron” is one of twelve poems in “Mystery: African Gods in the New World,” the final movement of Gardening in the Tropics. In this movement, each poem is named for and features a god or goddess from the pantheon of African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas. The poems are literary representations or manifestations of the gods, who are also known as orishas, spirits, or lwa. In many West African and African diasporic religions, Ogun and the other spirits are messengers of the Supreme Being (or God) and they act as intermediaries between humans and the Supreme Being1 while often displaying human characteristics and personalities. In these religions, gods and goddesses are associated with and represent one or more aspects of the human and/or natural world. Senior draws on these associations in her poetic reimagining of the African spirits. As a result, the “Mystery” poems extend Senior’s exploration of the nature theme which she explores from a variety of angles throughout the collection.

Iron is an abundant element in nature and in West African and African diaspora religions Ogun (who is also known as Oggún, Ogoun, Ogum, Gu, or Ogou) is the god of iron, metal, and metal work. In his various manifestations, he is also a warrior and is associated with war, truth, and justice. The red clothing his devotees in Haitian vodun wear is a representation of his fire energy, which is borne out in his aggressive personality. Fire also signals his transformative and creative as well as his destructive powers.

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