The Piano and The Drums - Gabriel Okara - Explanation of poem

 

The Piano and The Drums[YB1] 

Gabriel Okara

When at break of day (sense of beginning) at a riverside (life)

I hear jungle drums telegraphing [YB2] (giving a message)

the mystic rhythm (Spiritual - supernatural), urgent, raw (fresh)

like bleeding flesh , speaking of

primal (primitive/original/early) youth and the beginning,

I see the panther ready to pounce,

the leopard snarling about to leap

and the hunters crouch with spears poised.[YB3]  (African jungle – culture – as primitive)

 

And my blood ripples (blood flow), turns torrent (blood flows with rush),

Topples (falls into memories) the years and at once I’m 

in my mother’s laps a suckling (infant);

at once I’m walking simple

paths with no innovations

rugged (rough), fashioned with the naked

warmth (connection with nature and love for culture) of hurrying feet and groping hearts (hearts full of feelings)

in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.[YB4] 

 

Then I hear a wailing (crying) piano

solo speaking of complex ways (Western culture)

in tear- furrowed concerto[YB5]  (seductive but multi-layerd);

of far away lands (Western land – difference between the culture)

and new horizons with

Coaxing (sweet-talking) diminuendo (a decrease in loudness in a piece of music), counterpoint (a melody in conjuction with another melody), 

Crescendo [YB6] (increasing and leading to the climax), but lost in the labyrinth of its complexities, it ends in the middle of a phrase at a dagger point

And I lost (because of the mixing) in the morning mist[YB7] 

of an age at a riverside keep

wandering in the mystic rhythm

of jungle drums and concerto[YB8] .

 

---

 [YB1] [YB1]Piano represents Western culture and Drums represents African culture

Expresses his feelings through music

 [YB2]The word is different than the other words – drums do not beat or create sounds but Okara says that they are giving a message to the nature and humankind

 [YB3]Effects of drum to the poet and other natural elements – he imagines and remembers – how this sound is effecting jungle residents.

 [YB4]In the core of African culture nature beats – there are heart beats of nature in Africa – description of African land

 [YB5]A concerto is a classical music composition that highlights a solo instrument against the background of a full orchestra. Bach is one composer known for writing concertos. In a concerto, a piano, violin, flute, or other instrument plays solo parts that are backed up or highlighted by an orchestra.

 [YB6]Words like Coaxing diminuendo – crescendo here represents the complexity of music (culture) and the difficulty they face to understand it.

 [YB7]When the sound of drum is mixed with piano – poet lost himself – which represents loss of identity – culture because of mixing it with the other

 [YB8]Poet warns those who choose white culture over their own culture and advises to choose and follow any one culture than taking both together and creating a kind of chaos.