Well, to start with, I am the humble author of Sad Nectar; a collection of poems. Its a book that illustrates meticulously on life, love and death! I published and launched my book myself, two weeks to my final exams in the prestigious Faculty of Law; University of Lagos at the time. On the 27th of July, 2010. I found my self at the biggest mall on the Island. The Palms. And in it is the most exquisite bookshop I have seen in Nigeria. The Hub. With books of different genres, sizes and colours. I was there for a meeting with young Mr. Chux Ogene, the one who designed my book cover pro bono!
I first met Chux the Saturday before that week at a youth seminar and we agreed on how the front page should look. The mere fact that he understood my poetic insight into how the front page should look really convinced me that he was the man. Very creative, artistic and dynamic a young man. He was willing to do my work even to the extent that I had to cut his zeal down a little. He wanted to make all the pages glossy, he wanted all the poems to have an image adapted to it vis-a-vis its message. He really wanted it to be a master piece.
For the model, Chux said that the lady's face must be long, she must be dark, low cut would be preferable or loosened hair. That she must also be pretty with almond-like eyes. At that point, there was just one person I could think of, a Diploma in Law Student at the time, but she could not make it. But then, I said to myself, 'Wale, you are at The Palms', 'it is probably the biggest shopping mall in Lagos', 'Lagos; the heart of Africa! Every kind of person is here, Wale. Every kind.' So I took the challenge and walked down the aisle of the mall; of course with my nerd frames. I looked and looked.
Soon I found myself going into Shoprite; one of the shops in the mall. Immediately I stepped into Shoprite, one of the attendants caught my sight; she was very dark, as dark as her black shirt, she had white eye balls and she wasn't all that pretty and she had her hair all plaited. Making her a second choice, if a better option surfaced. In there that day, there were lot of ladies, from the fat to the slim. Africans to Non-Africans and so on. I tried my best and just when I was about to go and search for the attendant, I saw Kubiateno!
