Dr Veio Pou and the Rev A Lobban award
Very unassumingly, Dr Veio Pou’s narrative poem, ‘Elijah on the Road’ wins The Rev. A Lobban Indigenous Literature award for the year 2024. The writer was quite unaware of the honour until contacted by the ISPCK (The Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). The ISPCK, birthed in 1710 by Germans, Danish Lutherans and English Anglicans, has been around for three centuries. The organisation yearly gives four main awards:
The Henry Devadas Christian Book of the Year
The Rev. A. Lobban for Indigenous Literature
James Massey Subaltern Studies Award
Christian Music Award
‘Elijah on the Road’ has been described as ‘a brilliant piece of narrative poetry with simplicity and clarity.’ The reviewer adds that the poet ‘makes you feel you are walking in the sacred journey with Elijah himself. Uplifting and compelling.’
It is very interesting to see how the author explains how he came to write the poem: ‘The idea of this two-part narrative poem sprang from the preparation to deliver a lecture on 1 King 19 sometime in the latter half of 2022. The chapter gave a special focus on Elijah the prophet as he fled from the threat of the wicked queen Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab who ruled the northern kingdom called Israel. It may be mentioned that after the death of Solomon, son of David, the nation of Israel was split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom called Israel consists of the ten tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite. And the southern kingdom called Judah was formed by the remaining two tribes under the leadership of Rehoboam son of Solomon, from the line of Judah. It is also interesting to note that the division brought to the fore the old rivalry between the tribes of Ephraim and Judah which dates back into the nation’s history each claiming promises and blessings to be leader.’
Pou adds this about his inspiration for writing the poem: ‘What interested me about the particular moment recorded in 1 Kings 19 was the sheer humanity of Elijah, one of the greatest prophets recorded in the Bible.’ I really recommend that readers should read the afterword carefully, as it contains so much info and insights.
Elijah the prophet and the miracles God performed through him is a story children grow up listening to in Sunday School. His challenge to the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, their failure to get their god to respond to their sacrifice and immediately after that, Elijah’s sacrifice being burnt up by fire from heaven, is a story with few to compare with. Before this miracle, Elijah had raised a widow’s son from death. Yet the sheer humanity of the great prophet who runs away when he is threatened by the evil queen Jezebel! He feels ill-used and forgets the great works God had partnered with him to perform. It is what the poet calls ‘a dramatic turnaround in the life of the prophet.’ This human element inspired him to take a second look at the life of the prophet and thereby proceed to write a sensitive and magnetic narrative poem that the reader can identify and sympathise with. It is the reason why the poet decides to transport himself ‘on an imaginary journey to meet the prophet on the dusty road to Mt. Horeb.’ The narrative of Elijah’s life with its ‘room for imagination and exploration’ was what drew him to the theme, and we see the emotional highs and lows of an extraordinary man whose ordinary side has not been veiled to the reader. We are, in a sense, all of us, Elijahs. ‘When he thought he was at the pinnacle of success, the biggest threat came his way – the threat to his very own life!’
The poem unveils the vulnerabilities of a great man and makes him ordinary, and in a way, like any of us when faced with danger to our mortal selves. For the poet, ‘this is what makes him quite relatable.’ The author points to the apostle James who wrote, ‘Elijah was a man just like us.’ Pou reminds his readers that spiritual leaders are also human and vulnerable to mental health issues or crises in their personal lives. He reminds us that God’s voice finally came to Elijah in a still, small voice, not in spectacular shows of light and storm.
