Clinical Blues by Dami Ajayi

Clinical Blues Reviews

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  Literary Everything

  We had mixed feelings about this poetry collection. It had some good poems and some poems which didn’t work for us but which had some good lines. However, the overall feeling was that the writing was heavy handed with unusual words and references to obscure things such as: “In a Beckett play” in Promenade and “And you bear no orchids, Miss Blandish” in Nashville Postcards. These references were looked up, thank goodness for google! Read the full review here
  https://literaryeverything.com/2018/0...
• 
  Oloyede

  This book shall always be a poignant read. It is exhilarating, visceral and explores interesting themes. This collection will pop the malignant zits of our literary bias.
• 
  Sami Tunji

  Dami Ajayi's debut poetry collection, Clinical Blues, exudes poetic sexuality, medical erudition and inebriated gaiety. It is the modern African relive of the poetic stylistics of T. S. Eliot and John Donne with its sense of lyrical sensuousity and spirituality.
  
  Certainly, the poet has "loved, learned and lived". And this is his testament, a hieroglyph of poetic Highlife.
• 
  Chris Ogunlowo

  Beautiful poetry.
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  Seun Odukoya

  
  It is a moving poetry collection, though I initially found it difficult to get into. Suggestive/erotic writing does that to me - and Dami Ajayi is not shy at all. It is a worthy read.
• 
  Shoola Oyindamola

  Through a poem titled “Graffiti too” in this collection, Dami Ajayi displayed an epic mockery of the Nigerian political system in very few words. In other poems, he portrayed a rare literary smartness with his mixture of medicine’s tools and poetry’s delicacy. He falls into the category of a few writers I have seen or read about that successfully mixed work with pleasure. His use of words molded by his knowledge, experience and symbolism to medicine is very well established in this collection. For the first time in history, I am finally glad that I took a biology class and was able to define “erythrocytes” in page 49 and other medical terms of the book. I love the section of Hospital Poems especially, a part where the title of this book truly comes to play its role. It is a sweeping description that identifies the value of health and the sorrows of illness. In another section of this chef-d’oeuvre, he wrote about Fela’s music. Without the interference of my feminist intuition for the original song by Fela, my best piece by Dami Ajayi is titled “Lady.” This section is a witty tribute to one of the world’s best musicians.
  I can relate Dami’s idea and inspiration of writing to R.D Liang’s book titled “Knots.” Another masterpiece, in that he mixed human psychology with poetry. Although Dami and Liang have different styles of writing, their similarities dwell more in reality. They did not have choose between a talent and an aspiration of their lives unlike the way that many young people are demanded to do, today.
  Besides the indisputable quality of this book, I admire that it speaks to the reality of many soon-to-be university applicants and students in Nigeria. Unlike Chimamanda Adichie who had the guts to drop out early of a pre-med major to solely pursue her desire in writing, some young Nigerians are often threatened and told that they can’t go to college to study an unserious major like writing or literature, they must study medicine, law or accounting which is serious. Many of them tend to abandon their talents and passion for the “serious pursuit.” The general concept of Clinical Blues sits as a king over “the study something serious and abandon passion” idea and mentality because Dami chose an unexpected route. He did not think inside the box or outside the box, instead, he thought without the box. He studied medicine in university and wrote brilliant pieces of poetry about medicine. I recommend this book to all audiences, and in a thousand percent to young and aspiring writers.
  Kudos and well done Dami!!!