Nigeria, Sept. 21 -- Fatai Kehinde's Judge Me on a Blank Page raises an age-long question about poetry: whether a poem must conform to a certain lyrical structure or whether it is allowed to take the shape of the voices in the author's head, even when those voices defy the norm and perceived form that poetry is expected to take. Kehinde's poetry chooses the latter, and the choice defines the book from its first to its last page.

Line by line, the poems read more like a testimony than a lyric. The sentences are concise but direct. The use of imagery is sparse and indelible in the mind of the reader. Kehinde favours the declarative over the descriptive, stacking short lines that convey the author's message through repetition rather than me...