Calligram: An Intentional Way of Drawing Poetry – By Ogunnaike David.

A calligram is a poem with lines/words that are deliberately arranged, stylized, and uniquely presented in such a way that an image related to the intent of the poet or artist is represented by the unique positioning of each word.

Despite the fact that drawing poems have existed as far as the ancient Greeks, the term “Calligram” never existed until it was invented by Guillaume Apollinaire in 1918.

It only takes a perfect art to give birth to another. This is why calligrams are mostly adopted to effect the adaptation of a specific work of art, to be presented in another form or to be a form of extended imagery and double entendre.

Below is a rearrangement and adaptation of D’banj’s “Bother You”, which was featured in the movie titled “Half of a Yellow Sun” – initially a novel written by Chimamanda Adichie.

Here, the lyric of the song – “Bother You” was rearranged to give an Oriental imagery of a genie lamp; thus portraying love as magical or an acqualization of fantasy.

Please stick around for more calligrams at this corner,and don’t forget to make your intention known at the comment section below.