IDOTO (Christopher Okigbo)

“Idoto a goddess in Okigbo’s community in Ijoto in E. Nigeria. Her shrine is beside a sacred river, hence ‘your watery presence’; the oil bean is the sacred tree of the cult.
Prodigal a wasteful person. The use of the word here recalls the parable in the Gospels of the prodigal son who took his share of his father’s property, left home, and squandered his wealth, and finally returned to his father - hence a meaning for prodigal is ‘a repentant spendthrift’.
Watchman Someone employed to guard buildings, etc., at night. But here Okigbo uses the word as his own coinage from ‘watch’ and ‘man’ that is, somebody waiting and watching for something; ‘watchword’ a word of phrase that contains the principles of an organization or cult.
This poem, the first in Okigbo’s volume ‘Heavensgate’, is in the nature of an invocation, a prayer to the goddess of inspiration, for the ‘watchword’. The poet humbles himself (naked, or barefoot), contemplates the goddess, and prays for this prayer to be heard. Lyricism is an important factor in Okigbo’s poetry. His poems have to be read aloud to be fully enjoyed. Note how Okigbo achieves the rhythm of a religious chant or litany by a planned breaking of lines with repetition of consonants: ‘Before…before, leaning... lost, watchman… watchword’.
Okigbo’s poetry has a strong element of religious ritual that is neither purely tradition nor Christianity. Here we have a mixture of Igbo cult at the beginning and, at the end, an echo of the words of Psalm No. 130: ‘Out of the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord: Lord hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.’ There are echoes of the same psalm earlier in the poem - lines 5 and 6 of the psalm: I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope, my soul is longing for the Lord more than watchman for daybreak.’ Okigbo often refers to himself as a prodigal. Can you suggest any reason for his using this name?”
--- Donatus Ibe Nwoga, 1967