The first time I discovered Lanre Sonde’s poetry was his performance sometime in February of 2025 at a Poetry Night in Newcastle. Following that, I was intrigued to experience his Mellexy: Through Your Eyes, a poetry collection that I’d love to consider as a lyrical piece of an intoxicated lover, entwined in ever erotic themes, pondering thoughts of love, deep affection, with some stanzas appearing to me as “obsessive infatuation.” I can go on and on as this poetry strikes a cord, like that of an umbilical cord connecting a mother to a baby, just as connecting two lovers’ souls.
From the opening poem “A Tale in your Eyes,” we were introduced to the shedloads of stories embedded just in a lover’s presence. In “The Glow in Your Eyes,” the writer describes a partner and her evergreen affectionate qualities, one that is unique and cannot be found elsewhere. It feels like poetic praise for a lover. I love lines that read… “I died lively in your eyes, paralysed by your sight, you’re my art, you delivered me from the snares of lost” in the poem titled “For My Eyes Only”. One quality I found as a similar trait in Sonde’s work is how unharmed his lines are, how succinct, yet powerful they are; how seemingly common they seem to appear but carry a sensual weight when you’re done reading. It’s a beautiful approach to poetry, one that I found to be quite commendable.
Some lines in “For My Eyes Only” read like the biblical Song of Solomon. In “Ice in My Eyes” the poet once again touch on the deep intricacies of love, with the use of strong, long-lasting metaphors, he expounds on how a lover could be more like a therapy in dark days, and the swinging butterflies that comes with love, it also stylishly touch on the hope that can be transferred as a result of love, which is something that I can resonate with as people who have loved ones around them tend to overcome dark days better than those who are lonely, left alone, or those whose lovers are far away from their reach.
Sonde’s style of writing is poetically simple and worthy of emulation for me, even as a poet. His use of metaphors is quite unique and easily digestible. I am particularly impressed by how he weaves and maintains a consistent theme throughout a collection of thirty poems, with no poem lagging. His poems read like love letters on printed cards, like the one lovers send one another during birthdays, love exchanges, wedding anniversaries, etc. If you are someone who has been left heartbroken in the past, you may find some poems in this collection leaving you feeling jealous or stealthily angry. As you may try to fit yourself in the narrator’s shoe, and when the lyrics couldn’t properly fit into your current situation, you may have some flashbacks, and what is meant to share you up could reminiscently leave you bent out of shape.
Each poem in this collection takes on poetic features like meter and rhythm, while there are some sections that feel more descriptive in style, written in first-person free prose poetry style. There are some afterthought citation poetic reflections on the original poem itself, appearing as though it’s a footnote. I think this is a thoughtful style used by the author, as they could be considered a supplementary piece to the original poems in the collection. In “Poetry in Your Eyes,” the author made a literary comparison between these two distinctive elements, which still aligns with the core theme of the book – poetry and love. As a classical musician myself, I know there are some sort of similarities between art, love, poetry, and music, and as such, lyrics like… “You are like the notes on a keyboard, a sweet tone to the tune of love…” intrigues me as the note on keyboard are soothing, lovely, heart boggling, soul-melting, and comparing a lover to these notes added a huge significance to how beautiful, and artistically impressive our narrator is drowning in the sea of love.
What Lanre tries to convey in his Mellexy: Through Your Eyes is impressively beautiful. If you are a lover of poems that cause you to think long after you’ve read them. One that leaves you gasping for meaning and seeking interpretations in the most unimaginable ways. Then, you are sure to find a soothing, calm, and warm abode in Lanre Sonde’s Mellexy.
Peter Okonkwo
Peter Okonkwo is a UK-based Nigerian writer, journalist, publisher, creative director, classical musician, literary critic, editor, certified orator, and soon–to–be novelist of Etean’s Destiny. He was part of the 15 creative excellence individuals selected for Bristol’s BSWN CultureBiz Incubator Program, recognizing the significance of his outstanding works in the literature field. Peter is the author of seven poetry collections, a violinist who has played in orchestras in Nigeria and England, and a community founder of the Akure Book Club and the Akure Book Festival. His show, PEL, has featured over 1000 literary works, covering reviews and interviews from authors around the world.
