Oluwaseyi Oso is a Nigerian writer, poet, singer/songwriter, and photography enthusiast. His writing and poems often touch on environmental and human rights issues.

We asked Oluwaseyi about his connection to nature, how nature guides his practice and how storytelling can shape our collective conscious.

Describe the nature around you.

Ancient mountains and hills allure the eyes, and wherever you turn they turn with you—they are like protective progenitors. I’m currently in a place surrounded by mountains and hills. At daybreak, you would see the colourful recycling of the sun thrusting out of the mountains, striving to shine against the harmattan haze. There are plenty of trees, flowers and grasses: greens and those that have been browned by the dry season. Somewhere in the street, there is a little stream where little fishes thrive. It’s all beautiful and inspirational here.

What lessons have you learned from nature?

Through the multiplicity of all life forms, I’ve been baptised with lessons of love, empathy, connection, and understanding. Opposites in nature create beauty when they align; our diversity is what prettifies the world. If the world has a single colour, how would it feel? It would bore or numb our eyes and mind. Nature has armed us with colours and native locations to reveal how parts become a whole. We are a part of a whole; a part of nature.

Nature reminds me of resilience. Nature persists; she rests and renews herself no matter how hurt she may be. I’ve seen stems sprouting from fallen trees; the dry season doesn’t stop nature from renewing herself. Nature has taught me to efface fear in my relationship with others. Nature has knowledge and wisdom encamped in her silent nature, and the human nature finds nurture in this.

You are a writer, poet, singer/songwriter, and photography enthusiast. How can storytelling shape our collective conscious?

I’d suppose strongly, like I’ve always done, that storytelling is capable of reshaping and connecting personal cultures when it is passed from one person to another. It has the power to unite the world. The characters we create in our stories become models for the collective conscious. Religious stories are examples; they have always shaped the thought and action of their group. Art is where the heart finds reflection.

How does nature guide your practice?

Nature evolves. So should I.

Which song, book or poem nurtured your relationship with nature?

Enya’s songs. Her songs embody the spiritual elevation that nature inspires in the artist to exhale to all generation. Her songs are as everlasting as nature, and this guides my art as well.

Name a TV series, film, podcast or documentary that blew your mind.

Don’t Look Up. The movie has an explosive truth about the chaos we send into the future of our planet when we fail to listen and learn.

Name a place where you feel most at ease.

A quiet place.

Which rituals do you practice to keep you grounded?

I write my heart out. I record myself, ranting. I take walks; meditate. Sometimes I listen to silence. Silence is really therapeutic for the soul and I largely find this in nature. I listen to brainwave music to stay focused. I take breaks from social-media-verse. I study my creations whenever I feel like I’m losing myself.

What initiative have you heard of recently and you’d like everyone to support?

The Great Green Wall. With the cooperation of the African Union, the project has been growing in its plan to quell desertification and provide jobs by planting millions of trees, targeted to pose as the largest living structure in the world. I believe it’s a wondrous project for our time here on Earth and for all time.

Poem

The birds jostle happily around the tree,

She waves peacefully,

A boy standing near,

Exhales his fear.

Follow @god.of.pen to find out more.