Itohan Osaigbovo
Itohan Osaigbovo is a writer, editor, cultural worker, justice advocate, and educator. She has over a decade of experience establishing relationships and partnerships with people, organizations, and collectives committed to supporting marginalized groups in the struggle for equity. Itohan crafts with the intent to foster freedom through unashamed transparency. Her art navigates the intersections of radical faith, human dignity, and the interpersonal. She considers art to be a spiritual conductor of healing that penetrates beyond realization. Her work pivots between prayer and protest, with the hope of igniting prophetic change. Itohan holds B.A.s in English Literature and Administration of Justice from Howard University, a post-graduate certificate in Spoken Word Pedagogy from Concordia College, and an MFA in Creative Writing - Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. She is the founder of Free All Of Us, LLC, a liberation-focused creative writing studio.
The impact of poetry and the spoken word club
I started high school in the Spoken Word Club’s inaugural year as a quiet freshman with little confidence and a tattle-tell pen. My loving big sister said I had to join the club. I was willing to follow her anywhere as the trailing kid sister I was however, Spoken Word Club was a place that quickly became my own. It would prove to be the haven I needed to survive my high school years in the halls and at home.
Poetry came to me at twelve. My home life was complexly unhealthy. As an avid reader who loved literature, I’d buried myself in books. My inside world as a bibliophile allowed me to disconnect from my surroundings and find some semblance of joy and safety. My father also had a huge binder of his poetry written when he first came to this country. I’d spend hours in his poems about my mother, the racism he experienced, politics, Blackness, and belief. Poetry became my conduit of healing. I hadn’t realized my father and the other writers I read had been teaching me. I don’t recall my first poem, but I remember knowing it was good. Writing, I believed, was a God-given gift meant to help me through the trauma and violence I was experiencing. In junior high my mother found my notebook filled with depressing poems and panicked. After that, I determined to keep my poetry private.
When I joined Spoken Word, I first noticed the peaceful spirit of Mr. Kahn. I didn’t realize I would have to share my poems with the club, but I didn’t mind him reading them. I went from hiding my poems to turning them in weekly. Mr. Kahn gently nudged me towards sharing publicly by pairing me with older students in exercises like group pieces and row-writing. It was then I learned the healing authority of vulnerability. I remained in the club through Mr. Kahn’s sabbatical my junior and senior years. He’d introduced us to so many teaching artists and programs I was able to continue nurturing my craft within Chicago’s poetry community, never skipping a beat.
Writing Prompts
Write a poem dedicated to a part of your body
Write about a time you were shamed for your appearance
Write about a teacher who failed you OR write about a teacher who inspired you
I cannot quantify the Spoken Word Club’s impact on my life. I intended to be a lawyer, not a writer: yet poetry has my attention all these years later. It is still my method and medicine. I’ve worked in education, at NPOs, and in ministry as my passions for service and justice have always led me where the people can be found. Poetry has proven useful in every setting. As writing insists on claiming me, I now seek to make it my profession. I realize I was right. Poetry is my divine gifting. However, poetry is meant for much more than survival. Poetry, as all life, is transferable. Writing and training writers in practice and commitment to love and liberation is my mission. I’m so grateful the Spoken Word Club was the first community that invited me into this abundance I’ve now led many others into.
Top favorite poets or lyricists
Lucille Clifton – Lucille Clifton was my first favorite poet. I don’t think anyone else’s work has influenced my idea of poetry more. Clifton’s depth with few words is unmatched. She masterfully exalts Blackness and womanhood and self in ways that forever feed us. I do not tire of her generous gifts.
Patricia Smith – Patricia Smith is goals to me. She is excellent in every aspect of writing and performance. This is not debatable. She is a trailblazer; she is a clear and ever exciting to read. Both familiar and unpredictable. Reading her work brings me so much joy and much of her words and stories resonate with me. I will go hear and see Patricia Smith read at any opportunity that arises. Forever.
avery r. young – I probably can’t explain the debt I owe to avery. avery gives everything he does so carefully. he does it for Black folk, for us, for himself, for everybody he wants to and it shows that he creates and shares in love. avery was possibly the first artist I met through the Spoken Word Club. To see someone so incredible who also worked with poetry and song interchangeably was like being seen. I try to learn from avery but I know I will be in awe again every time I encounter him or his work.
Ms. Lauryn Hill – For everything. Her word choices, her voice, her style and cadence. But most of all for her honest imperfection and vulnerability. Her faith and her teaching. Content-wise, she is me.
Kendrick Lamar – Master deliverer and storyteller. Innovator. Ain’t much wrong with Kendrick. Nas – Narrative King. A rapper’s blueprint.