When Memory Calls Us Back: Poetry, Friendship, and the Journey of Becoming

Memory is beautiful. Some memories never die.

On April 19, 2026,  I found myself reflecting on April 19, 1999—the day I wrote a poem for my friend, Segun Yinka Awopetu (nicknamed Sege-Brown), titled “A Frank Verse.” Today, that poem has become Poem 15 in my forthcoming book, The Life Between the Lines: Memory and the Journey of Becoming.

Revisiting that poem reminded me that writing has the power to preserve people, moments, and emotions across time. What was once a playful birthday poem written in youth now speaks to me as a living reminder of friendship, shared memories, and the beauty of human connection.

In that youthful poem, I wrote with humor, honesty, and affection. I teased my friend about his “innocent but expensive jests,” his “tomfooleries,” and the way he always seemed to provoke laughter, even when he tested my patience. Yet beneath the playful tone of the poem was genuine care. I still smile when I remember the lines:

“I dropped by your door
‘Best wishes’
Besides, I was the first
Perhaps the only person to pronounce
‘Happy birthday’ to you.’”

Those lines now mean even more to me than they did when I first wrote them. What seemed then like a simple birthday poem now feels like a preserved moment of friendship, youth, and shared life. It reminds me that writing can hold people in place across time. A poem can preserve not only words, but relationships. It can keep alive a face, a voice, a moment, a season.

This is one of the gifts of my book project. The Life Between the Lines is more than a collection of old poems. It is my way of bringing together the voice of my younger self, the wisdom of lived experience, and the grace of God’s sustaining hand into one meaningful offering of poetry, reflection, and faith.

The book is based on the twenty-one poems I began writing in 1993 and submitted in 1999 as part of my Nigerian Certificate in Education. In this new work, each poem is revisited through literary reflection and meditative, scripture-enriched insight, allowing it to speak both as art and as a source of spiritual and life lessons.

In faith, memory is never merely nostalgia. It is a discipline of reflection. Scripture repeatedly calls us to remember: to remember where God met us, where grace sustained us, where people blessed us, and where life formed us. Remembering helps us read our lives with gratitude. It helps us see that God was present even in moments that once seemed ordinary. It teaches us that our stories, however simple they may appear, are not wasted.

Practical theology teaches us that life itself is a site of divine meaning. Faith is not something distant or abstract. It is found in real friendships, real laughter, real growth, real memories, and real human encounters. It is found in old poems written for friends, in birthdays remembered decades later, and in the surprising way the past returns to speak into the present.

As I approach a significant birthday, I find my heart drawn more deeply into reflection on life, memory, and faith. There is something powerful about looking back, not to live in the past, but to better understand the road that has brought us here. In doing so, we begin to see how the fragments of our lives come together. We see grace in hindsight. We rediscover people and moments that helped shape who we are. We realize that becoming is not a straight path, but a layered journey of memory, meaning, and transformation.

I invite you to watch out for The Life Between the Lines: Memory and the Journey of Becoming and to join us on May 24  for a special gathering of celebration, reflection, and vision in Atlanta, Decatur, USA. The event will feature the launch of the Optimistic Scholar Initiative, the book launch, and scholarship awards.

Come and be part of this inspiring moment, whether in person or virtually. Register now and join us as we celebrate memory, purpose, friendship, faith, and the journey of becoming.

Registration / RSVP:
https://forms.gle/6oBrtWYA6LZXWZME8

Dedication
This write-up is dedicated to Segun Yinka Awopetu, and to everyone I met during my years at Oke Iroko -Kwara State College of Education, Oro (1996-1999). With gratitude, I remember the ECWA Students’ Ministry, my lecturers, my mates in the Department of English and Political Science, and my fellow members of the Phoenix Press Club. I especially honour Mr E. T. O. Onibiyo for his lasting impact on my life. Each of these people and communities formed part of the story of my youth, and their memory continues to live within the journey of my becoming.

Ayodele John Alonge
Sunday, April 19, 2026, 10:00 pm (EST)
Marcia Riggs Commons (MRC),
701 S Columbia Decatur, Atlanta, Georgia