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Pelumi Olatinpo's Manifest Destiny: Being a Witness to Corroborate Experiences That Have Been Hidden
Episode 321
This week, I talk with Pelumi Olatinpo about his new poetry collection Manifest Destiny. He shares how and why he created a new type of poetry, what inspired him to write about Manifest Destiny and the way it echoes throughout history, and the power of bearing witness.
America turns 250 in 2026. In MANIFEST DESTINY, Pelumi Olatinpo delivers an essential examination of what we’ve been, what we are, and what we might become.
This isn’t a traditional book. It’s a new form entirely—159 “sonetas” that compress centuries into seconds, each one exactly sixty words. Think of them as diagnostic tools, or prayers, or evidence. Olatinpo’s innovation makes complex history feel like music in your bones.
Olatinpo writes with the authority of someone who has lived the contradictions he interrogates: arriving undocumented at fifteen, becoming a citizen twenty-two years later. This second book after the acclaimed Poeta moves through four sections—from intimate love through historical memory to prophetic witness—each soneta a small revelation.
“All men are created equal, some more equal than others.”
“In Lagos, you damn the bled, or join the dead.”
“I’ve loved you with the darkest and brightest blues / Of every ocean.”
The journey spans continents and centuries, connecting Gaza to Gettysburg, colonial Nigeria to contemporary Chicago. Code-switching between biblical prophecy, constitutional language, and Nigerian Pidgin, Olatinpo reveals patterns we’ve been trained not to see.
Extensive endnotes turn every reference into a teaching moment. The final piece appears on the book’s endpaper—making it impossible to close without confronting the question: who remembers?
For readers of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, and anyone seeking to understand America at this crucial moment.
Essential reading for the 250th anniversary. A book that transcends genre to become necessary equipment for our time.
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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
Published on 13 hours ago