Matt Donahue left inspired when he first met poet Oba Maja. Now, five years later, Donahue is helping Maja inspire others.
Donahue first saw Maja at the Double Door Lounge in Chicago, where Donahue’s rock band was to perform. Maja sold him a poem called “Then Another Tomorrow” for a dollar before security at the club tossed him out.
Donahue was so moved by the poem that he decided to to help Maja – a homeless man halfway across the nation – put his poetry into a book, later to be titled “Avenue of Happiness.”
“I could’ve gave the guy money,” he said. “But why not help him with his poetry?”
Each time Donahue visited his brother in Chicago over the next five years, he scouted the area outside the Double Door Lounge looking for Maja, but with no success until last January.
“I was just getting a cup of coffee, and I swore I saw him ask someone if they wanted to buy a poem,” he said.
Though Maja didn’t recognize Donahue, learning that he had a fan from across the nation came as a surprise.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God – Oba Maja – I’m down with your work,'” Donahue said. “That just floored him.”
The two men discussed poetry and philosophy over coffee when Donahue offered to put Maja’s poems in print. The conversation showed Donahue that the two men had much in common.
“When we started talking, it was like I’d known him for years,” he added.
Though they hadn’t seen each other since 1997, they shared a bond from the moment Donahue read “Then Another Tomorrow.”
Donahue, both a writer and musician, said he identified with the poem’s message about how art binds people of all types.
“It talks about music and colors combining… for a brighter and better world. That philosophy is very much the one I have.”
Regardless of their ties, contacting Maja after leaving was a challenge. Donahue’s only way to get a hold of the 60-year-old poet was to call the boarding house where he occassionally slept.
In the end, he simply returned to the spot where the two first met.
“I told him, ‘I’ll meet you in two weeks at the same spot, same place, same time,” Donahue said. “When I actually showed up, he was shocked and I think pretty touched.”
He gathered some of Maja’s poems and returned to Bowling Green to begin making the books.
One of his friends who worked at the print shop helped him put the project in motion, Donahue said. “He saw it was a humanitarian effort and decided to help.”
But most of the work was Donahue’s.
“I had to hand manufacture all the books,” he said. “I did the folding, the stapling and everything.”
But the final product, “Avenue of Happiness,” was worth the effort, according to Donahue. The poems – 27 in total – put life in a positive light, no matter how negative things may seem.
“For someone dealing with the intensity of the streets, he has such an uplifting view of life,” Donahue said.
Donahue said he hopes the book has made Maja’s life a bit less intense since “Avenue of Happiness” was printed last April.
“He’s had good luck selling it, and hopefully it helps him feel better about his poetry,” he added. “My ultimate goal was to help him any way I can – financially or spiritually.”
Even though a few hundred copies of the book are in print, Donahue isn’t done helping Oba Maja.
“I’m determined to go back sometime this year,” he said. “I want to print a few more to help him for the holiday season. And I know he’s got a lot more poems that could just totally blow people away.”
He then read another of his favorite poems, “When Angels Speak of Love,” pausing frequently throughout.
“It deals with unity of humanity – speaking of love instead of hate,” Donahue said.
He hopes to one day publish the works of others who create “outsider art,” which focuses on everyday life, according to Donahue.
“I would like to do a self-published book about it,” he said. “Street poetry like Oba Maja’s is a good way to reach people.”
And Maja agrees, according to a quote from his book: “Poetry can help bring relief and make happiness happen…(it) can help create a world where life is electrified and there is a belief in humanity’s power.”
