What is the theme of the poem "Telephone conversation" by Wole Soyinka?

The poem “Telephone Conversation” has been written by Wole Soyinka. Wole Soyinka is Nigerian playwright, novelist, critic and the first African writer to get the Nobel Prize award for Literature in 1986. In this poem, the poet describes a telephone conversation between a black man and a white woman. The black man is searching for an apartment to live in and is inquiring the lady for any availability. At the beginning of the poem, the man “confesses” that he is an African. He confesses the colour of his skin as if he had done a crime. After this, the poet uses irony and sarcasm to describe their conversation. All of these discrepancies between what appears to be and what really has created a sense of verbal irony that helps the poem display the ridiculousness of racism.

“Nothing remained but self-confession. ‘Madam,’ I warned, ‘I hate a wasted journey-I am African.’

The African man confesses to the landlady that he is black. This was the first use of irony in the poem. He feels sorry about something that he was born with and had no control over. He says that he hates a “wasted journey” which indicates that he has been rejected before due to racial discrimination. The landlady asks with a sarcastic tone if he was light or very dark. A sense of anger rose inside the man and it has been portrayed by repeating the word red.

“Shamed by ill-mannered silence, surrender pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification. Considerate she was, varying the emphasis-“

He describes the landlady in nothing but positive terms. Her goodness is seemingly confirmed later on when the speaker says that she was "considerate" in rephrasing her question of his skin colour.  These kind descriptions of the landlady were filled with verbal irony. After this the African uses nothing but irony and sarcasm in his speech as he describes himself.

“‘You mean- like plain or milk chocolate?’ Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light impersonality.”

In haste, the man said that he was“west African sepia”. The landlady suddenly realized that he was actually black. Again, she asked hinted a question about the colour of his skin. He told her that he was brunette; facially brunette, but the palm of his hand and soles of his feet was “peroxide blonde”. The African man was being very sarcastic about the colour of his skin but the landlady could not accept the fact that he was black. When his sarcasm reached a peak, he sensed that the landlady was goind to hang up on him. He suddenly stops and says, “’Madam,’ I pleaded,’ wouldn’t you rather see for yourself?”

This poem uses a lot of irony and sarcasm. The poet mainly uses irony in three places. The first tone of irony is sensed when the man confesses that he is an African. When describing the lady, the poet uses a lot of sarcastic language. Irony is lastly used when the man describes himself to the woman. The last line of the poem also leaves a sense of mystery in the reader. Wole Soyinka brings out a great use of irony in this poem.