From the heart to a hardcover: Daryl Ijaola debuts first poetry collection
- Rei Tedoco
- Jun 18
- 5 min read
Reporter: Rei Tedoco
Tucson, Ariz.- University of Arizona rising senior, Daryl Ijaola, releases The Fall of Mr. Romantic, which is more than a few stanzas but a reflection of the word “love”.
“I always found writing... a form of escape for me,” Ijaola said.
Ijaola is a student at the University of Arizona who studies biomedical engineering and is in the W.A. Franke Honors College. With his vision to bring his passion for poetry to life, Ijaola received a grant from the honors college to pursue this opportunity.
“I just really wanted to use my creative outlets to establish something more structured, concrete,” Ijaola said when referring to founding a poetry organization on campus, The Poets of Tucson, and releasing a personal project.
THE PROCESS OF THE PRODUCT
In the making of The Fall of Mr. Romantic, the process alone took three to four years to come to a finished product. As a culmination of poems over time, Ijaola decided to put his ideas to life. He worked with his advisor, Claire McLane of the W.A. Franke Honors College, and his colleagues to express his creative freedom. McLane provided feedback to Ijaola and checked his manuscript to help with the fundamentals of his writing.
Ijaola said,“I had my advisor, and I had a lot of other people that were reading bits and pieces as time went on.” Whether that be friends of his or colleagues, he felt grounded that he was receiving the feedback needed to make his dream possible.
Ijaola admitted that in his process, he changed his manuscript three to four times in the last week before sending it to be published. He refined his work and sent it to Amazon.
The hardest part for Ijaola: how much he wanted people to know about him through his poetry. Without giving himself away completely, he found ways to write his pieces in a way for all perspectives to read it.
“I have a lot of people that I know in a lot of different realms. I have my church family, I have my school family. I have my overseas family, my Nigerian family. We're close to a lot of people in Trinidad. I have family in Trinidad, and it's we have people all over the place, you know,” Ijaola said when mentioning those who know him and how they may perceive the book.
“How much am I able to give them, or can I give them without feeling like I am compromising myself, or without feeling uncomfortable, that I have a book out there,” Ijaola said.
On May 4th, 2025, Ijaola’s book became available to purchase on Amazon as a paperback for $15.49.
The Breakdown of the Book
Style, Cover, and Creativity
In Ijaola’s collection of poems, “The Fall of Mr. Romantic”, readers will find pieces on how love may be perceived or believed to be perceived based on experience.
To Ijaola, love is “it's how much someone is willing to sacrifice for someone else.” He utilizes the idea of love by examples of what it meant to him, how the idea of love changed over time, how people loved him, and how he even rejected the thought of love.
When choosing the title “The Fall of Mr. Romantic”, Ijaola felt his book was created as a piece of art, and he tied it to how he believed he was “Mr.Romantic” for a long time.
Ijaola said, “It was kind of like a journey of sanctification. And I'm thinking that I'm Mr. Romantic. But as that term and as that label starts to falter, I realize how much better of a person I'm becoming because of it.”
With a title chosen to reflect his personal life decisions and labels, the cover was a checklist item. Ijaola’s colleague, Nagasriya Ramisetty, took the physical photos of Ijaola and created an illustration of him. On the cover, it’s Ijaola caricatured in neutral colors while holding a red balloon.
Outside of what’s on the front to back of the book, the pages in between have a lot more depth. Ijaola shared on pages 64 and 65, two poems titled “The Fall of Mr. Romantic” and “Where is Mr. Romantic?”, which are found directly in the middle of the book.
Some of the piece reads: “ I've tried, and I've failed in many, many relationships and purposeful connections. This failure equated to the reality of income compatibility not meeting the expectations of my mind as a God follower and hopeful romantic. I use my beliefs and mindset to justify my selfishness and dulled art. I use my brokenness as adrenaline to keep moving, thinking.” (64-65)
With a taste of The Fall of Mr. Romantic, readers can expect honest and emotional testimonies from Ijaola that allow him to take others on a poetic journey.
Daryl Ijaola: A Man of Many Interests and Pursuits
For Ijaloa, it was all about the balance. Whether it was focusing on his interest in biomedical sciences or writing his poetry for his book, he learned key organizational skills to guide him through it all.
In this time frame, Ijaola was studying for the MCAT and applying to medical schools to pursue his career interests. Outside of that, he was running the Poets of Tucson as their president. He ran workshops, kept up in the classroom, and felt the full support of others.
“They support me as you know, like there's no labels involved… All I felt was support. Even if people didn’t want to write, or they didn’t expect to write, they were like, ‘At the very least, we want to support,” Ijaola said when speaking of his colleagues joining his organization.
Outside of leading others and studying for school, Ijaola’s interest vary from rollerskating, playing piano at his church, to boxing. He recently picked up the boxing hobby and said, “I recently started a boxing class. Love it, love it, love boxing. Am I good? Absolutely not… but it’s so fun.”
To trying new things and finding his passion, he’s also kept his faith close with him. While working on his multiple interests and taking breaks he’s been God-focused in his identity.
He said,“I’m very, very serious about my faith. And so I feel like I’ve been able to experience God’s love as well… It was less of a focus on my own personal love, but like giving that up—and myself up—to then be shown love from my faith and from other people in that context has definitely changed me for the better.”
Moving forward, Ijaola plans to continue applying for medical schools, lead the Poets of Tucson, and continue to make time for the things he is passionate about. Ijaola’s release of the book has opened new avenues for him and he’s looking forward to marketing it with others.
One piece of advice he shared for scholars is,“Even if you have to take a break or things shift, don’t give up on what you truly enjoy. If I would’ve given up on poetry, I would’ve been very different.”
People can now purchase Ijaola’s book The Fall of Mr. Romantic on Amazon and share their love for literacy, creative freedom, and identity with the book.
Contact the reporter:
Rei Tedoco
614-425-2592
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