Homeland & Other PoemsIfowodo was a frontline student leader in the early eighties and is a lawyer and civil rights activist. In 1996 he was a writer-in-residence at the Heinrich Boell Foundation. He was imprisoned between 1997 and 1998 and was subsequently adopted by PEN. This is his first collection of poetry which won the 1993 Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize. Many of the poems are responses to politics; or spring from the tensions between writing political poetry, or art for art's sake, and other competing subjects of poetry, such as romantic love. The poet, quoting Neruda, first asks the reader expecting a poetic celebration of his natural world to 'come see the blood in the streets'. In the section section he writes tributes to Tracey Chapman, Winnie and Nelson Mandela and Margeret Thatcher ('the butcher'). The subject of the third section is the rediscovery of romantic love, amidst and beyond turmoil and oppression. |
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Page 7
... gathered ... 12 No water 13 Sanitation day dream Driftwood For Onoriode She lay dying at Oshodi For Otamowerai 14 15 17 19 21 Traces 22 Our eyes are born again 24 The deluge ( 22 April 1990 ) 25 Song from underground 27 Red rain 29 Poem ...
... gathered ... 12 No water 13 Sanitation day dream Driftwood For Onoriode She lay dying at Oshodi For Otamowerai 14 15 17 19 21 Traces 22 Our eyes are born again 24 The deluge ( 22 April 1990 ) 25 Song from underground 27 Red rain 29 Poem ...
Page 11
... full earth and see no pain on our paths and no evil in men's hearts . For art's sake , we shall shun pain , and write lyrics of the ear . 14 October , 1987 Untold terrors are gathered ... Untold terrors are gathered in 11 For art's sake.
... full earth and see no pain on our paths and no evil in men's hearts . For art's sake , we shall shun pain , and write lyrics of the ear . 14 October , 1987 Untold terrors are gathered ... Untold terrors are gathered in 11 For art's sake.
Page 12
Ogaga Ifowodo. Untold terrors are gathered ... Untold terrors are gathered in her only one song . She recalls vainly , the deep promise of children whose naming ceremonies called forth the joys of the neighbourhood and festooned her ...
Ogaga Ifowodo. Untold terrors are gathered ... Untold terrors are gathered in her only one song . She recalls vainly , the deep promise of children whose naming ceremonies called forth the joys of the neighbourhood and festooned her ...
Contents
For arts sake | 11 |
Poem to the child of my time | 32 |
Mandelas mantle | 41 |
Copyright | |
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