The archive Cosmic birth of Citizen Poem by Amin Sheid Anakobe · 1990 Joy of the mother Becomes highly spirited in expectation Moody in the joyest moment of life Held by the threshold of delight Eventually. Aha! the shrill cry In cosmic rays Resounding ones and ones again Breathes to limelight The fresh and fresh […]
INVITATION come into my parlour,said the spiderto the fly;never mind the cobwebs,just come in and don’tbe shy;find a wealth of gourmetto suit your palate’schoice;let not my smile deter youor the silence of the noiseface it —this is heaven,leave the air’s thick fog,and rest;enter my conditioned netto bask indelicatessecome into my parlour,said the spiderto the fly;I […]
The archive Whoosh, and pirotechnic Poem by Uncredited (West Africa) · 1982 Whoosh, and pirotechnic Blooms flush the sight Al-zahir Al-Batin with Self-confounding light; Al-Hakam, the arbiter; Al-karin the Bountiful He pummels the dust, ah-malik. Created in myriad ire: Al-aziz; His chameleon gaze, Ar-raquib tells His, tells His praise, His rosary of plumes. He screams, […]
The archive The Excellencies Poem by Odia Ofeimun · 1982 They move in their merry-go-rounds; satiated, they have little stomach for questions though cups of misery overbrim in the eyes of every man woman and child sprawled out across their rounds they have little stomach for reflections though the faces of those they love may […]
The archive Untitled (Thunder rocked and gathered the sky in its arms) Poem by Obiba Opoku Agyemong · 1982 Thunder rocked and gathered the sky in its arms The rain danced and danced Till overcome, it fell laughing on our rooftops And diviners lost their native creed In a handful of drizzle I have planted […]
The archive Untitled (Like leaves on a tree) Poem by O. A. Jawando · 1982 Like leaves on a tree natured by the earth, we bloom and fall alone O. A. Jawando · 1982 EDITOR’S NOTE Originally published in West Africa on 25 October 1982, p. 29. This diplomatic transcription preserves the wording and lineation […]
The archive Untitled (There I stood in the prairie) Poem by O. A. Jawando · 1982 There I stood in the prairie, a plane whirred north from south against a background of stars, destination maybe Chicago or Canada, maybe the North Pole who knows? A rabbit hurriedly leaped along north due east, I continued south […]
The archive Cactus needles Poem by Syl Cheney-Coker · 1982 I am the man, I suffered, I was there. — Whitman Strikers of Sierra Leone guided by your darkness when they put out the light the yokes of your shoulders, your mirrors that reflect your docility that kills with tenderness strikers when the streets give […]
The archive Midnight Baptism Poem by Christ Nwamuo · 1982 Ten years of artillery guns flexed in cannoned bazookas pound the soul, as reeking wounds, inflict a mind torn to calvary shreds: the filibuster at the senate for initiations I was escorted out of the ihu-iyi* baptism by okonko** in a cocooned darkness. In the […]