TRAVELING ON THE SPOT: REVIEW OF SEA OF MY MIND BY PROF REMI RAJI

Poet: Prof Remi Raji-Oyelade

Title: Sea of my Mind

Year of Publication: 2013

Pages: 85

Publisher: Kraft Books

Reviewer: Olutayo Irantiola

The anthology has a total of fifty poems which was divided into these subdivisions:  Introit, Waves, Ebbs, Flows and Recessional. It is important to say that this collection has many short poems; the longest of the poem is the Road to Gombe with 46 lines

It is only the sea that has these traits used in classifying the poems. The sea is the society and the mind represents the poet himself. The poet’s experience is hereby presented in this anthology.

The introit is a call to the literary feast is about the poet being a journey. The journey stated here could be psychological, emotional, academic, forced, fated or willing journeys. The poem opens thus:

Some journeys are taken without travelling;

Some travelling happen without journeying.

For a target-driven individual, some of the products of his journey include: path-finding, following. The poet also made a reference to the exploits made by his ancestry. Sometimes the result to be achieved on a journey is not known by the traveler but the mindset of achieving propels him. Our journey in the anthology is therefore a journey of the mind for the reader which would transport them beyond their thought from and still remain on the same spot:

I commit you, therefore, to the mind,

Of motion and encounter, of shuttling better spaces,

The surprising activity of discovery,

Of moving without moving.

This poem is concluded by the reality of human life where he encounters pleasures and pains of leaving and returning from any journey. Our lives are not entirely bed of roses with and without journeys.

The sojourner’s pledge is a poem of five lines divided into two folds- the first half is a prayer of success as he goes on the journey. As African, we pray about a lot of things regardless of the religious affiliation:

Arise my feet, do not go where the landscape suffers a rift

Don not hide, when the libation with earth is due, do not shift

The other part is the commitment of the poet to the journey he is embarking upon, getting solution to people’s problems irrespective of difficulties, to make meaning out of nothingness:

I make a pledge this day, to rekindle hope in the hard ground

To swim in dreams, breathe life, to find rhythm where a river is

Found.

There are instances of translations of Yoruba sayings in this anthology; these are from the day to day Yoruba nuances examples of these are:

“Arise my feet, do not go where the landscape suffers a rift” this is a major prayer for the Yoruba which is said as, “ka ma tele ni biti o ti loju”. This means that the poet cannot be separated from his cultural background. Snapshot is in five-parts; each of the poems carries complete meaning as short as it is. Snapshot I, page 23, is about inner struggle, the struggle seems so silent but it is very contradictive and it is individualistic in nature:

There is a noisy waking in silence…

Men walk in the thicket of their thought

Snapshot II, page 24, is about the seeds of songful crops which birds had fed on as such they no more lack words and they have great medley of words:

A thousand thickets of seeds

the birds who perch on my barn had enough

in their throats the brocade of songful crops

i know no hunger in the famine of words

i have swallowed a market of melodies

Snapshot III, page 25, is a continuation of the second part. The poet swallowed the throat of the songbird. The tongue now offers blessing to the land in turn. The sky is described as a “cotton of colours” which can be linked to the element of nature in rainbow after rain had fallen and this is in the last verse, “in the last breath of the rains, there you stand.”

Snapshot IV, page 26 talks about “the last wink of the day” which is the bright hour of the day that gives way to the wide-eyed moon in line 3.

in the last wink of the day, there you walk,

the wide-eyed moon, the coral brightness…

the rivers run because they hear your steps

now there will be a gurgling beneath

creatures in combat in want in dream in desire in longing…

Snapshot V, page 27, the person, who the mountain would appear to is unknown,  has a happy path, valley of dream which implies fulfilled expectations and the distance from the war game into the new ceremonies of light and love. The poem ends on the note of the different melodies from the birds.

In these series of poems, Snapshot, natural elements like thickets, thorns, limbs, foot, seeds, throat, crops, songbird, tongue, finger, sky, rains, moon, rivers, mountain, valley and birds are all used metaphorically. The beauty of these poems is the brevity of each of it, the ability to compress it all into one poem, the ability of each poem to stand on its own, the use of small letters to start the verses of the poem.

“The Road to Gombe” , page 28, is a poem about the traveling experience of the poet to Gombe State from his base which is Ibadan, Oyo State. Due to the absence of an effect rail system in the country, such journeys are done on the road, the poet traveled this long windy road mentioning the many districts, towns, villages etc. The flora and fauna of the trip was also mentioned:

Past the forest,

Past the log greenness of Tigi,

To the lush valley

And the lustful hills and bends

Despite these good descriptions, the road turned deathtraps was also mentioned showing the dangers of such long travels on road, the dangerous bends and the road laden with potholes. The journey also experienced the usual convey of the campaigners, a reminder of the demise of Prof Festus Iyayi in the recent struggle of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who died as a result of the head on collusion with the convoy of the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada.

The journey to Gombe had other road facilities, animals, the availability of fireflies as the journey continued, the checkpoints as speed-breaker and likewise a source of interrupting the sleep of the poet-persona. The road eventually ends for the poet to disembark and gently go to bed since it is a very long journey from the base of the poet.

The Ukrainian Day, page 32, is a train poem that shows movement in the same direction. The first 14 lines was upturn with little changes. It is a fascinating piece that shows the depth and skillfulness of the use of words by the poet persona. The first line of the poem goes thus:

                                                The morning moon

While the 28^th line of the poem reads:

                                                Oh, the morning moon of my passion.

The last six lines of the poem implied that the flora and fauna of the town has “unforgettable beauty”(line 34).

Soft bite, page 37, is a poem that reflects the state of electricity in our nation and the “bite” associated with a damage Personal Computer that has taken a new name, Personal Companion. The first four lines capture the flow from the memory of the poet to the binary punch that captures his thoughts. The monitor of the system typifies the “monitors of life”, “the silent hum of the hard disks” and ultimately the interwoven life of man with these “tiny things” referring to the smart phones and other gadgets that gets us to “open books and faceless groups”. Men is now perceived as “children of virtual hi-ways”. The origin of the “soft bite” was the destroying voltage of electricity.

The peculiar information technology words in the poem are bytes (line 3), binary (line 4), monitor (line 5), hard disks (line 7), virtual (line13), virus (line 14), batteries (line 15), saved (line 16), delete (line 17).

All of me is people, page 38, is a reminder of the Yoruba saying that “eniyan laso mi”. The poem is an appreciation of those who wishes the poet well on his birthday. The people included members of the internet community and the University community. The poem evokes emotion discussing the enormity of the love shown to him, the depth of his feelings which transverse through the “nerve, bone and blood” (line 7). However, the birthday is a reminder that age is advancing anf it is a call to do more. The poet sums it up that regardless of the loneliness and need for more care, he knows that: all of me is people” (line 15).

EBBS

The second part of the anthology is titled, Ebbs. Ebbs is about the depression thoughts of the poet about happenings in the society most especially when the poet is not around. In the poem titled, “News from home”, it is a poem on elections in Nigeria. Summing up the totality of what is happening in the nation; the poems used the word, “some” to categorized the various groups namely the voters, the thugs, the propagandists, injured, the murdered and some deflected to other parties. Others were those who caused post-election violence, rigged the election, protested, cursed, cried because they lost, some prayed and politicians on exile expressed dissatisfaction from other countries. The poem concludes that all these had led to the “death of Silence, forever” in our country.

Our fragments, page 45, is a poem that has 6 lines with the phrases written together defiling the rule of orthography. The poem looks at the various angles to which arguments are drawn and concluding that it is all from the same source.

Three Desperations, page 48, is a poem that discusses three categories of people. The first group refers to those who are hunted but mute on their way to damnation. The second group refers to those who fled into other nations as far as Australia which is one of the utmost part of the world from Nigeria and the third group refers to those who feed fat on the national treasury. In Nigeria today, these are the three groups: the populace who have no voice and are being led by the political class dogmatically, the pressure groups and the opposition had left the country while the political class keeps enjoying their dividends of corruption.

At last poetry is on the streets is a short poem written on 4 pages with seven parts of four lines in the first six parts while the last part is just a line. The first part is a discussion on the prevailing darkness but the poet will keep muttering the sound regardless of the obvious truth. The second part is about the prevalence of pretenders; however the poet would not give in to jests or become a coward till they are confronted with the truth. The third part shows how the powerless had revealed our deeds, evil and shame to the world. The fourth part compares the political situation to the following murder of every opposition, provision for arms like the military and there is still abundance of bloodshed. The animals used to depict bloodshed are the Cheetah and the Hyena. The fifth part is a prayer to those inflicting pain on the citizenry that any other bloodshed on the streets shall be that of their children. 

The sixth part is the hope that one day with the prevalence of truth, words that will pull the trigger and the seventh part ends with the line:

at last poetry is on the streets…

Poetry on the streets denotes that creativity is going to fight the battle for the electorate in a state where selfishness, ethnicity, lack of accountability reigns. This piece is one of the reinforcing displays of the uncompromising tweak of the society by the 3^rd generation poets like Remi Raji singing change to the hearing of the recalcitrant leaders.

FLOWS

The third part of the anthology is tagged Flows. This part has 16 poems. The poem that made the title of the collection is in this segment. The poem is dedicated to mother. The poem has end rhyme. The word, “Naked” is mentioned seven times in the poem. The poem contains a lot of pathos as the poet see the passing on of his dear mother:

You whispered me to life and now I hear your last breath

The mother is eulogized for her beauty,

Fairer than the oils of gods, you are the last incense,

I am lost to the dream, to time and moral sense.

The sea of the poet’s mind is ever full of the memory of his mother. He alluded her remembrance to drinking water.

                                    Naked, every day I drink water, I remember you.

Sky scenes, page 68, is a reminder of the beautiful display evident in the sky from time to time. The colourfulness of nature is portrayed thus:

Bright now, then blue, dark and a light redness

a geography of sensations.

Thunders and other lightning elements is the all contained in the cloud, rain and drought all reside with the actions of the sky and the potential of raining without stopping till it leads to a typhoon resides still in the same sky. The poet ends it by his positive determinism of weathering storms.

This poem is romantic in nature as such the poems in this part of the  anthology are dedicated to someone or something.

There is no beautiful poem like you is a poem of anticipation of who a young person who be in the future based on her present carriage, disposition and exposure. The bright display of the person the poem is addressing is expressed thus:

                                   

You came shining

                                    Like transparency of the day

The place of mentorship and guidance is also embedded in the poem:

                                   

                                    But I remembered watching my legs

                                    lead in your direction

The anticipation of who the person will become make the poem end in parenthesis.

You’re the poem not yet written

Waiting to be…

Abebi is another poem in memory of the poet’s mother. It could be tagged delusion but it is the reality of what profound memories do to people. As the Muslim do periodically by praying for their departed ones by praying for them, the poet does the same:

Tonight all the saints and spirits bless you, my mother

                                    I see your victory above vanity

May the wind follow my plaintiff wish is a poem is a poem about traveling. The poet enjoys traveling and wishes that every time he travels to have a safe trip. The restlessness and the desire to accomplish daringly is reflected in the poem.

THE RECESSIONAL

The recessional is a poem in two languages written and translated by the poet. It is a play on word by the Yorubas, which is called Iforo dara. The poem is about the enormity of what can be done with words. Words are so powerful, this is illustrated in the poem with the following features of words:

“Bend, tear and break” line 4.

“You break, you tie, you swell, you burst” line 9

“The word is sword against power” line 10.

Other forms of strength displayed by word are boneless but pricking, toothless but bear the fang, armless but blast the face.

The recessional is a conclusion of the literary voyage that we have embarked on from the Introit in this anthology, the word used by the poet has done exceptionally well in its ability to marry the song and be the midwife of words.

It is a laudable thing that Sea of my mind was nominated for the NLNG  prize, 2013. The mention has shown that the quality of work churned out from the stable of Professor Aderemi Raji-Oyelade is an addition to the body of literature. 

REVIEW OF HERE AND THERE BY PROF SEGUN ADEKOYA

Poet: Prof Segun Adekoya
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 172
Publisher: ANOL Publications
Year of Publishing:2012
Reviewer: Olutayo Irantiola

This is a voluminous anthology of about sixty poems in total that is subdivided into Here, There, here and There. Here has a total seventeen poems, There has twenty five poems, while Here and There has a total of sixteen poems. The whole collection discusses the various facets of life between the Nigeria and the Europe. The anthology opens with a poem titled Big Building Blocks wherein the author uses different elements of nature such as water, star, straw, tree, toadstool, leg(s), valley, slope, moon, serpent, wings and lightning(pgs 1-2) to describe the depth of the creator. All of these allude to the Bible in Genesis 1:31 that says, “And God saw thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good”. All the elements of creation attest to the mightiness of the creator, himself.

The first poem in the subdivision Here is Hope in Growth; Grow in Hope. This is about Africa and it’s stunted growth cum stuttering. The sound effect in this poem is also seen in the stanza.

Africa,

A slumberer,

Starts sta-sta-mmers,

Sca-sca-sca-t-t-t-t-t-ters

Her luckless

let-let-let-let-letters

b-b-b-b-u-t s-s-soo-ner or la-la-la-la-ter

will-will-will-will-will ut-ut-ut-ut-ut-ut-ut-ter “Baba”.

The growth of Africa has been stunted and her learned ones have eloped based on the slumbering of the continent. May of the educated ones have gone in search of greener pastures. The utterance of “Baba” which means the “Father” has come up to his responsibility. The educated ones have savoured the person that can make them flourish, as such, they move towards the Atlantic which inversely breaks the chain of limitation as they move out of the continent. The pains of many years are left behind as the person gets healed of all injury, injustice and incapacitation of many years.

The poet discusses our nation in a poem titled Another Waste Land which is a contemporary writing in response to the experience by T.S. Eliot who wrote the poem titled The Waste Land in 1922. The Waste Land is a modernist poem that has 434 lines. It has been called “one of the most important poems of the 20^th century”. Despite the poem’s obscurity-its shift between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its elegiac but intimidating summoning up of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures-the poem has become a familiar touchstone of modern literature. Another Waste Land is a poem of 210 lines. The poem is an analysis of the Nigerian situation which is highlighted below:

Nigeria walks on her head                             

Dyes her eyes ice red.

This stanza on its own is a reflection of the abnormalities in Nigeria. Things have gone seriously lopsided, injustice and wickedness has become the order of the day. The poem continues to describe the various forms of abnormalities which in bloodshed, embezzlement which he called “loot lovers” line 6, page 6, the wanton disposition of the soldiers, the new air of superior assumed by the President. On page 8, line 10, “dogs that bark are seized for treason”. These dogs are the journalists, the social commentators and critics, the writers who “bark” examples of people who have been “seized” for treason are the Wole Soyinka, Nelson Mandela amongst others. Eventually, many papers are “self or government” censored partly or fully.

The poem continues with description of what the military had done with decrees. Ethnicity is also mentioned, this is the bane of development in our country as a whole. Coup d’état which was the hallmark of the successive military administrations in the country, the scrambling for oil wells, eight years (line 20, page 9) spent in office by President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. The ways in which the soldiers keep destroy the nation with various coinages. Industrial strikes too were showed in the piece which is the language of force understood by the military. Then the former military leaders still come remerge as democrats leading us through the same pattern of woes.

Nepa Night is another thought evoking poem about the state of electricity in Nigeria. This is a situation when electricity keeps going on and off, the first two lines states

NEPA writes its might

Strikes, edits out its light (page 28)

Then, an alternative is sort which is “a pale, poor, yellow glow upon the white page:” (lines 7-8). This state of darkness allows man to sleep with mosquitoes all around him.

St. John’s Odosimadegun is a eulogy to the primary school of the poet. He has a nostalgic feeling of his formative years in the school. The school has lost its place because of the economic pursuit of the teachers who want to make some money and the rural-urban migration that has made the school deserted. This has been the main source of underdevelopment in many villages and towns while some states and state capital has become overpopulated.

The next subdivision of the anthology “There” is about his experiences abroad. Exile, page 74, is about his newly discovered culture. He is not around his locale; as such he has to come to terms with the new reality. He considers himself as a “lone bird” in line 3, page 74. The best way of escaping what he does not understand is an inscape, that is, refusing to join them since he is yet to understand them sufficiently. He sees his exile as a reality and that he is surrounded by winter. This poem is a reflection of an Africa who has found the difference in culture, difference in weather, difference in other spheres of life as he is “exiled” from his natural habitat.

“City Angels” is a poem about the reality of sex and the prostitutes in the society. The City Angels are on Fifth Avenue and Broadway, however Broadway reminds one of the Matthew 7:13, “broad is the way that leadeth to destruction”. In order to avoid the dreaded HIV/AIDS, a global phenomenon, men now use condom. The poem on “AIDS” discusses the restrain it has brought on man to exercise his sexual desires, the supplication to “Olodumare” line 1, page 93, not to allow one suffer sicknesses that defeats all drugs. The moment of sexual activity is ‘gorgeous and gay’. The poet finally advocates that victims of AIDS should not be discriminated against.

Homage to Dr. Hofrat is a poem dedicated to a skillful surgeon who has conducted surgeries of success. He concludes by saying that Dr. Hofrat is also mortal. “A Night at JFK” is a poem that centered on the discussion by some Africans at JFK Airport. The topics flirt into the woes of Africa, American dollars, Europe and her transformations. The man from Holland got the contact of others, the American who fed them, the “eagle-eyed” security woman. All of these made it obvious that JFK was a tourist meeting point for all of them. They were able to discuss various topics, they made friends and the memory of that occurrence is still fresh in the poet.

In the subdivision of the text, Here and There, “Peace” is the title of a poem (page 138) dedicated to Bob Marley. Bob Marley is described as a full moon in the sky of my soul (lines 2 and 3). The assassination of Bob Marley by a fellow black and consequently he bled to death. It is worthy to note that the poet describes himself as a sky, the singer is also described as “natty rugged reggae star” (line 12)

Another short poem in this collection is “A Sports Meet” (page 141). Sports events are usually colourful with each team in their own jersey. Each team also with their supporters’ club. The bodily performance of the participants, their movement to and fro the spectators singing and being cheered in return for their display.

Colours call on colours! Drums and rumps roll!

The participants in their corporeal performance

March past fast into the grinning green bowl,

Like fleeting ghosts glimpsed from a distance,

Singing, Staring, I hear in my rear crumbs

Of laughter of kids exploding yoghurt bombs

The poem titled Here and There is the longest in the collection, it has 456 lines in total. The poem opens with what is universal.

Here as elsewhere

The sun is fun,

Its rays make gay the day;

The moon is a boon,

Its light mellows the night.

One tempers the day

The other tenders the night (page 149)

Then, the comparison of different places and similarities: Times Square and Tinubu Square that both have fountains but one outshines the other. The inevitability of natural disasters but the difference in the management of such occurrences like: Tsunami, (Hurricane) Katrina that destroyed New Orleans, Tornado that destroyed Texas. The thought about man’s immortality is expressed in the following lines.

We rise as we fall

We fall as we rise (page 152)

Other phenomenon like abiku was likened to the governance in Africa. The endless promise of wage payment or increase which can all be summed up as “better life” for her citizenry. The podium, which is called bridge in the poem, is a metaphor of the position of those leading and those being led.

The bridge is the seal of division (line 117, page 154)

Nigeria is referred to as a prostitute although it is not the sole dispenser of AIDS. The poem returns to discuss what is universal in governance. Information management by those in governance in which the governed keep moaning in solitude while institutions of the state is used against the masses

The multitudes moan in solitude,

Their shepherds pad it the right attitude (lines 330-331, page 162)

Another universal thing identified in the poem is man’s strong attachment to faith, the activities of a priest, the invocation and the hypocrisy of the faithful worshippers.

Here as elsewhere, faith is brazen,

Cheap and fake-a penny a prayer,

The powerful pummel the poor

As their pockets propel their pleas-

Aided by priests who prey on the pulpit

On the upward swing to the King

Who laughs last at hypocrites’ piety.(lines 430- 437, page 166)

The last universal phenomenon highlighted here is the laughter. The poem ends on the name that laughter should lead our prayer, this is a call on everyone to be free-minded to others before ascending the throne of grace through prayer.

Here as elsewhere, laughter is a slayer,

Let laughter arm and lead your prayer! (lines 455-456, page 167)

The poet ends the collection with a postscript which equally can be considered an important part of Here. The poem is about Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni heroes who were hanged in their quest for environmental degradation from the adverse effect of oil spillage. The poem is a reminder of this gory history in our nation. What Ken Saro-Wiwa was fighting for is still being fought for today by the committee on Environment and Ecology in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria headed by Senator Bukola Saraki while there are other people like Nnimmo Bassey, an Eco-critic who is leading this cause globally from Nigeria.

Sleep on while we war, sleep on; adieu!

Ken and company are gone but their memories remain fresh both by the writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other writings that has been done in their honour as this poem.

This anthology is a mirror of man’s life just as it is expected of any works of arts. The poet has writing from what he has experienced in his travels within and outside Nigeria. It is equally important to say that travel writing and other mode of transporting the mind to various places has gone a long way in opening the mind of contemporary writers.

SIMILITUDE OF THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE: A REVIEW OF GIVE ME ROOM TO MOVE MY FEET by Mildred Kiconco Barya

Publisher: Amalion Publishing, Senegal

Genre: Poetry

Year of Publication: 2009

Number of Pages: 119

Reviewer: Olutayo IRANTIOLA

In this era of transcultural readings, it is easy to discover that the African experience is quite similar from one region to the other. It must be mentioned that this review is based on the themes in this anthology of poetry. I also want to appreciate the publisher, Sulaiman Adebowale, who gave me a copy of this book during the Lagos Books and Arts Festival (LABAF 2013) because he has added to my repository of knowledge about contemporary East African poetry.

As poetry is usually described as cryptic but this anthology written in plain language which cannot be understood by anybody who understand the basic construction of English language. The anthology has 7 categories namely: Revolving Lives, Stormy Heart, Before the Sun Sinks, The Pain of Tenderness, Shame has a place, The Shape of Dreams and Until the Last Breath is Drawn. The poem in the anthology is a hundred poems; the shortest of the poems are three with the following titles; Is This Life, A Wish and Wish, with 6 lines each. However, I would prefer to say that A Wish is the shortest because each line has a word. While the longest of these poems is Miracle Inside, this poem has 41 lines. Regardless of the location of the poem in the anthology, there would be categorization of poems with similar themes.

There are three straight poems dispersed across the book which concurs with the title of this review, the poems are; Africa So Same, Seth Africa and Africa Remains. Africa So Same capture the thoughts of the poet based on her exposure to the Western world, the tone of the poem is that of despair as experienced from one African country to another remains the same. Some of the features of African countries mentioned include; the poor state of transportation, poor roads infrastructure, street begging while inhabitants are warmly disposed despite the pains around them. The continent remains the same, it is a familiar terrain that is easily recognized as one touches the ground. The poem elicits the feeling of crying. Seth Africa is the story of Africans who are not accepted in the Western world and also in Africa. The poem is a reminder of the disenfranchisement of Africans who are resident out of the continent and they are not allowed into Africa because their passport has expired. It is a shameful scenario which cannot be helped.  While the last in this series, Africa Remains is a poem that describes the attachment of Africans to their homeland notwithstanding of the challenges and afflictions that abound. These poems signify that the African experience is continent-wide.

The rustic experience of the poet to her African descent is also evident in some poems that showcase her growth within an African community. These poems are I Shall Ask Grandma to Write Me a Recommendation, GrandMa & I, What is Native Can’t Harm You. I Shall Ask Grandma to Write Me a Recommendation is a recount of the request by the scholarship office that the intending student must be recommended by a tutor, mentor and someone who has seen her progress over time. The poet believes so much in the wisdom acquired from her grandma as very crucial to her success. Some of what she has learnt under Grandma’s tutelage includes, indigenous craft, genealogies, meaning of names, didactic stories all of which the poet has preserved through writing. This makes her work amuse the Professor. Grandma & I is a nostalgic poem with the typical settings of Africa. Different elements of nature, such as the sun, rain, sky, river are used to show the romantic adventure of the poet during holidays with Grandma and interestingly, the holiday would soon be over. The typical agrarian family in Africa was reflected in this poem where grandparents trade in farm produce. What is Native Can’t Harm You is a reflection of the “colonized mindset” of African elite who instruct their children not to accept whatever is indigenous. The children on holidays are made “resident-aliens” because they must stick to eating what they brought from the city alone. However, the “westernized” meals and supplements do not give the desired growth while natural supplements would waste away.

The romantic theme in the anthology can be seen in the following poems, Greeting Moon, November In Dakar, Sipi, On this Mount Elgon and Coexistence. Greeting Moon is a poem on the moon when it was at its best. November in Dakar can be likened to the experience of cold in the Northern region of Nigeria in places like Maiduguri, Borno State or Jos, Plateau State. The effect of the harmattan is described as blowing hot in our faces, skins turn into fish scales, lips chapped like crocodile hide, eyes teary from allergies and the nose rocks with sneezing spells. When the night become cool, couples get together to welcome the change in season. Sipi is a poem in which the poet queries the relationship of the fall with River Mississippi, the poet extols the greatness feature of this waterfall. The fall is described as “loud, will in your falls” line 20. In order to understand the beauty of this river, I googled and found out that it is one of the tourist sites in Uganda. On This Mount Elgon is a poem on the expedition of the mountain with a team of explorers. The beauty of nature on the hills and forests is seen in this poem. The poem Coexistence is still about the coexistence of man and different elements of nature still on the same Mt Elgon.

There are themes that pungently reflect the African experience such as HIV/AIDS which is in the poem, At the River’s Edge. This phenomenon has wiped out many people of African descent. The poem opens with a feeling of neutrality by 2 groups of people: Africans who are not affected and the International community. The scourge has turned many children into bread winners. The port implores that Africans should reach out and share love with those affected. Africans care for one another till death. The poem Dear Trevor is about the untimely death of Trevor, a jolly good fellow who had a willing heart to help. However, it is gratifying to know that his life was short but purposeful. Trevor is one of the many victims of election violence and other heinous crimes that are in abundance in Africa. Ears is a poem on internally displaced people’s camp like we currently have it in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria. The people in the camp had to keep mum regardless of the experience in the camp notwithstanding the bombing around the camp.

As typical to Africans who constantly call for revolution, a poem tagged Revolutionaries, is about the efforts of the youths to save Africa after the Darfur crisis and the Rwandan genocide. After a while, factions came up, some leaders died and some were “settled”. This has made the continent to waste on because of lies and betrayal by those that lead and were trusted. Also, the poem, Thief, is the revolution that is expected in the liberation of the language of Africans. The colonialists substituted the language at their advent. Every African nation has been systematically colonized linguistically since their advent. Some school of thought might argue that it is for global intelligibility but the truth remains that many beautiful thoughts in our languages that cannot be contextualized in English and French languages are gradually fading off. The poet vehemently requested for the restoration of language so as to convey her thoughts in her own mother-tongue.

Another group of poems that I want to sum up is can be grounded under the theme of Urbanized Africa. Living Out of a Suitcase is a description of the lifestyle of a lady who lived with 8 families in 3 months. The lady is quite helpless because she does not have a steady job. Unfortunately, she loses more than expected because her originality, her creativity and freewill is being traded in an attempt to eke a living. The poet summed it up that it is the way of people who keep walking the streets of life. Skipping is a way of correcting the assumption of youngster about generations that have gone ahead. She made it known that the prevalent challenges of today, namely, marriage, injustice, joblessness, was also experienced by the previous generation. However, at the demise of the older generation, the current generation thinks the past was favoured. Monday Morning is a poem that describes the aftermath of Sunday’s fun. Monday is never easy because it comes with a lot of bodily weaknesses which include indigestion, constipation, exhaustion, hang-ups and hangovers. The joy of an average man is full when it is a public holiday, where there is rainstorm, the roads are impassable and normal routine disrupted. People see it as a gift and they remain in bed on a Monday morning. A Wish is a poem that speaks of one of the issues of urbanized Africa which is depression. The poet wishes that depression has a cure. Many people are suffering from depression. The poet as a female might have suffered a heart-break that lead to depression and other socio-economic problems.

I would want to end this review by showing a myth and proverb that is closely related to that of Yoruba culture in the anthology. In the poem titled, Grandma and I, it was raining and there was sunshine simultaneously, in the poet’s culture, it means the hyena is getting wedded but in Yoruba culture, it is called, “Ekun n bimo” which means the Tiger is giving birth. Also in Ears, the mother cautioned her children making them know that walls have ears and this is similar to a Yoruba adage of the same meaning “Ogiri leti”. The thought pattern of Africans is identical.

The anthology Give Me Room To Move My Feet has a very rich content both that shows that the themes that unify the African cosmology. Barya has shown that it is possible to write in simple English and still give profound description of happenings around Africa. Barya has got a larger room by writing these poems in her own unique way.