dispossessed (eBook)

A poetry of innocence, transgression and atonement

James Ngwu Eze (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
138 Seiten
Daraja Press (Verlag)
978-1-988832-48-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Dispossessed is a poetic representation of life in three stages through the eyes of a poet. It shows, from the thematic interests of the poet; what he considers the crucial stages in life – Innocence, Transgression and Atonement. Innocence offers a racy view of the picture gallery of the poet’s life as a child. The sensibilities of the poet shine through the foliage of his mind as he pines for self-definition; seeking open ears for his verses. But it is also a period of apprenticeship as the poet hones his skills for the artistic long journey that is inevitable. Clothed in the innocence of childhood, he learns to talk in metaphors and search for himself in the community of imaginative people. This search lights up the path into the poet’s aesthetic mindscape and the silent questions that keep him awake. Innocence is therefore a thirst for sunlight; a quest for utterance. The unwary reader is beckoned into the quest through poems that evoke memories of their own childhood and conscript them into the ensuing communal experience. However, the human condition abhors inertia. But for any form of natural or artistic growth to occur, the poet must lose his innocence. So, Innocence and its poems of idyllic childhood soon give way to the unexpected --- Transgression. Transgression is the coming of age segment of the collection. The poet discovers love. And slowly, he finds himself taking a dip in a pool of emotion that appears to serve as the ultimate sparkplug for his songs. In essence, Transgression eases the reader into a rare observatory; from where the poet could be seen falling in and out of love and celebrating one of the most profound experiences known to man. It must be noted that in some instances, the love poems of Transgression are also not what they seem on the surface. In some instances, the poet addresses his troubled relationship with his country through poetry; mirroring his personal frustrations and disappointment in verses that come off as a voice of disenchantment. Caught in the firm grip of emotions, the poet changes like the English weather. But after waves of emotional whirlwinds in Transgression, the poet faces the next logical step --- Atonement. Atonement presents a poet who has undergone the rites of passage and weaned himself of self-doubts. He has washed his hands clean and must settle down to a fireside dinner with the elders. Atonement could also be seen as the poet’s personal admission that serious poetry ought to speak to the dominant issues of the day; the anxieties and insomnia of the age. He muses about these issues; posing rhetorical questions in about them in some instances. In the end, dispossessed is one man’s journey that finally assumes all the attributes of a communal voyage. Treading in the imagined interstices between the personal and the communal, dispossessed leads us to a clearing in the woods where our awareness of our world heightens with the turning of every page.

Inhalt

acknowledgement xv introduction 1

INNOCENCE

petals & buds 5 i am 6 here i come 8 here i am 9 april 10 a birthday prayer 12 searching for myself 13 mirror 15 the night of becoming 16 when i was a boy 18 dear mama 20 dawn 22

a rage of words 23 why? 25 rhythms of the moon 26 enugu 27 idoto 28 madiba 29 breathless 30 sunrise 31 a nod for peace 32

TRANSGRESSION

i found love 35 i’m coming home this valentine 37 rainbow 38 eclipse 39 a memory of love & loss 40 tears on the pillow 42 this is what it means to love you 43 when i miss you 44 now that the season is upon us 45 lonely 46 the end of a dream 47 goodbye is the saddest thing to say 49

a page of poetry 50 i ask for You 52 will you be there for me? 54 love song 56 write a song on my heart tonight 58 sunflowers 59 flawless 61 i do not love you 62 i dream of you 64 under the ukwa tree 65 the supplicant 66 wildflowers 67 what name shall i call you? 68 a blade of passion 70 yokohama night 71 good morning 73 beloved 74 in you i’ve found a new me 75 door of decision 76 ATONEMENT

a fistful of kolanuts 79 the poets’ republic 80 biafra 82 war & peace 85 dispossessed 87 dilemma 92 song of balaam 93 earthsong 95 the igbo landing 97 a song for the flutist 99 brotherhood of the robbed 101 stifling the sneeze of faith 102 elegy for the weaverbird 104 palm fronds for jos 106 ode to the zealot 108 teardrops on ozubulu 109 a scar in the heart 111 the battering ram 112 songs of freedom 113 this hand shall not write a sad poem 114 anambra 115 a song for the river nun 116 and the sun sleeps 118 re: epitaph for biafra 119

about the author 121

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.11.2019
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik
• Schlagworte: Africa • Atonement • Biafra • Igbo • Innocence • Literature • Nigeria • Poetry • Transgression
• ISBN-10: 1-988832-48-9 / 1988832489
• ISBN-13: 978-1-988832-48-7 / 9781988832487