If You Must Set Forth At Dawn
Rise before the sun will smirk at your courage
Of a poet that birthed this madness
CHIMAMANDA OF THE EAST | a poem by John Kote
You are not a single story
Patience and pain have courted you to the gravestones of dearly beloved
Grief is not brief, take notes
A BIRD OF PANEGYRICS SINGS OF LEGENDS | a poem by Olajuwon Joseph Olumide
these souls live on,
with immortal footprints on this terrain of african poetics
embodying our narrative experiences.
COMMUNICATION WITH KASHIMAWO | a poem by Dr Stephen O Solanke
I kept
the mandate of my people
I died
the death of self
SAIL ON TO TOMORROW & THE FOREVER OF OUR MEMORIES | a poem by Kukogho Iruesiri Samson
Imomotimi, sail on to the other side
As we paddle words to hurry waves for you
While counting time on our prayer beads
AN ODE TO THE SON OF THE SOIL: A TRIBUTE TO CHINUA ACHEBE | a poem by Chidera Udochukwu
The most valuable Nigerian export is neither gold nor oil,
It is Chinua Achebe, the true son of the soil,
This is the poem to celebrate black excellence
‘HALF OF A YELLOW SUN’ & ‘PARADISE LOST’ (three poems by Yohanna Singfuri Daniel)
Does God allow gods
To preach love & show hate
In the name Of holy communion?
THE ROCKS HAIL YOU (2 poems for Niyi Osundare by Dunni Ebenco)
the eyes of the rocks shine at your voice.
the legs of the hills dance dexterously,
at the rhythmicity of your verses
‘BECAUSE BOYS ARE NOT FLOWERS’, ‘BLEEDING EARTH’, ‘IN MY COUNTRY NO ONE PAYS TICKET FOR THE CONCERT’, ‘CITY OF LIGHTS & ‘AUBADE TO DAWN’ (five poems by Adesiyan Oluwapelumi)
Say, silence bears seeds & disperses them through the garden of this body.
Say, her flowers have thorns.
Say, this body is bleeding. Say, this body’s throat is slit & parched.
‘RHYTHM’ / ‘BLIND SIGHT’/ ‘MISCONCEPTION’, ‘WINGS OF DEATH’ / WAS SHE CREATED TO BE SO?’ | five poems by Abubakar Auwal)
Another child renders grandmas’ poem
An imagination, whose stanzas are dyke of tales,
Now it has swallowed him a line.