Poetry

Books

Letters to Marion (And the Coming Generations)
2009, author(s)-editor(s) John Nkemngong Nkengasong
In this rich and compelling collection of poems the author explores the recesses of the imagination to reveal the different facets of contemporary experience. In doing this he highlights the social, the spiritual, and the metaphysical functions of poetry. The reader will find in the collection sincere expressions of feelings and penetrating thoughts, the genuine tone, spirit and taste of poetry and its ability to provide contemplative clues to prevailing circumstances. The preponderance of (...)
Wading the Tide
2009, author(s)-editor(s) Emmanuel Fru Doh
Wading the Tide is an expression of profound emotions touching on a wide range of issues-personal and political-from the birth of the Cameroon nation, her political meandering, until the state of emergency declared on the North West Province in 1992. Accordingly, Doh complains, ridicules, and pays tribute, even as he instructs and guides on timeless matters of life, all in an effort to draw attention to his country’s gradual, downward spiral into anomy. ISBN 9789956558773 | 64 pages | (...)
Straddling the Mungo
2009, author(s)-editor(s) Peter W. Vakunta
A Book of Poems in English and French A sinister form of oppression, linguistic oppression, is the key ingredient in this rich collection of poems written in both the English and the French languages. Highly charged with political overtones, this anthology awakens the conscience of a society in lethargy, one in which even those who lay claim to superiority display gross incompetence in the management of state and societal affairs. Vakunta raises a strong voice against the wanton abuse of (...)
Shadows From The Abyss
2009, author(s)-editor(s) Frida Menkan Mbunda
This is the first volume of a patriotic poet whose heart is on fire. The poems touch on a variety of issues, some personal and private, other public - past and current. They range from family, love and longing; friendship and marriage, to culture, politics, corruption and death. They are cadenced and vibrant with different emotions: nostalgia, regret and outrage; loss, pain and pathos tinged with a touch of wistfulness and irony. In style and themes, they reveal a keen observer, a budding (...)
Oriki’badan
2009, author(s)-editor(s) Emmanuel Fru Doh
ORIKI’BADAN, is an entertaining, revealing, and equally didactic poem in which Doh, through an enchanting metaphorical backdrop, recaptures a memorable era-rich, diverse, challenging, yet gratifying-in the life of a distinguished institution-the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Characteristically bitter about those in power and the socio-political state of affairs on the African continent, this is a rare shot of Doh paying glaring tribute to his alma mater along with the distinguished faculty (...)
Coils of Mortal Flesh
2008, author(s)-editor(s) Ba’bila Mutia
The diverse voices in the poems in this collection are unified in the single voice of the omnipresent persona who appears to be searching for a collective voice, some kind of order or rhythm that would impose meaning to life. Reading the poems constitutes an individual journey. This poetic journey from Awakening that takes the reader to Moonlight Spells & Wreaths and leads her/him through Laments to the Epilogue is a continuous movement in the search for humanity’s existence. As a (...)
Beware the Drives
2008, author(s)-editor(s) Sammy Oke Akombi
This collection of verse, which has mostly short poems, some of which are two-liners, is an outcome of several years of keen observation of the very nature of man. The observation brought this writer to the conclusion that man is dominated by fear and in his effort to conquer it, he resorts to unbridled aggression. Such aggression has been very instrumental in much of the success that humanity has been able to achieve, so far. But at the same time, the same aggression in man’s nature has (...)
Majunga Tok
2008, author(s)-editor(s) Peter W. Vakunta
Poems in Pidgin English Pidgin English is the chief medium of communication for the great majority of Cameroonians. It sustains a world view, culture and way of life. Pidgin embodies concepts that would at best be partially expressed in formal English. A critical understanding of Pidgin English requires not only a thorough grasp of the socio-cultural matrix from which the words and expressions originate but also an immersion in an Afro-centric worldview. Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin (...)
K’cracy, Trees in the Storm and other Poems
2008, author(s)-editor(s) Bill F. NDI
In K’cracy, Trees in the Storm and Other Poems, Bill Ndi vociferously bemoans the fate of a world in which the good and the evil are intimate bedfellows; a world wherein miscreants proceed with nauseating impunity to trample on innocence. ISBN 9789956558742 | 124 pages | 229 x 152 mm | 2008 | Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon | Paperback Reviews “K’cracy, metonym for the reign of kleptocracy-cum-Kakistocracy, is the poet’s macabre hymn in denunciation of a clime characterized by passionate (...)
Their Champagne Party Will End!
2008, author(s)-editor(s) Dibussi Tande, Joyce Ashuntantang
Poems in Honor of Bate Besong Bate Besong was Cameroon’s most vocal and controversial poet, playwright and scholar, who died in March 2007. The poems in this collection are a tribute to the man and his work, and provide a snapshot of the mood that prevailed after his death. Bate Besong ushered in a new kind of nationalist “fighting” literature in Cameroon, unapologetic in its defense of Cameroon’s Anglophone minority and scathing in its denunciation of postcolonial African dictators and their (...)