A heartfelt, vivid volume of poems that explores the suffering and the splendor of emerging Africa.
A collection of short verse by a Christian poet from Uganda takes the reader on a journey through colonialism, revolution, and the contradictions of modern Africa.
Divided into sections—including “Voices,” “Values,” “Birds of Paradise,” and “Crucifixion”— the 102 poems in this volume provide insights into the complexities of living on a continent defined by incredible beauty, resilience, and growth as well as war, famine, and the legacy of colonization. Etoori (Eternal Ways, 2015, etc.) is a conscientious chronicler of horror, tenderness, and transcendence. His style is not in-your-face modern, but reserved and careful, making his intensely descriptive poems dignified and compelling. Some, such as “Hospital,” are perfectly evocative: “A uniform, stiff and white / Bathed in an inhospitable light, / Silently glides / Down a long corridor.” Others, like “Questions,” concisely capture the poet’s overriding theme: “Will this land imprisoned by hate, / Politicians venom—deceit and debate, / Ever, from this snare, spring free / To breathe, to develop its great beauty?” In “HIV,” “The Financier,” and “Genocide,” Etoori exposes the demons of a post-colonial society, while such works as “Youth in Revolution” and “The Cranes,” about the ebullient victory of the Uganda national football team, reveal some of its heroes. The poems in the last four sections are devoted to Christian doctrine, like “The God-Man,” “Unified through Suffering,” and “The Holy City.” While these are competently written, they move further and further from the gritty intimacy that enlivens the best poems in the book, but will likely be of greatest interest to devout Christians. The true passion of Etoori’s engaging collection is revealed in such works as “The Carcass,” which addresses Uganda as “Magnificent beast! / Slain by the colonial hunters,” and “Fruit of the Spirit,” which proposes combating the “shadow of greed” with the “wonderment of innocence.”
A heartfelt, vivid volume of poems that explores the suffering and the splendor of emerging Africa.Pub Date: April 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5049-4075-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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