Songs of the Season: (poems)These poems from one of Africa's most highly acclaimed poets and the winner of the 1991 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, are an ironic celebration of collective aspirations, failures, guilts and hopes. They call for change in a society wracked with problems. The poet sets out to produce a collection that captures the significant happenings of the time in a tune that is simple, accessible, topical, relevant, and artistically pleasing and, as he puts it: 'to remind kings about the corpses which line their way to the throne, to show the rich the slums which fester behind their castles, to praise virtue, denounce vice, to mirror the triumphs and travails of the downtrodden, to celebrate the green glory of the rainy season and the brown accent of the dry, to distil poetry from the dust and clay of the vast, prodigious land - songs plucked from the lips of my land in its manifold laughters and sorrows.' |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abuja abuu abuu AGIP agreement today agreement tomorrow Ajegunle Anini beast Behold we starve belly calabash Chinua Achebe claws clouds country less crossed the river daring dead and gone Dele Giwa door dreams drum earth Efuru elephant eyes fancied fat and broke Fela Anikulapo-Kuti Fertile dawn fingers fire forests foso Give me wine Giwa glittering gold grass green star departs Hard harmattan harvest head Heart of steel Hurray hyenas iron iron heels jungle king kobo labour land laughter lazy leopard lọ love my country matchet mo ti r'Ogun moon Muwamuwa Nigerian night Niyi Osundare noon Olof Palme Olowo palm wine parade today poetry ripening rulers are fat salute the hands saw you sprawled seen shout sleep song sowed stirring wind sweat sweetness of mutton Talaka think I love today Don't think today No agreement tribe twilight University of Ibadan Village Voices voice waters wolves Yoruba