Ismael Bala We plunged into the depth hoping to findThe trinkets we lost in times past—the companionshipsAbandoned; the vows broken; the love betrayed—Only to tarnish ourselves with much agony and Setback. For what we thought we would discover and tendBecame grits in our eyes, pricking usOn every side, burdening us with great painAnd asking reparationContinue reading “Precedents”
Author Archives: ismaelbala
Raising the Poetic Dust, Umar Abubakar Sidi’s, The Poet of Dust
Ismael Bala Book Title: The Poet of Dust Author: Umar Abubakar Sidi Publisher: Lagos: Konyashamsrumi Year: 2019 Pages: 69 I The question is still being asked about why people are not enamoured with poetry anymore, and why they do not give a hoot about its supposed literary and cultural importance. Over the years, many poetsContinue reading “Raising the Poetic Dust, Umar Abubakar Sidi’s, The Poet of Dust”
To Deviate a Beam or Invert an Image: Salihu Mahe’s World from a Glass Prism
Ismael Bala Book Title: How to View the World from a Glass Prism Author: Salihu Mahe Publisher: Abuja: Authorpedia Publishers, 2020 Pages: 53 Twenty Years or so ago one would be hard pressed to pick out a poet writing in English in Northern Nigeria from a line up, even with a gun pressed to one’sContinue reading “To Deviate a Beam or Invert an Image: Salihu Mahe’s World from a Glass Prism”
Notable Poetry Collections of 2019: An Omnibus Review
Ismael Bala Ebi Yeibo, While Masks (Lagos: Malthouse Press, 2019, pp. 125) Yusuf M. Adamu, Places:A Poetic Geaography (Kano: Admu Joji, 2018, pp. 12) Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Mixed legacies (Ibadan:University Press,2019,pp. 83) Patrick Oguejiofor, Don’t Call it Genocide Yet!(Abuja: Mazariyya Books, 2019, pp. 106) Joe Ushie, Yawns and Belches (Ibadan: Kraft Books, 2018, pp. 89) EbiContinue reading “Notable Poetry Collections of 2019: An Omnibus Review”
NIGERIA REVIEW OF BOOKS 