Product Description

Exile at home is a poetry collection that explores the theme of exile, ‘a dreaded and deadly estate for todays Africans,’ from two perspectives, within and outside the homeland. Exile, ‘that time of turmoil, that season of mental bankruptcy and material buoyancy,’ is full of pitfalls. If the exile finds no succour at home, he is no less of an alien abroad, where he remains marginalized, notwithstanding whatever wealth he may amass
These poems delve into two periods of Africans’ enslavement: Then (16th-19th centuries), it was involuntary; now, it is voluntary. The main theme is Alienation. Nigeria and Africa are the primary settings. The other, diasporic settings are Brazil, Cuba, and the United States of America, outposts where the poet visits and works.
This is poetry about People. African heroes, such as Nelson Mandela, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Wole Soyinka. Villains, too: Nigeria’s traditional rulers, university executives, politicians in uniform and in mufti, self-deluding Marxists, and others. The characters are also everyday People: Lovers, workers, students, black women and children, survivors all.
The poet derives his style from the orature of his Yoruba nation, in which the poet is a performer, a singer working in conjunction with a participating audience. In this live and living drama, one easily hears the thumping rhythm of the drum, the percussive thud of words loaded with the anger and impatience of a committed artist seeking change for the better. The staccato configuration of the language signifies the problems of a depressed society and a suffering and dispersed people.
Beyond hate lies love: Love of his people, and his home, to which the exile hopes to return, alive

94 pages
Paperback Binding
International Publishers Limited
Published 1998

ISBN 9789783428874Binding Paperback