BIAFRA NEWS : FREEDOM OF BIAFRA . Anguish of the oppressed

 

 

 THE RESTORATION OF BIAFRA NATION

Title: May freedom Sway Swing

Author:    P. E Ukagwu

Reviewer:  Charles Kaye Okoye

Publishers: Book Empire Publishers

A walk through the path of fear

Of palpitations of the heart

Dismay and despondency recreated

A peek into the dungeon- the abyss

The smoldering fires from the ember

That has refused to burn out

A view as fresh tendril emerges

As it grows, fresh, fast

Nourished by the flesh turned waste

Watered by the scarlet fluid

Alas!

Hope can be born.”

Welcome to May Freedom Sway Swing, a collection of poetry written by P. E Ukagwu. It is a long journey through Biafra, a journey through the past, the present, and into the future. The book contains different poems, of distinct subjects but largely related in theme and style.

In taking the readers into the past, the author recreates the memories of the old Biafra. The anguish of the conquered, the fear and trepidation of hearts that attend the oppressor’s March at the homesteads. It also captures the hopelessness and helplessness of the people and the resignation to fate- to death. In the present, Ukagwu is philosophical, and takes a general overview of human subjugation and attendant inhibition by the oppressor. The author still captures the indomitable spirit of the oppressed as seen in Biafra Adorned With Spoils:

O Biafra! You who swell spoil

And are with the spoils

Of a Mother Nature endowed

And adorned – which have chiseled

You are a soil of plunder

By alien kinfolk that suckle

You dry as summer dust

Ukagwu’s poetry collection, May Freedom Sway Swing uses precise language to capture the inherent insensitivity and wickedness of the oppressor on the oppressed; it captures the human propensity to inflict suffering on others.

Traversing 3 clear sections of the past, dealing with the invasion and destruction of the Biafran land; to the present, dealing with the emasculation and subjugation of the Biafrans; and the future, which is a picture of utter hopelessness and despondency, the poems give clear pictures of the travails of a people stifled.

Against Biafrans, marginalization is the order of the day. Brilliant Biafran children are denied admission to federal colleges and universities to favour children elsewhere who get far lower scores. The same scenario plays out, as lamented in the poems, when it comes to federal employments where candidates from the zone are denied opportunities reserved for those from the privileged section of the country, who sadly perform below those denied to favour them.

May Freedom Sway Swing doesn’t see much hope in sight. It however shows that no matter how much it is oppressed, the Biafran spirit is resilient and indomitable. The book urges conscientious and sustained effort toward liberation, mentally and physically.

In Thuggish Nation, Ukagwu decries the bruising and blitzing of a people by those who have the instruments of coercion:

Where harmony and homogeneity

Hone the people and their fate

What nation raises against her

Singular seeds the massacring

machines? And in the last verse of the same poem, the author laments the joy the oppressor derives from inflicting injuries and deaths upon the weak.

To have life from other’s deaths

To quench your power thirst

With others’ running scarlet fluid?

To breathe their resigned oxygen

To build with and upon their ruin?

The poems are presented in free verse, but related in theme and technique. The language of the poem is very rich, and largely esoteric. There is good use of all elements of poetry- repetition, rhyme, rhythm and enjambment. The imageries and symbols help the reader to feel the fears, the tension, the suffering and the hopelessness.

The pervading atmosphere and mood is predominantly that of despondency, albeit with a glimmer of hope no matter how dim.

The sound, due to the author’s exceptional use of rhymes and rhythm, is rhythmic and mellifluously sing-song.

Ukagwu is a Virginian literature extraordinaire, a US Marine war veteran, an Associate member of Academy of American Poets, a member of Poetry Society of Vermont and a member of rights organisations.