Here is a welcome companion volume to the author’s exciting Songs of an Egg-Head. This work, in light or free verse, provides more penetrating insights into life generally and into the life-styles of a contemporary society with which the author is closely identified as a scholar and citizen. While in Songs of an Egg-Head, the focus was on a putative land (Labuja), here, in this collection, the searchlight is on its later (post 1982) phase (Kolokia). Indeed, Kolokia, land of discourse, famous and infamous, produced a steady stream of gifted spokesmen and women of the kinds refreshingly represented in their frank, public colloquia. This surely, is a panoramic view of Kolokia, as fascinating as that of Labuja—both immense gifts of Mother Nature waiting to be tapped by Man, if possible, for the optimum pleasure of the discomfited in society as well.
Wide-ranging in its coverage is this set of “songs” (poems), forty-two in all. Launched on the music circle’s platform, they combine subtle sense of humour with horse sense and are nimble in their assaults on man and the society through fictional character. Chief among these is Afari, the irreverent fire-eater of the elite Salamander Society in Labuja, his putative homeland. In matchless style, halfway between standard prose and orthodox poetry, Afari highlights sure-fire passions on his era. Afari’s provocative Songs echo far and wide. This largely meditative work on the world around Afaris reveals great insight and candour. The Age of Afari blends snuggly with the Age of Wit.
Here is a welcome companion volume to the author’s exciting Songs of an Egg-Head. This work, in light or free verse, provides more penetrating insights into life generally and into the life-styles of a contemporary society with which the author is closely identified as a scholar and citizen. While in Songs of an Egg-Head, the focus was on a putative land (Labuja), here, in this collection, the searchlight is on its later (post 1982) phase (Kolokia). Indeed, Kolokia, land of discourse, famous and infamous, produced a steady stream of gifted spokesmen and women of the kinds refreshingly represented in their frank, public colloquia. This surely, is a panoramic view of Kolokia, as fascinating as that of Labuja—both immense gifts of Mother Nature waiting to be tapped by Man, if possible, for the optimum pleasure of the discomfited in society as well.
Wide-ranging in its coverage is this set of “songs” (poems), forty-two in all. Launched on the music circle’s platform, they combine subtle sense of humour with horse sense and are nimble in their assaults on man and the society through fictional character. Chief among these is Afari, the irreverent fire-eater of the elite Salamander Society in Labuja, his putative homeland. In matchless style, halfway between standard prose and orthodox poetry, Afari highlights sure-fire passions on his era. Afari’s provocative Songs echo far and wide. This largely meditative work on the world around Afaris reveals great insight and candour. The Age of Afari blends snuggly with the Age of Wit.