This meditation is the result of a talk I gave during the 2024 SpokenWeb symposium at the University of Calgary. The title of my presentation was, predictably – “Orality, Graphology and Cadence.” I approached that … Read the whole text
(Scholar-Poet, Amatoritsero Ede, in conversation with Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, Poet and Novelist)
Amatoritsero Ede: Otoniya, it is a pleasure to have this long-delayed conversation with you. You are a poet first – I … Read the whole text
Night was Vanta-black as Manischewitz voluptuous purple—
serving as minor-fine, adolescent contraband—
squalled and squandered,
thundered and bolted—
unbottling two thirsts, our throats;
while her hair was gold varnished platinum
due … Read the whole text
Uncle Sam is afraid of aliens,
wants to keep them out of his backyard
so he builds a great fence
as big and tall as his domestic fears
to stop their insidious invasion.
The last thing that Uncle … Read the whole text
(Excerpts from the forthcoming collection, “Echoes from the Hills”)
Massive milestones skipped
Atop the backs of ripples
Rushing in a pond―
The little pebbles scattered
Along the pondshore.
The pond has frozen over, … Read the whole text
A Ladder of Bones
by Bunmi Oyinsan
Guernica Editions
248 pages, $22.95
ISBN: 978-1-77849-008-8
The title of Bunmi Oyinsan’s latest novel, A Ladder of Bones, immediately warns readers that what is to come … Read the whole text
Sweet sadness of surrender
when I know what you want
and you know what I want
and I’ve decided to give in
before you’re finished arguing.
I watch the thing coming
a mile away, and anticipate
your joy when … Read the whole text
In the Bear’s House
by Bruce Hunter
Frontenac Press
2025, 320 pp
“And how a person tells a story tells so much about them” (In a Bear’s House, 190).
At first glance, In the Bear’s House by Bruce … Read the whole text
Since his unexpected death on 7 August 2022, a lot has been written about Biyi Bandele’s life and work by colleagues, friends, family and fans. How he started his writing career as a precocious 14-year-old, by winning … Read the whole text
Me and Jesus have a lunch date.
He orders a plate of nachos and I think:
That’s weird, I mean, who knew Jesus
Would like nachos, but then again
who doesn’t like nachos, but really … Read the whole text
