From Despair To Hope: A Review Of Chioma Enwerem’s AS THE SUN RISES

By Chuks OLUIGBO

Imprint: Owerri: Liu House of Excellence, 2008

As the Sun Rises is a pageant of beautiful and engaging poems that deal with a wide variety of topical issues (moral decadence, political corruption, social injustice) as well as recurrent existential human problems. In 87 pages, and in 45 poems of varying lengths, the poet echoes the voices of other poets, past and present, thus reflecting the collective thoughts of several generations of humans. But she does this so artistically and beautifully, in a style all her own, thereby lending credence to Alexandar Pope’s description of poetry as “What oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed”. The collection illuminates the creative vision associated with good poetry and distils issues concerning the polity with a keen sense of observation and a unique poetic diction.

In “The Miscreants”, for instance, we are confronted with corrupt officials “Twisting words/ Bending rules/ Breaking rules/ Fabricating figures/ Emptying accounts/ Filling up their filled pockets”. We also encounter them again in “Their Last Lap” where “their over-filled pockets” are “Scrambling for space”. Another social ill which captures the poet’s attention is moral decadence. In “Human Garbage”, the poet indicts all segments of society as collaborators in the pervading moral decay: from “Bald-headed, pot-bellied” old men to “Shrunken, wrinkled/ grandmas”; from “Young maidens” who deny their body cover to “Young soldiers” who “Roam every corner/ Exhibiting varied ranks/ of insanity”. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. “Our Mess” also re-echoes the same theme, but it goes beyond that to stress what is known as the first law of motion: action and reaction are equal and opposite. In other words, it re-enacts the motif of “crime and punishment” that is recurrent in works of literature. Hence, “We spit up but our spittle/ Splashes on our face”.

Like Ntiru’s “Pauper”, “Dawn to Dusk” portrays the plight of the poor and down-trodden. The suffering masses in “Dawn to Dusk” toil and sweat on “empty stomachs” and “with little or no pay”, just like the washerwoman in Oswald Mtshali’s “Washerwoman’s Prayer”. ”The Humiliated” re-echoes the thematic preoccupation of Kwesi Brew’s “The Executioner’s Dream”. Here, the blood of the murdered, including aborted babies, from “their secret graves” plead “for vengeance” before the Throne of God. In ”Deep Groaning”too, the poet beckons on man to curb his “unquenchable/ appetite for/ destruction” and save his environment or become ”a lost tribe/ with no homestead”.

In “Long Before They Came” and “Kaduna Massacre”, the poet fulfils the role of the poet as a historian and custodian of the people’s collective memory. “Kaduna Massacre” vividly recreates the incessant religious killings in Northern Nigeria where “flames of fire and smoke” surge “forth from life’s labour/ up, up to the sky” and there are “Heads in the well/ Ears on the streets/ Arms on the lane” The poet also goes further to condemn outright all forms of ambivalence and hypocrisy. The poetic voice in “Wishes”, for instance, laments that: “Your voice talks/ about love to me/ But your eyes/ Taunt me”. “They Ignored Ikoro” bemoans a decayed culture which has meant that “white hair” can no longer “utter/ truth boldly/ in the village square”. ”If” is a call for peace in a world torn apart by strife and hate. The poet invites us to “still hold hands/ And talk peace”.

In “First Rain” and “Harmattan”, the poet joins D.H. Lawrence, Keats, Wordsworth, and other nature poets to admire the serenity of pristine nature. Thus, even though the harmattan’s teeth are “as sharp as/a butcher’s knife”, it still comes “with/ A gift of sweet sound/ Sleep”, just as the first rain makes the spirit grow “momentously”, stretching and heightening “above hills and mountains”.

The poet, like most female writers before her, also explores the place of women in society, but she does not take it to Feminist proportions. While “Woman-Girl” and “A Life of Pain” portray the frustrations of a growing girl-child, “A Woman’s Strength” celebrates her determination to survive amidst “countless regulations”, “dark ancient rules” and “uncountable injustice”. “She strides and topples/on shrubs and twines”, yet she “stands resolute”, like “lilies among thorns”. There is also resilience in “My Tall Dream” where the persona strides on determinedly, though “strewn with thorns and stumps”.

There are poems that mourn the dead, but here, the poet turns mourning into a celebration of life.. In “Tribute to Mary Linda Chika”, the poet argues that what determines a successful life is not length of days, for the addressed in her “brief sojourn/ here/ accomplished much/ More than Methuselah”. Again, to live in the hearts of those we love is not to die. This much is reflected in “Exit: Dedication to Flora Nwapa” where “My dead hope/ Lives again/ When I hear your voice/ Echo still/ In the silent horizon”.

The eternal struggle between darkness and light is re-enacted in “New Moon”. Darkness “ravages the land” until the new moon arrives. Then, like a defeated foe, “Darkness frowns/ And disappears/ As it beholds/ The smiling face/ Of the new moon”.

One quality of a good work of literature is its ability to purge us of the emotions that it arouses rather than leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere. This much the present collection has been able to achieve. The poet does not leave us desolate and hopeless. Against all odds, hope springs up anew and fluorishes. In “A New You”, we read that “A new you/ will sprout/ with the freshness/ of a new day” just as we are promised “A new beginning/ When the seedlings/ Would sprout/ Smiling to heaven” in “A New Dawn”. In “New Moon”, again, the moon brings hope as it comes ”Casting her rays on the land”. In “As the Sun Rises”, which forms the title of the collection, we again see the moon as a symbol of hope. When the moon comes, “She builds up hope rapidly/ Rebuilding and/ Reviving”.

As the Sun Rises then is a successful outing. The poet’s style is enhanced by a wealth of picturesque images created through ample use of figures of speech. The simple verse format of the poems and the relative brevity of the poems that do not deter from their significance and indeed their topicality provide delightful readings for serious critics, scholars as well as simple lovers of poetry. The book renews hope in a world fraught with hopelessness, despair and despondency. Such hope is an absolute precondition if the present human society is to survive into the next half century.