A Sacrifice Of Words At The Mbari Shrine

A review of AJA MBARI: AN ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS edited by Ukachi Wachuku and Innocent Enyinnaya: Owerri: Cel-Bez Publishing Co. Ltd., 2010

By Chuks OLUIGBO

The 110-page anthology, Aja Mbari, features a total of 74 poems from 16 different poets. Essentially, it explores various themes and subject matters representative of the daily cosmopolitan worries of an average Nigerian, nay African youth as well as the concordant and discordant voices we encounter in our everyday lives.

The lead title, Nnenna Ihebom’s “Aja Mbari”, takes the form of Igbo traditional sacrifice: “Like our ancestors before us…/We come with our sacrifice…/May this sacrifice be acceptable/Consumed and savoured/Without remnant…/In this place of sacrifice”. One cannot help but add “Iseeee!” to that. The poem indicates that the spirit of sacrifice is still very much alive. But not the same with Chidozie Chukwubuike’s “Rumble from the rubble” where the gods make angry protests to humans to re-awaken the ancient spirit of sacrifice because “The drums no longer pound/And no more the ritual dance/To unveil Mbari offering”. Why? Because “Mbari has gone to church”. 

In Chuks Oluigbo’s “To a dying god”, unlike in “Rumble from the rubble”, the persona accepts the blame for discontinuing the sacrificial offering and begs the angry gods to hold their anger. But the gods are also to blame for they “no longer consume holocausts offered to them”. The situation is so bad that the persona laments: “Soon the remains of a once powerful deity/May be rotting in some foreign museum”. Sylvester Nwokedi’s “Jesus of Asaba” and “Hail Ojife!” are also poems of sacrifice, where Eyitu, the virgin daughter of Ojife, sacrifices herself to save Asaba people from dying of thirst. 

There are poems that rise against political oppression. Emeka Njoku’s “Ravished Homestead” laments that Nigeria is “damned to eternal servitude to bloated vultures”. Jonas Ahamefula’s “The Hot Seat” calls the seat of power “The selfish throne/Of selfish rulers”, while Chukwuma Ibezute’s “Agony” paints a vivid picture of the insensitivity of the rulers to the plight of the ruled, especially civil servants who, “to and fro, walk/With empty stomachs/Talking, grumbling, murmuring” while “politicians hold ball”. In Chukwubuike’s “The Date”, the poetic voice prophesies that in time, conscience, “The superintendent of all truths”, shall “pronounce judgment/On the plunderers of our heritage”. In the same vein, Chuks Oluigbo’s “June 12”, which derives its title from the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, states that “all who acquiesced/to the massacre of Truth/shall be gulped in the infernal wombs/of this reigning night”. No escape route for all political oppressors.

Abah Ikwue’s “Black Afternoon” captures in a caricature manner the excesses of the Nigerian Police, just as Chinweuba Egbuchulam’s “How Did We Get Here?” capture the experience of a kidnap victim. Ikenna Ebuenyi’s “African Pikin” is a touching revelation of the fate of the African child in the face of poverty, hunger and endless wars. The African child lives in a “chain of woes”. His trademarks: “nakedness, overt potbelly, hungry discontented look”, etc.

The vexed Niger Delta Question also captures attention in Onyeka Anuforo’s “Niger Hawk and Delta Chicken” where the plunderer boasts: “Your blood-like oil lubricates/The structure of my body”. Other poems in this category are Ihebom’s “Delta Debacle” and Chukwubuike’s “The Tapper and Our Wine”. Emeka Njoku’s “Footfalls” and “Nightingale”, Sylvester Nwokedi’s “Ifunanya”, Pascal Umekwe’s “Disclosure” and “You and Me”, Chinweuba Egbuchulam’s “Memories of You”, and Chioma Enwerem’s “If” centre on the theme of love, while Ihebom’s “Wordless Diction” and “The Wind” and Chioma Enwerem’s “Harmattan” and “A New Dawn” are nature poems. Chukwuebuka’s Nwoye’s “This World” and Henry Chidubem’s “My Condolences”, “Red Marble Petals”, and “The Poet Nags” are full of philosophical insights, just as “They Can’t Be Like Him” celebrate the virtues of Jesus Christ “Who defeated death and/Opened the gate of heaven/For all men to go in”. Chinenye Nwaogu’s “The Supreme Watchman” also exalts God who is “A supreme valiant immortal”.

All in all, it is evident that Aja Mbari is not only a showpiece that displays the colours and contours, warring and workings of young creative minds of this generation; it is also an offering at the shrine of creativity: a true sacrifice of words. It is hoped that the insightful reader will hear voices, see pictures, smell sweet scents and feel love’s caresses as he leafs through the pages pulsating with fresh images, vibrant zest and noble ideas.