Cryland Woes and Other Poems

"There shall yet the guns again
For privileged cups have emptied rivers
And sudden shock of burning thirst
Threatens the mother pot."
Poetry or prophecy, these riveting lines present a sample of the tour de force behind this cover, a poet's explosive anger at the parlous state of his country. Adroitly couched in words that leap at you, the verses in this handy book are smouldering faggots that signal a looming but avoidable catastrophe.

Onyechi Mbamali writes with rare passion, addressing universal issues by proxy reference to his beloved country. You could feel the pain in his brief preface to this collection wherein he alludes to "a great nation belittled and bewildered by poor leadership and decades of shallow conversation." Actually, the sufferings and social scourges afflicting his country may have echoes and mirrors in other parts of the world. But the difference that galls this poet is the shocking absence of meaningful conversation in his land of birth. Hear him in Rumble Of Stubble II:
But not a voice to speak for them
The jobless throngs in mimes of death
Too young to die, too old to cry
The empty lives that vultures trail
With patient smiles of grave robbers

Which voice is heard in word of them?
Not the law, neither the prophets
For the law in the land is a lie
And the prophets lose themselves in
Doublespeak where thief is chief

This collection of poems is stringed into a compelling narrative, a hazardous road journey complete with mementoes, myths and musings. There are questions of fact to rouse the nation from her numbing sleep and the inexcusable mass poverty that shames her plenitude of natural endowments. Some of the questions touch on the predatory talons of thieving oligarchs, some others rip the masks of deception off race and creed to expose the real issues that undermine peace and progress. Ultimately, Cryland Woes and Other Poems is a clarion call to a timely awakening. Only the deaf may ignore these telling verses....