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Book review ~ Sketches (Poetry)

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Book Title : Sketches Author : Fatima Salihu Publisher : Polarsphere Books - Minna. Pages : 64 Year of publication : 2020 Reviewer : Ibraheem Uthman. Poetry is more beautiful if the reader can get a pinch of its meaning, some poems are so deep that all you need to do is enjoy the language and leave the meaning aside. At some point in the creation of the poem, it is expected that the would-be reader should be able to share the experiences of the poetic persona. Thus the reader is given a flight ticket to a poetic journey of words. This is the instance with SKETCHES. SKETCHES by Fatima Salihu, is a collection of forty six (46) mind-grabbing poems. The collection features themes like love ( addiction, for you, God of love e.t.c), death ( a date with death, journeys of words, Tayaza e.t.c), strength ( My mum ), unity ( Resilience ), farewell ( Bahama grass & How perfect ), loss ( lost love, lost a brother, missing e.t.c) and nature ( Beautiful worship &

Kwaghsende Jimin’s The Opposite Kingdoms: A Review by Paul Liam

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Book Title : The Opposite Kingdoms Author : Kwaghsende Jimin Publisher : Kwaghsende Ventures, Minna Pages : 72 Year of publication : 2017 Price : Not stated Reviewer : Paul Liam Kwaghsende Jimin has published notable works including The Pensioner (2006), The Benchmarks (2004), You Can Be Happy (2008) and Life Line (2004). A seasoned administrator with the National Examinations Council (NECO), Jimin’s works are known for their penchant for re-engineering the moral psyche of the people towards the ideals of a utopian society. This ideological dimension to his works is evident in The Pensioner and in his latest offering, The Opposite Kingdoms . Clearly his first published work of prose, Jimin uses a Reconstructionist prism in reassessing the relationship between Africa and the West, and the attendant effects of post-colonialism, through the use of a simple parable. The question of why Africa continues to grapple with underdevelopment in spite of her huge p

Book Review ~ Umar Dada Paiko's aphthongs ~ By Olu Jacobs

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The  sound and fury  of Silence  Or Is Sheikh Shakespeare? Introduction Before he was forced to commit suicide in 399 BC for impiety and corrupting the youth, Socrates reminded his accusers that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” 2. Sheikh Umar Dada Paiko seems to have reached the same conclusion in  aphthongs , his first poetry collection. It is a finely crafted work, part warning, part epitaph.  3. The book looks at our lust for life, the lies and illusions and vanities we pursue with such vigor and how they attenuate our vision, and concludes that we are on the path to perdition.  4. I am immediately reminded of Shakespheare’s Macbeth in that famous soliloquy over the death of his wife, the infamous, irredeemable Lady Macbeth, when he said, all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.  Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by

What Success Is Not: A Review of Sail Your Boat By Salamatu Sule

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Book Title : Sail Your Boat: Success is a Lifestyle and a Journey Name of Author : Musbahu El Yakubu Genre: Nonfiction (Inspirational) Publishers : Amazon No. of Pages :177 (to include about the Author) Year of Publication : 2018 ISBN :978-978-964-788-0 Reviewer: Salamatu Sule Reading inspirational books are a rare creative endeavor for me due to the simple fact that it gives short cuts to making money and not realistically for the sake of its entertainment and educational purpose. They also do not fall into the category of what we know as bibliotheraphies. When I first laid my hands on this very insightful and thought provoking book, I was skeptical, judging by the title, whether if the book will deliver on its thematic concern. I was not disappointed even though; curiosity bade me to go on this exciting journey. Success is a subjective term as it has a different meaning to different people. Success as depicted by the sub tittle of the book is a lifestyle a

Book Review: In Garko’s When Day Breaks, the elegant poems leave the reader begging for more.

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Review by Eugene Yakubu Behind this unpromising title are promising verses that will hold a reader spellbound with the wittiness, precision of imagination and prominent conceits. Garko’s poetry invites the reader to go beyond his imagination and expand his worldview with carefully molded verses and turgid images. What makes his poetry amusing is that it possesses a fair amount of literary and linguistic acuity that exudes enormous meaning in little lines— a feature of some of the most sophisticated poets only. It leaves the reader begging for more, cut too quick from this imaginative ecstasy that delivers in its first and short verses then allows the deafening sound of the mental images created to echo in the reader’s head. This is a collection to be read even though the themes end at surreal surfaces, only striking at the emotions, it offers a lot about love and nature, nostalgia and identity, virtues and vices and the illusory feeling of connection with the worl

Review ~ Aesthetics and the Contextualization of Meaning in Ahmed Maiwada’s We’re Fish ~ Paul Liam

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        Nigerian poetry has witnessed significant growth and metamorphosis over the years. Poetry without doubt has gained prominence as the preferred genre of literature especially among the younger generation. It is arguably also the most abused genre today. The advent of the new media and the subgenre of spoken word or performance poetry, have further revolutionarized the genre. Poetry has become more flexible and relatable, having lost its hitherto iconoclastic gaity; a consequence of the newer generation’s obsession with pop culture and entertainment.   Poetry is gradually losing its traditional essence as a sagely enterprise and rapidly degenerating into a merchandise. There is however the existence of a group of experimentalists or poetry fundamentalists who, working separately, are making sure that the value of poetry as we have known it to be is sustained. These are neoclassical poets bounded together by their genuine aspirations to keep the honour of poetry intact. Th