Birthcry

Book excerpt: With unspeakable tenderness and palpable trepidation, Nigerian poet Obi Nwakanma captures the universal experience of childbirth. From his earlier collection The Horsemen and Other Poems, Nwakanma has become a “sojourner from a tangled past traveling to an uncertain future”, trying to root, shape and steel his unborn child to a world filled with graphic horror and indescribable wonder. Along the way he meets his muse, the sixteenth century mystical Indian poet Mirabai, and recites Elizabeth Bishop over tea. Thematically, Bithcry is intimate, lyrical and unrestrained while retaining a measured, coherent and precise form.