Viola Allo

(Akinlabi's work of lengthy narrative poems was difficult to get through, in terms of imagery/metaphor and topic focus, but worth it for his emotional cartography of what it means to be African in the modern era.)

This collection was a lengthy project I took my sweet time on and that is absolutely the best way to engage with this work. The editors clearly let their poets bring to the table poems that they thought showcased the best of their work, and did not restrict them thematically across poets. For the most part, all these chapbooks were fascinating and engaging - some poems hard to read, some poems hard to parse - but every ending felt like a satisfying resolution. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who wishes to explore current African poets and I am certainly going to be getting the other collections.… (meer)