Upcoming Publications

Corssing Borders, a collection of poems, due date: January 2007

Every Rambler Knows, a collection of poems, due date: October 2007

Publication History

Pyramids, an anthology of poems from Northern Nigeria, edited by Ismail Bala Garba and Abdullahi Ismaila, Kraftgriots, Ibadan, Nigeria (2008), contributed 1 poem

'African Song' et al in the Crossing Borders magazine Issue 6, a virtual literary journal. See http://www.crossingborders-africanwriting.org/magazine/issue6

Dance the Guns to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken saro-Wiwa, edited by Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Kadija Sesay (flipped eye pubishing limited, UK, 2005), poetry anthology, contributed 1 poem

Five Hundred Nigerian Poets: Volume One, edited by Jerry Agada, (Aboki Publishers, 2005) poetry anthology, contributed 4 poems

Passport to the New World, edited by Sunny Ayewanu (Apex Books Limited, Lagos, 2001), poetry and short story anthology, contributed 1 poem

The Man Lived, poetry collection, (winner of 1999 ANA Poetry Prize) Kairos Productions, Abuja, 2004

25 New Nigerian Poets, edited by Toyin Adewale (Ismael Reed Publishers, USA, 2000), poetry anthology, contributed 1 poem

Vultures in the Air: Voices from Northern Nigeria, edited by Zaynab Alkali and Al Imfeld (1995), short story/poetry anthology, contributed 2 poems

The Signature Poem

Fulani Migration is my signature poem. It was written in the early 90s and how I loved to perform it in full Fulani regalia! This poem is part of my published collection of poems, The Man Lived, which won the ANA Poetry Prize in 1999. It started a new chapter in my writing, thanks to Professor Zaynab Alkali!

FULANI MIGRATION

He takes his whole clan:
The bulls, proud and forward,
And cows, a harem of them,
The sheep and goats follow
Like shrubs in a forest of beasts,
Then clan dogs and chickens.

Children and feeble old women
And young pregnant wives
Ride the backs of broad cows,
Tall men, slender and weather-beaten,
And boys ripening to men
Constitute the vigilante band.

Through savannahs and forests,
Over hills and drying rivers,
Day and night they migrate,
Following wherever pastures bid,
Caring little for ease and comfort,
Living and moving for their cattle.

The Fulani Poet

It all started in the dusty, semi-desert town of Maiduguri (North-eastern Nigeria) where I performed my poems for the first time in 1995! After sharing Fulani Migration, participants at that one-week Poetry/Short Story seminar started to call me 'The Fulani Poet'. And the name has stuck!

Well, I am actually, unofficially, of Fulani stock hidden in the home and culture of the Bura people. And I like to share my life in simple poems. Every poem I share with you on this blog allows intrusion into my life! Let me try and explain that with this ultra-short simple poem:

POETIC!

What it is, I know not,
The majesty of words,
The beauty of sequence,
The force of eloquence,
Poetic!

What it is, I care not
So long as it’s a heart
That’s splattered over the scroll,
Heroic!

He dared intrusion into his life,
He bore the wrath of disapproval,
He carried the threat of rejection,
Poetic is heroic!

Kabura Zakama, Abuja, 4 October 2001