Child of My Mother

By Kenechukwu Onwudinjo

Child of my Mother captures the yearnings of the human soul, and stirs up emotions that could be shared by anyone. It adopts a confrontational approach to multiples of themes. Familial warmth threads its way through the poems, forming a centre that seeks to hold together mans universal family, which includes nature. Child of My Mother adopts Igbo communal and all-inclusive perspective. These interactions entice the reader to participate in the experiences explored. They mirror the concerns of the immediate and global community, including: migrant crises, climate change, terrorism and reverberating themes of abuse. Its confrontational tone provokes a tumult of emotions and ensures that something uncoils inside of the reader. Child of My Mother quarries from the abundant imagery of the Igbo cosmology. It harvests as much from personal experiences as from images from the rich Igbo cosmology to say what must be said. Some of the poems in Child of My Mother echo older Nigerian poets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504991667

Kenechukwu Onwudinjo

Kenechukwu Onwudinjo, a new voice in African poetry, was born in 1985 at Umuejimoke-Ihiala, in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria, and was educated at one of Nigeria’s most reputable schools, Federal Government Girls’ College Calabar. She read English and Literary Studies in the University of Calabar and obtained an MA in English Literature from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Kenechukwu is an avid reader of poetry, and when she is not reading, she is writing. From an early age, Kenechukwu took to the arts and found poetry particularly to be her way of responding to several human conditions. Child of My Mother is Kenechukwu’s maiden poetry collection. Her first published poem, “I Am,” has appeared in These Fragile Lilacs Poetry Journal. She is a member of the Calabar Literary Society. She is currently working on her second volume of poems A Poet’s Diary and a play entitled Ifemefuna. Kenechukwu is a lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar.

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© 2015 Kenechukwu Onwudinjo. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   03/09/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9165-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9210-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9166-7 (e)

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

SONGS FOR THE STRONG BREED

I hold the Genes of Grandmother

Song For Grandfather

Song for Dodo Boy

Songs of the Village Square

SONGS FOR GRIEVING SOULS

Of Grief Beyond Words

The End Of That Bridge

Fated

The Holy Innocents

Another Anguished Mother

Accident Scene

THE AFRICAN MIGRANT

African Paradox

A Place Where They Are Not Wanted

To Flee the Land They Call Home

Come Home

Home Coming

Around Crackling Fire And Flying Embers

Syria

SONGS OF LAUGHTER

Laughter Plays Around Her Lips

Celebration Of New Birth

A LAND IN DECLINE

How Did We Come To This Impasse?

False Messiahs

Why Are We So Blessed?

Do Not Speak Of A Distant Peace

The Wounds of Today and the Thorns of Yesterday

Rebirth

IN MEMORIAM

Something Went Missing

My Beloved

Song For Big Brother

MATRICES OF LOVE

Love is…

Under The Almond Tree

Estrangement

Go On To Greater Love

This Love Cannot Be

For Departed Love

Undecided One

My Heart is Ripe

Of Quickened Breath and Stifled Moans

Love’s Demise

Jilted Love

SONGS OF STOLEN INNOCENCE

Days of Stolen Innocence

Another HUSH!

Trafficked

Going To Meet Her First John

Searching For A Daddy’s Love

Nights of Stolen Innocence

G-A-N-G-R-A-P-E-D

Traumatized

Child of Rape

SONGS OF IDENTITY

The Little Black Girl And The African Mask

Black Baby Doll

Black Barbie Doll

STREET ORDEAL

These Streets

In The Eyes of a Street Urchin

A Dialogue with the Jagged Soul

Sule Chase

CRUEL INFIRMITY

A Woman Dying of Cancer

A Mother and Her Son

When the Mind Caves-in

From A Wounded Past

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Now That the Rain Has Lost Its Way

May The Rains Return To Us

Homesick

EARTH SONGS

Waiting For The Harmattan

Song For Castrated Clouds

Let Earth’s Pain Be Soothed

Song For Drummer Rain

SONGS FOR SOUL SISTERS

I am

I Sing To Your Uncircumcised Lips

Only woman

Souls of Strong Women

The Birthing Of Another

Stillborn

They Call it Honour

Teach Your Sons to Cook

Bosom friend

SILENCE

Knotted Silence

Poisonous Silence

WARRING GODS

Beneath The Rubble

All Blood and Bones

What the Madman Said

UPTURNED WORLD

Lullaby

A Poet’s Plea

The Voice of a Poet

Let Us Build New Beginnings

Take My Words And Give It Some Colour

Feelings

A Poem Is Born

For

My wonderful father

Peter Onwudinjo

For his unparallel love

And unwavering devotion

That readily pours out for me

From the abyss of his heart.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am profoundly grateful to my family for their outpouring of love and support. My father, Peter Onwudinjo, read the drafts multiple times, gave me limitless access to his library, offered advice, gave explanations when I was confused, taught me how to tease and coalesce nebulous ideas and fragments of imagination into poetic forms, told me stories, sang me songs, engaged me in intellectual arguments, lent me his poetry books, paid the second installment of the publishing fee, skillfully pruned Dodo Boy and My Beloved making them more evocative, analyzed global affairs on CNN with me, respected my need to agree and disagree, endured late meals and slightly burnt food when I was glued to my computer, made room for me in his office each time I fled the bombardment of generator noise and gasoline fumes in mine, and boosted my confidence each time he read a poem and said "Odimma" just when I needed to hear it. My father’s delicate sensitivity to sound, rhythm, rhyme and balance benefitted me immensely.

I am thankful for the three amazing women in my life, my mother Bridget Onwudinjo and my sisters-in-law Maureen and Chibuzor Onwudinjo who fill my life with laughter. I am grateful for the support I received from my