In this carefully thought-through anthology, Bole Butake brings Cameroonian poets of different generations, gender, regions, backgrounds and interests into conversation not only among themselves but more especially with poets from other parts of Africa and the world. This is a testament on the universality of poetry. It is an invitation for those in tune with poetry to reaffirm its magic and to spread the warmth of its embrace in celebration of a common and boundless humanity.

In this carefully thought-through anthology, Bole Butake brings Cameroonian poets of different generations, gender, regions, backgrounds and interests into conversation not only among themselves but more especially with poets from other parts of Africa and the world. This is a testament on the universality of poetry. It is an invitation for those in tune with poetry to reaffirm its magic and to spread the warmth of its embrace in celebration of a common and boundless humanity.

Offers a selection of African poetry arranged by country

Cameroon is no longer a peace-haven in Central Africa. This bilingual poetry anthology is a literary response to the avoidable but worsening and under-reported fratricidal war in Anglophone Cameroon. Written in English and French, the anthology brings together thirty-three poets from thirteen countries in Africa and beyond. The poets are concerned with the blood baths, burnings and other crimes committed in Anglophone Cameroon in the name of unity or division. Their poems paint raw images of the cruel killings of old people, pregnant women and children like those of #NgarbuhMassacre. They excavate the hidden mass graves and unveil the countless villages reduced to ashes and rubble. They recall the burning of animals and food and the brutal killing of nurses, patients and teachers. Their stanzas meander along with refugees in forests into Nigeria, into the jungles of Mexico en route to the US, and elsewhere. It is poetry speaking for human life and dignity, for peace and education, for inclusive dialogue, for reconciliation. It is poetry which should ruffle the consciences of those doing business in war, those pulling strings behind curtains, those who see oil before humans, those who trigger guns at their own brothers, sisters and parents, those who give orders to kill--in short, those who enjoy warfare as they profit from the spoils of war. This anthology seeks to raise global awareness on this forgotten war as a way of contributing to justice, healing, and peace in Cameroon.

Arranged by war, the book begins with the Colonial period and proceeds through Whitman admiring Civil War soldiers crossing a river to end with Brian Turner, who published his first book in 2005, beckoning a bullet in contemporary Iraq.

This anthology presents the voices of a new generation of African poets, drawn from across the continent and representing a wide range of themes, styles and ideologies. These contemporary voices have been shaped in the realities of postcolonial Africa from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1990s.