OLD LOVE SKIN

A collection of works in English by 51 African poets provides a vibrant tapestry of modern perceptions about the continent.

In the foreword to this rewarding anthology, the editor, Zimbabwean poet Chikumbu, notes that, in spite of Africa’s cherished oral tradition of poetry “through its griots and praise singers,” there is a dearth of published African poetic voices. He means to counter this lack with a volume of poems dedicated to the broadest definition of love: “A love of grappling, a love of taking up space, a love of beauty, a love of finding, a love of words, images, sound and a love of the creative passion.” The poems Chikumbu has chosen are intoxicating both in the beauty of their language and the depth of their analysis, and they sweep readers into the dazzling and wounded landscape of Africa’s past and present. In “Playing God in Old Love Skin,” Henneh Kyereh Kwaku sets up a central paradox: “You, god—have given / the crow the wind / & here’s the crow flying against / the gift & not gliding with it.” A number of poems confront the ongoing violations of colonialism. “The Gospel According To Colonialism” by Carolyne M. Acen seethes: “The colonialists...Taught us how to / pray with our / eyes closed. / To a God who hates / our dark skin.” In “Elec(sanc)tions,” Adjei Agyei Baah uses the Japanese Senryū form of ironic verse to satirize how this legacy persists: “Bursting at his seams / the politician tells us / to tighten our belts.” The condition of women is also given broad representation in such works as “Her Story—Flowers,” an indictment of rape culture by Esnala Banda, who warns: “Don’t blame the girls who think that love sounds like an opening zipper, / Or feels like unwelcome hands.” The poems in this collection are well chosen, viscerally lyrical, and deeply meaningful. They offer English-language readers a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the multifaceted voices of modern Africa, and they prove Chikumbu’s assertion that “poetry is powerful, is cathartic and most importantly is far from being a dying art.”

A wealth of poems that offer penetrating glimpses into the wide range of African experiences.