Tag: Poetry

Join us for the second edition of our Virtual Poetry Festival featuring the best of our published poets, including Mary Ngwebong Ngu, Lilian Atanga, Ekpe Inyang, Nnane Ntube, Franklin Agogho,

The foremost English critic, Matthew Arnold, once observed that “poetry is, at bottom, a criticism of life; that the greatness of a poet lies in his (her) powerful and beautiful application of ideas to life; to the question: How do we live?” Arnold here simply meant that poetry should be relevant to the lives of people and shouldn’t be far-fetched as to have no direct contact with humankind. This observation aptly applies to Beatrice Fri Bime’s Shades of Sorrow, Tears and Laughter; a poetic tapestry of 66 pieces of varying length rendered in 12 shades of unequal length. Here, Fri Bime’s appealing lyricism, her uniquely simple but witty voice, invites an engagement with issues that pertain to life; to all of life, in her immediate vicinity and beyond.

Tanure Ojaide is a well-known Nigerian poet, but he is also the Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies at UNC Charlotte.  I met Tanure shortly after he came to UNC Charlotte in 1990, but it was not until last year that our mutual interest in poetry intersected.