Poetry by Chinwe Azubuike

Chinwe Azubuike from Nigeria.

Here is a contemporary African Poet. She is regarded as a strong female contemporary voice from Africa, born in Lagos-Nigeria. Her origins are from Imo State and she is the first born of a family of five children. Her late father, Wisdom Azubuike served in the Biafran War and married his wife Mary in the mid 1970's. Her humble beginnings were a far cry from the literary educated class of poets- born into a relatively poor family. Over the past decade she has gradually crafted her own powerful voice and found a unique style of no-nonsense writing that comes directly from the heart.

Her literary development began whilst attending secondary school. She constantly viewed herself as a spokeswoman for Nigeria's deprived underclass and recognised within herself a strong sense of social justice. This is reflected in her poetry, as her work highlights the complicated issues and beauty of the people of Africa, especially the plight of women and children. The bulk of her work focus' on female issues; of love, life and torture with specific references to ethnic family traditions within West Africa.


Presently, Chinwe is running an ongoing campaign worldwide for women, against the victimization and deprivation of human rights of "the Widow" in Nigeria. This issue is extremely personal to her as it is borne out of her own bitter experience when her father, Wisdom, sadly passed away. She has written extensively on the subject with essays and poetry and intends to create a documentary in Nigeria about "Death of a Husband".



Writers Return by Chinwe Azubuike

The town criers are resounding the new liberated message:
The writers have returned to build the true Independent Nation.
Spelling out Independence clearly to all those listening.

Finally the day has come. The glorious day is amongst us.
When gifted Nigerians with the pen,
return and shape this new Independent Nation.
This day Nigeria faces a triumphant revamp.
A revitalisation of her reprehensible fallen past pride.

Today you will see them all; they are now beginning to flock.
The hot sun burning down on their backs,
softly caressing their blackened skin.
Man and beast roar with anger and passion
welcoming this long awaiting charge of honour.

They have resumed, in a frenzied gusto,
their rightful positions in every tribe of our Nation.
Scribbling, writing and punching away,
Protests and statements- their missiles aimed high
at our jailers of our new Independent Nation.

The town criers are resounding the new liberated message:
The writers have returned to build the true Independent Nation.
Of the revolution that is secretly emerging
of the second liberation of our Fatherland
fought with the only weapons that are left to us …
our pen and our wild imaginations.



Poetry by Chinwe Azubuike | Nigeria

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Onwu Di | Death of a Husband

She dies and, ….
"Oh! Take heart! "
"May God comfort you"
"It's one of those things"

He dies and it's ….
"Aahh! ! ! "
"She has done her worst! "
"Ajoo Nwanyi! "
"Amuusu! "

On sick bed,
On wheels,
Beneath the sea,
In the air,
"She was the cause! ! ! "
They always say.

The other people lament...
"What rubbish! "
"Such injustice!! "
but to deaf ears they fall.

They come in troops
Lazy bones in disguise
To reap where they sowed not
In the name of kinship.

Day by day they saunter in to cast your lot.
And at times,
battle over the remnants
like vultures to the carcass.

Di!, Stand up!!
Get up from your eternal slumber
and show us your slayer
for your home is falling apart.
Your kinsmen have ravaged your house.

Your wife has become a barbarian.
Made to drink the juice of your corpse.
Stripped of her beauty by her skinned head.
Ruffled and tossed like a culprit.

They have sentenced her to a dozen months imprisonment
in the confines of your ancestral home.
They gave her white this time, to cover her nakedness.
A change from the black that used to be the uniform.
And until she completes her days,
the light of the sun she dares not see again
nor witness the joys of the world.
And when that happens,
a second wife we fear she may become.

The other people lament again,
"What rubbish! "
"Such injustice!! "
Yet to deaf ears they still fall.

Your children, we know not their fate.
Chased away from your cocoon.
Scattered like sheep.
Destitute we fear they shall become.

Di!,
If only you will arise
and prove the innocence of your wife.
Then your home we fear,
is doomed forever.



Poetry by Chinwe Azubuike | Nigeria.