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The forces of nature warranted that these two English speaking poets, linguists, translators cum academics and researchers be born in Ndop, Ngoketunjia Division, in the North West Region of Cameroon. The one is based in the USA and other in Australia. Disgusted by the rotten political clime in their country as well as the political stance of politician vis-à-vis the English speaking minority, these two poets in their poetry explore the ins and outs of the problems of existence, not only of the minority English speaking Cameroonian but those of minorities in a modern world with a push for globalization. To them art is not only a weapon for survival but one for resistance.
This collection is produced by a trio which in reverse order recalls the trio Senghor, Csaire, Damas; one African and two Caribbeans who were flag bearer of a protest for the recognition of fundamental rights of which Blacks were deprived of. In the same vein, the Clervoyant, Ndi and Vakunta trio: a Caribbean and two Africans in a globalised world dissect and trace, through their poetry the horrible affliction of postcolonial pain Blacks suffer from in spite of the fight put up by their predecessors for the obtainment of fundamental human rights. For this trio, the black pen will continue to bleed until the pain is buried. That will be the only way for all from English speaking Cameroon to Haiti to lead a life worthy of its name.
Soleil et ombre
(2010)
In this collection, Bill F. NDI resorts to more sagacious versification (rhyme constraints, alliterations and at times the alexandrine) in which appear marked influences of many a French poet. Some of his more audacious poems bring to mind Calligrams and typography of Appolinaire and Paul Éluard respectively.
? La vérité blesse ? ou encore ? la vérité est une pilule amère à avaler ? sont des adages depuis fort longtemps passés de mode. Cependant, dans La Logorrhée du poète ou lHistoire des Camerouns en 33 gouttelettes, le poète évoque et symbolise dune manière nouvelle et dune esthétique fascinante le mal-vivre de Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia avec ses frères/voisins de la République du Cameroun. Le premier ayant choisi (en 1961) la fédération avec la République du Cameroun qui nen voulut point au départ, sen veut et pour ce, cherche à défaire cette relation sans fondement ni base. Ce vouloir étant accueilli par une brutalité sanguinaire et féroce na laissé à ce poète engagé que le choix dexposer la laideur de la tyrannie, de la tuerie, de linsouciance, et de lhypocrisie de ceux sensés gouverner. Les sévices subis par le peuple du Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia semblent souligner la volonté du poète à faire valoir aux Ambazonians, leur droit de quête de liberté. Cette prise de position rappelle la perspective Sartrienne de lengagement littéraire. Bref, ce recueil est riche sur le plan esthétique et aussi historique de fond en comble.
When an Anglophone takes up the challenge to write in French and for those who think they have the monopoly of the French language, the result is exhilarating for the reader. This is regarding poetry born of the plume of Bill F. Ndi. Though this is not his first collection in the French language, The Crossroads: Black or Blackened smacks with the poets lexical usage and the imagery the words evoke to awaken the readers conscience of the misdeeds plaguing the society. The word choices are just and à propos. Esthetically and rhythmically, the poems in this volume jolt the readers senses.
Vestiges
(2013)
The poems in this collection are adequate, with great lines. The rhythm is stimulating to all the five senses thanks to the use of multiple images. A lot of imagery in Vestiges gives a picture of a war front after a ferocious battle. The objects, animals, and images in the poems disorient and lead the reader to focusing on putting flesh to the bones than just getting the juice of the poems... The rhythm more than anything else carries the reader through this chaotic tableau painted in Vestiges. In a way, this comes across as a substantiation of the poet's vision of our world and an explanation as to why he considers this collection as a skeleton; and precisely skeletons left by the ravages of war. Is the poet's world and ours a field of ruins and topsy-turvydom to which we are all blind? The answer is yours.
So much ink has already been spilled on the issues of climate change. In this collection, Bill F. Ndi blends environmental sciences with poetic art in a bit to make the strange ordinary and the ordinary strangely extraordinary. The poems challenge the denialists in desperate need for some material to chew on. The poems in this collection, written with both provocativeness and compassion, are about the wondrous working of nature. This brilliant work of poetic artcrafted with poignancy and beautyuses a fixed form, for the most part, as if to say Natures splendor should not be meddled with in the same way man has and still does. This collection is an exquisite, an incredible as well as a great and a rare gift from the plume of Bill F. Ndi.
Bill NDI's Bleeding Red: Cameroon in Black and White is another masterpiece from a poet with a deeply political vision. This collection of poems with Cameroon as the particular focal point is a paragon of socio-political and cultural alertness in verse that will get every reader on their toes. Bill NDI's world is fraught with topsy-turvydom. It is a world darkened by experience and a keen sense of the wrongs plaguing his beloved country. He points out, without preaching, where it all went wrong, how it can, or what it will take to, be redeemed. The acerbity of Bill NDI s criticism runs from the very first poem of the collection 'Anthem for Essingang' through The Promise to the very last one 'Papa Ngando Yi Mimba for Camelun'. What a clime characterised by a 'clan of mbokos, clan of bandits' It is just natural that as they perpetrate 'death and sadness' in his beloved fatherland, nothing but 'disgrace', 'great shame', and 'repudiation' awaits them for evermore.
Toil and Delivery
(2010)
Bill NDI's Toil and Delivery can be as playful and loaded as the clues in a cryptic crossword puzzle, which is to say that they are marked by a strange, energetic hybridity. They occupy a dynamic space between nursery rhyme and visionary Romantic verse, between the colloquial and the archaic, between postmodernity and anachronism. They are local and global, political and personal, Western and non-Western. With experiences traversing both Africa and the West, Bill F. NDI is one of those poets who gives meaning to the word globalisation. He embraces poetry as a material act in a troubled world, with poetry's power conveyed with typical irony.
Sing Love 101
(2011)
Sing Love 101 a collection of 101 love poems in which this wordsmith worth his words brings together the good, the bad and the ugly of human love experiences. The poems are glossed with the simplicity of a sweet gentle breeze that caresses the reader's heart like that blowing across his childhood rice fields in the summer. The poet highlights 'Love' as 'the Dream' none should let die.
