Refine
Year of publication
- 2010 (5) (remove)
Document Type
- Book (5)
Has Fulltext
- yes (5)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (5)
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.
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.