May Freedom Sway Swing
By: PE MBA UKAGWU JR.
May Freedom Sway Swing is a collection of poems by Ukagwu. In this book, Biafra is reborn.
Of course, PE MBA UKAGWU JR. was not yet born during the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, which witnessed the deaths of over three million Igbos, neither did he witness the pogrom that preceded the war. However, he has, on countless times, been told stories of the war, the losses, the inhumanity visited upon his own people. He has also read books. . . books that dwelt on the short period between 1966 and 1969, when Biafra independence was declared to when the fighting Biafran soldiers surrendered to the British-backed Nigerian troop.
Aside from the things he was told or things he read from books, it can be safely said that what has had the biggest impact upon an impressionable Ukagwu are the things he grew up to see and experience in his region, which falls under the then Biafra.
As one who grew up and had his education in the South-East Nigeria, he has experienced marginalization first-hand; he has seen suppression, neglect, intimidation. He has seen winds taken from visions, dreams and aspirations, as equal opportunities are denied his people.
Biafra is supposed to be God's kingdom on earth, a land of milk and honey, peopled by an uncommon kind.
The author captures these and many other experiences in May Freedom Sway Swing. The overbearing slave master intent on perpetual subjugation of his slave; the fears and uncertainties of a future, the resolve of a people. . .indefatigable, undaunted, who thrive albeit laboriously.
May Freedom Sway Swing shows hope, one that can never fade.
The book is embellished with all the properties that make a great collection, good use of symbolism and imageries. The language is rich and sometimes esoteric; the sound rhythmic, rhyming, and mellifluous.
Ukagwu is an associate member of the Academy of American Poets, and this book, May Freedom Sway Swing, truly shows why he was inducted into such a prestigious academy.
