A review by naava
Modern Sudanese Poetry: An Anthology by Adil Babikir

4.0

inkpots revving with fury

Let me start with that! That was an excellent few words! That was from one of the poems – I cannot remember which one it was but I wrote it down so I could remember it but didn't think to write down the name of the poem or who wrote it. Silly me.

I haven't read, uh, any poetry that isn't from Europe or North America or Japan. I don't think I've even read Rumi – really! So this was my first time to dip my toes into African poetry, Afro-Arabic poetry, not-familiar poetry.

Yet it was somehow familiar. The fervor, the vibrancy, I know it from somewhere – it was the poems of early 1900's Finnish poets that it reminded me of. And it was beautiful. It was touching. It was patriotic. It was inspiring.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to get to know African/Afro-Arabic poetry.

I received a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.