Idanre and Other Poems

One Long Poem And An Eclectic Mix Of Short Poems From The Nobel Prize-Winning Nigerian Playwright Novelist Poet And Polemical Essayist Wole Soyinka.Wole Soyinka Is One Of Africa'S Outstanding Writers. He Is Already Well Known In The United States As A Playwright; Two Of His Plays The Trials Of Brother Jero And Kongi'S Harvest Were Produced Off-Broadway In New York. A Number Of His Plays And A Novel Have Been Published But So Far Only A Handful Of His Poems Have Appeared In Anthologies And Journals. This Collection Consists Of A Long Poem And A Number Of Shorter Ones. Idanre The Long One Was Written Especially For The Commonwealth (British) Arts Festival (1965) And Is A Creation Myth Of Ogun The Yoruba God Of Iron. The Other Poems Range From A Meditation On The News Of The October Massacres In Northern Nigeria (1966) To A Wry Lament To My First White Hairs And The Love Poem Psalm.