Give Me Room

Another new and exciting collection of poems from one of Cameroon’s foremost poets, x-raying life, society, politics, and the role of poetry in society. In 48 well-crafted poems written in impeccable English, John Ngong Kum Ngong dissects, in unflattering terms, his contemporary environment, “a strange sickening place fit for beasts and monsters only,” where “everybody puts on freedom but not every person is free.” Through carefully selected metaphors, symbols, and imagery, the poet lays bare the incongruities and incoherences that occur in this space while emphasising the role poetry can play in bringing about a new constellation.

These poems drip with the sadness of betrayal at the turn of events in a postcolonial context where waste, oppression, and highhanded politics are the norm. But the poetry equally captures moments of hope where the downtrodden rise to the challenge issued by poetry to break off the yoke of oppression.