Riehl Life: Village Wisdom for the 21st Century » The Horseman and Other Poems http://www.riehlife.com Creating connections through the arts and across cultures Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:35:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Riehlife Poem of the Day: Obi Nwakanma’s “Credo” from “The Horseman and Other Poems” http://www.riehlife.com/2008/04/19/riehlife-poem-of-the-day-obi-nwakanmas-credo-from-the-horseman-and-other-poems/ http://www.riehlife.com/2008/04/19/riehlife-poem-of-the-day-obi-nwakanmas-credo-from-the-horseman-and-other-poems/#comments Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:08:46 +0000 riehlife http://www.riehlife.com/2008/04/19/riehlife-poem-of-the-day-obi-nwakanmas-credo-from-the-horseman-and-other-poems/ Earlier this year Nigerian poet Obi Nwakanma filled my Gathering Room with talk that made the world right for the hours he shared himself and conversation. We exchanged poetry books at the end of our time together. I sent some of Daniel's hardworking roses home for Obi's wife.

In the days that followed our encounter, I stayed in my cave and read "The Horseman and Other Poems," often calling friends to read sections of the book to them in an effort to contain the fullness they evoked in me.

Please read an excellent review of Obi Nwakanma's "The Horseman and Other Poems" by clicking here.---JGR

CREDO
by Obi Nwakanma
from "The Horseman and Other Poems" (published byAfrica World Press, Inc.)

God.
Do not strike me down in anger.
Who would love the world if you do?

Who would drift with the plains? Tending
graves. Nursing the shipwrecks of the afterlife.

Whose voice will stir the air with songs? Rock,
roll, tremble in the core of your very hands.

Who would tell your history? Or keep your old
shrines, as would the curator the artifice,
as would the rocks the myth, of your last sojourning
on earth. Who would even rouse you to anger? Or
in your tutored silence
discern an image.

]]> http://www.riehlife.com/2008/04/19/riehlife-poem-of-the-day-obi-nwakanmas-credo-from-the-horseman-and-other-poems/feed/ 1