Where "Brother Jero" ply’s his velvet snare;
A thaumaturge of the beach-side town,
Who weaves a liturgy of thin, salt air.
With "The Lion and the Jewel," the dance begins—
A pedagogue outmatched by ancient guile,
Where Baroka, the wily forest-lord, wins,
Through the labyrinthine depths of a hunter’s smile.
See "Kongi’s Harvest" rot on stalks of pride,
A megalomaniacal feast of state,
Where orthodoxy and the ego ride,
Toward the eschaton of a bitter fate.
He mocks the comprador and mandarin alike,
With epigrammatic steel, prepared to strike.
Sonnet V: The Nihilist Abyss (Madmen and Specialists)
Sonnet VI: The Dawn of Memory (Later Memoirs)
He sets his course by "Ibadan’s" hazy glow,
A voyage around "Essay" through the past,
Where "Penkelemes" and political tempests blow,
And "Aké’s" innocence is eclipsed at last.
"You Must Set Forth at Dawn," the traveler cries,
Across the topographies of exile's pain,
Under the harmattan of a thousand lies,
To find the primordial and red-earth rain.
He bears the "Burden of Memory," a heavy frieze,
Of "Forgiveness" and its recalcitrant cost,
Through "The Open Sore" of national disease,
Where the sovereignty of the soul is lost.
The Nobel lion, with mercurial pen,
Exposes the machinations of mortal men.
The Jero Plays: Satirical works mocking religious hypocrisy and "spiritual" exploitation.
The Lion and the Jewel: A classic clash between the "modern" schoolteacher Lakunle and the traditional Bale, Baroka.
Kongi's Harvest: A sharp satire on African dictatorship and the cult of personality.
Madmen and Specialists: His most pessimistic play, exploring the dehumanization of war and the "specialist" who treats humans as mere biological matter.
Later Memoirs: Works like Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years and You Must Set Forth at Dawn which detail his life in political activism and exile.
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