Project Description
Chinwe Azubuike
Chinwe Azubuike is a strong female contemporary voice from Africa, born in Lagos-Nigeria. Her origins are from Imo State. Her literary development began whilst attending secondary school. She has constantly viewed myself as a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s deprived underclass and recognised within herself a strong sense of social justice. This is reflected in her poetry as her work highlights the complicated issues and beauty of the people of Africa, especially the plight of women and children. The bulk of her work focuses on female issues; of love, life and torture with specific references to ethnic family traditions within West Africa. Her meteoric rise in African literary circles came about when she was invited to give a talk on female circumcision for the BBC World Service in 2004. Following on from that success she gave various readings at the Poetry Society in Betterton Place, London. She has spoken candidly on various radio stations in the Capital and her work has been published in various online publications and offline magazines in London and throughout the world. Presently, she is running a campaign worldwide for women, against the victimisation and deprivation of human rights of “the Widow” in Nigeria. This issue is extremely personal to her as it is borne out of her own bitter experience when her father sadly passed away. She has written extensively on the subject with essays and poetry and intends to create a documentary in Nigeria about “Death of a Husband”.
To The Memories Of Homage
I still remember the duty your lips pay
left and right as you walk
down the aisle of people back in motherland
The responses of women
with wrappers wrapped high above their breasts
busy, bustling with wares to be assembled for an early sale
in the glowing warmth of the morning sun
They never forget to respond~
with the chewing sticks stuck in their mouths
They never forget to call out your name
even before a salute leaps out of your lips
I still remember the sequential interference
of greetings that stops you in your track
to enquire the fate of your house-hold
and livestock if you possess any
At times irritating, but all in good faith
by well meaning hearts and acts of brotherliness
I remember the rebukes your unintentional mind attracts
from those who surpass your age when morals evade you
The slogan says ‘it is not love’
yet we engaged in it without ceasing
it gave and earned us respect
So whenever I see familiar faces here
who avert their eyes,
I wonder what they think salutation depicts.