Author: Mathew Takwi,Publisher: NAB Ventures, Bamenda, N0. of pages: 89,Price: Not indicated,Reviewer: Dr. Athanasius Ayukako, Dept of English, ENS Yaounde
The Writer As Corrector
If writing was just for its sake, then it would as well be unimportant to the great majority of people who read it. For Art to have the deistic and reverend nature that it has, must go beyond ordinary stylistics to address some, if not all of the major pre-occupations of human existence.
In this light, the writer becomes the torchbearer of his/her society, trying to see through all the nooks and crannies of human life, not giving but suggesting ways by which humankind can come to terms with those problems.
It is in this way that the writer is sometimes seen as both a messiah, prophet or saviour of his people. It would not be an over statement to say that Mathew Takwi falls within the precincts of this category.
In reviewing his work however I don't loose track of his artistic ingenuity or rather at his ability to capture in a new verb the stylistic sensibility of a society moribund and given to moral chaos, political depravity and unpardonable social proclivities. The very first poem of this collection announces the keynote.
In "A Poem", the speaker trumpets in simple but determined verse his role in a dying society when he says that he is the "Eye of blind/ear of deaf/voice of Voiceless, / teeth of toothless". This keynote reverberates with the poignancy of selfless humanitarianism, and it first tells who the poet is- a writer concerned with the plight of his people.
From poem to poem, Takwi charges forward like an enraged and wounded soldier determined with blood shot eye to track and kill his enemy, the enemy here in very symbolic terms is the man who feeds on the tail of his people.
In a poem like "Whistling" Takwi lambastes with attractive indulgence the insensitivity and adamantine attitude towards those that are ruled. In this state the events, the poet's puzzle and worries are couched in exciting rehetoricity when he asks "Does anyone hear me?
Does anyone digest the song?/ Is it just an ear tickler of advertent neglect?" though no answers issue forward, the poet rejoins that "But Whistle, I whistle". The conjunction "But" shows his determination of forge ahead in spite of the none response to his pleas.
And here is where Takwi continues to ride on, answer or more answer to the questions that he raises the poet must speak on and challenge the existing status quo that hold away in a society which is deaf to their horrific realities.
Takwi's poetry echoes a society's cry for justice, peace and love which to the poet are hallmarks of better gains ahead, reason why in the poem "if I Could Love Only A Little" he shows the extent to which love could change the face of the world, in fact could change the corrupt society in which even he the speaker finds himself entrapped. One of the stanzas is telling:
If I could love only a little,
I will slightly right the wrongs in a glee,
And moon the dark clouds of human vicinity,
Like full bloom pink rose,
In green, green orchard.
Love becomes a fundamental theme in fact a panacea especially so if we consider its position in Christian theology. And Takwi is aware of this. If only people can show just a little love then it will not be an understatement to talk in metaphoric terms of paradise on earth.
To the poet, love for one another, but especially love for the nation has been banished; perhaps rather than make new laws, school children to different forms of ethical representations, build monuments of representative and respectful heroes, the poet suggests that we should rather show a little love to me another and to the nation and everything else will naturally follow.
The lack of love, the poet caution has "stressed and leaned" man out giving way to the "roaring ravaging fire of revenge and sin". In this maze of events, the poet in the poem "Send the Dove" demands the "Nkeng" hurricane Smart dove" be sent to "demolish demi-devil".
The speakers' emphatic cry for the dove indicates his urgent need for peace and quietude which the people so much need. Over and over again Takwi comes back to his major theme- injustice and oppression in all its forms.
Even in such poems which are far from offensive like "Milk", the poet's anger and frustration still find significant vent- "Suck my little queen, suck/though others, squeeze the cow of state in grabs".
What does this reflect of the poet? It shows in my opinion a restless mind benumbed by the frustrations of a people, a selfless wish for freedom for the under privileged, a yearning for an enduring state of justice and peace.
Though he writes of injustice, pain, frustration and human struggle, yet he is not oblivious to the world outside. He is a poet with a romantic sensibility, with a flair for local colour and parlance, a penetrating wish to take part in the marvels of nature, the beauty of the family and the vicissitudes of love. If we do not see him as a champion for just causes (which we definitely must see), we must see him as a poet of the softer sides of life
In all, Takwi's poetry cry aloud for immediate readership for recognition as it attempts to assert itself in the minds of those to whom injustice, poverty and suffering have become a daily portion. Dexterously couched in fine literacy techniques, the poems cry out for a new grammar of interpretation.
The poems in this collection are weaved in potentially poignant diction that on their own, carry the message across with clarity and concision. To read Takwi's collection of poetry is to stamp one's imprint on the unspoken and unwritten history of literature's
struggle to affirm itself into the mainstream of history's attempts to understand and justify its own judgment on the collective effort towards self-assertion and individual and collective liberty. If we do not read Takwi, then sincerely, I do not know what else we will read.
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