The Wooden Gong has spoken
The gourd of the gods is broken
Now the visitor’s disparaging token
We are made to hearken
Pull down the shrines
Put up the pulpit
Yours is base
Ours is genteel
Alas, alas the tale is out
The gods are rout
The land in doubt
As cultures crash in bout
The above is an extract from the Diaspora Heartdrops, a collection of poems of Chris Dahi.
Chris Dahi is a proud product of GovernmentCollege Umuahia, the school the produced litrary legends like Chinua Achebe and giants like Christopher Okigbo, Ben Enweonwu, Ken Saro Wiwa and such. This is a highbrow school with a powerful English background and therefore boasts of her litrary prowess. Dahi, born Adindu Chiedozie Onukwue, a prince of the kingdom of Ubakala was therefore raised in the palace in the midst of African traditional intellectuals. He further read Sociology in the University of Jos and now is a pastor in a pentecostal church in Belgium. All these prepared him for powerful works such as the Diaspora heartdrops and poems with a binge of irony like Encounter.
More ofthese poems are yet to come…
