How the End First Showed

by D.M. Aderibigbe

Crafting raw memories into restrained and compact verse, D. M. Aderibigbe traces the history of domestic and emotional abuse against women in his family. A witnessing son, grandson, nephew, and brother, he rejects the tradition of praise songs for the honored father, refusing to offer tribute to men who dishonor their wives.

Widening his gaze to capture the moral rhythms of life in Lagos, he embraces themes of love, spirituality, poverty, compassion, sickness, and death. Aderibigbe offers both an extended elegy for his mother and poems addressed to children of the African continent, poems that speak to the past that has made them.

We salivated; slices of yam softened.

We chewed our teeth; slices of yam perished.

Mother smiled. Father arrived,

filled the room with curses;

his voice beat in our hearts,

as thunder on the walls of a building.

His empty stomach was a bowl of anger.

In a room built with our silence,

father was hitting mother.

—excerpt from "Hungry Man" D. M. Aderibigbe. All rights reserved.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2018

Reviews

[Cody Dawn Morel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book. I was fortunate enough to have the author as a professor. Even though the class was an intercession class, it remains one of the most impactful classes I have ever had due to his ability to articulate different ways of seeing something. This trait was readily seen in his writing in this book, and I found the work striking.

[Cynthia Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

How the End First Showed is a collection of poems focused on family and relationships delicately. It is written with gentleness