Nigeria: Egbunike's 'Incantations' - Exploring Catholic Spirituality, Igbo Heritage

Egbunike's poetry is characterised by metaphysical depth, cultural resonance and penetrating imagery.

The poems journey through two worlds, shaped by the Catholic faith and Igbo heritage. Some carry the weight of grief, in which silence echoes with the presence of those who have passed into memory. Others celebrate the joy of being alive, reminding us how fragile and precious each moment is. Some of the poems also awaken the voice of conscience, a light that may flicker but never dies out.

Head of PAU Press and Senior Lecturer at the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Nwachukwu Egbunike, will launch his third poetry collection, Incantations, on Saturday, 14 February, at the Alliance Française Library, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Published by Ibadan-based Noirledge Publishing, Incantations is a bold and tender poetic experiment that translates oral tradition into written verse. In African tradition, an incantation is more than a chant. It is poetry spoken to open doors between the living and the ancestors, the visible and the unseen. In this collection, Egbunike carries that ancient rhythm onto the page, blending beauty, ritual, and the heartbeat of everyday life.

The poems journey through two worlds, shaped by the Catholic faith and Igbo heritage. Some carry the weight of grief, in which silence echoes with the presence of those who have passed into memory. Others celebrate the joy of being alive, reminding us how fragile and precious each moment is. Some of the poems also awaken the voice of conscience, a light that may flicker but never dies out.

Incantation also unfolds as a meditation on life, death, and the spaces in between -- an awakening of conscience, and a quiet celebration of life's fragile, fleeting, and precious moments. It invites readers to listen closely, to feel the pull of ancestral voices, and to discover poetry as invocation, as bridge, as living fire.

Egbunike, a renowned digital scholar and prolific writer, is also the author of two other poetry collections, Blazing Moon and Nka!, released in 2015 and 2021, respectively. Both collections were shortlisted for the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Poetry in their years of publication. Egbunike's poetry is characterised by metaphysical depth, cultural resonance and penetrating imagery.

Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom is an editor at Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) Press and adjunct lecturer at Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.

Read the original article on Premium Times.