“The Broken Home… A poetic inside story” authored by Chuma Mmeka is a narration with poems by an offspring of a marriage gone awry. A compelling read, the chapbook exposes crumbled relationships; brought to life rebellion in the family and menace to the society; and all hope seems lost”.
Chuma is an inspiring new-generation Nigerian poet. He’s been writing since he was eight. “The Broken Home” is his first published poetry work. Recently, his poems titled A People’s Culture, My Ekpe Dance, and Once Upon A Christmas Day: all culled from The Broken Home were accepted and published in the ‘Best “New” African Poets 2015 Anthology’ edited by Tendai R. Mwanaka and Prof. Daniel da Purificação, available on Amazon.com.
The Broken Home is an interesting true life poetry chapbook that cost me N300 at a Kano bookshop. With a cute black and white cover, the work contains 15 verses spread over 48 pages; each an original poem richly set in simple language. The story is fast paced yet provides a clear insight into the lives of children of broken marriages. The work revolves around a well-blended theme that touches on aspects of single parenting, a child’s yearnings and loneliness, adolescent frustrations and life’s regrets. The writer has a unique way with words to impress any teacher or student of literature; and utilizes an impressive array of literary devices to score home his points. Devices used in the work (to mention a few) include:
Imagery (page 25) – “… People and things swept past
As the trees beat the buildings“
Hyperbole (page 46) – “… And the marrying of diverse demons”
Onomatopoeia (page 32) – …The breeze is singing a merry tune“
Personification (page 23) – “…The skies crackled with willing rain”
Other impressively poetic lines from the book may include:
“…The whirling harmattan air”
“…Weaving gists, made us laugh and glow”
“…The wind is heavy, the sky is humid”
“Then began the dance with the elf:
Those mischievous little fairies
Who graced my lonely parties”
Great work really – for the beauty in the genre and for the story it tells!
Book Summary
In the first poem “The Broken Home”, an all-knowing Chuma Mmeka started the story from before he was born. While he accepts that his father was quite blame worthy for the break up, he blamed his mother more for leaving the marriage and taking him with her:
“… She was better off at the time –
And he had no job, and no money.
She hosted their home in her name,
And wanted to enslave him in it.
He was not innocent either,
For he was quaint and quite flirty;
He drank some and punched her much,
And helped to nurture the final hate.
… Transferring job and property,
She took me to a state apart.
And in the first years of my life,
I lost the joint love of parents.”
“The Accident” revealed the emotional attachment of the writer’s mother to her husband years after separation. Through the eyes of a child, the writer saw his mother’s fears at the thought of losing her husband after a ghastly auto crash.
“For The Love Of Family” and “The First Lunch” opened up with a mother reassuring her six-year old son of undying love, apparently out of fear of losing him. The poems introduced other family members and the boy’s first meeting with his father.
“A Vacation With Dad” is the longest poem in the cycle with thirty two stanzas of four rhyming lines each. Sitting on six pages the verse centers on a father and son getting to know each other. It recounts the experiences of the boy, his fears, his joys, the indecent exposures, and new people he met during this first holiday:
“… Peter once let me taste his beer
Mischievously giving me a cheer
He made me promise never to say
The reason I slept through the day.
… I remember dad’s lady friend Floxy
She looked bleached and very foxy
She would glue to dad like epoxy
And act as if she were his proxy.
… Another taught me to play a silly game
Older she was and Phina was her name
She’ll come to me and lay her breast bare
And let me suck, and touch her pubic hair.”
The sixth poem “Brothers Apart” on page 24 and the thirteenth “Two Fickle Nations” on 44, dwells on the poor fraternal bonding between siblings. In the poems, the writer traces the history of a violent relationship with his only brother:
“…We had our different nannies
And hid in different crannies
Mother kept our rooms separate
We each ate from a different plate”.
“…I do not blame him, lest I judge myself
For it was a procreator’s selfishness
To put a silly pride before our future
And for a father to leave a mother
To nurture two fickle nations alone:
With no goal set for real family value”.
“The Journey Home” paints captivating scenery that culminates in the boy’s first arrival to the village with his brother and mother; the disappointments and the mixed feelings.
“My People, My Culture” describes the writer’s relationship with his father in the village. It also x-rays the traditions of his people. “Once Upon A Christmas Day” tells the story of a polygamous family reunion; and the confusions of a boy. It is the last of the preceding poems apparently written from the perspective of a child. The subsequent “The Witness”, “Living Captive”, “My Regrets” and “Why Should I Forget?” are from an adult’s point of view. In these poems, the writer regrets his youth and exposes incidents that so nearly destroyed him. “Let My Writing Save Me” the last poem in the cycle, adds a sudden twist to the story as the writer makes a remarkable self-rediscovery.