Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dive into the Nile!, May 12, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems (Paperback)
Nile River Woman by Kola Boof There are 52 spare but vibrant poems that make up Book I, Every Little Bit Hurts and Book II, I love My Man, in Kola Boof's tome Nile River Woman. If you like journeying to the core of your essential nature, being swept into the hidden places in the heart, mind and body then take off your clothes, sit in the dirt, recite and be reborn with Kola Boof! Kola Boof was born Naima Bint Harith in Omdurman, Sudan, Africa. She was orphaned at the age of eight when her parents were murdered in front of her for speaking out on slavery in the Sudan. Kola was adopted by an African-American family and raised in the United States. Her bi-cultural and bi-continental upbringing make her words a bridge African-Americans can tread, from the fairyland of our Africaness as experienced in America to the core of our African soul in it's raw majesty in Africa. Kola Boof's poetry contains no politically correct jargon, it allows the lowest of the low to have a voice, or as she says two voices. These voices speak from the sacred space of the womb. These, here-to-fore, silenced voices illuminate and elevate all who will hear its message. These voices speak of self-love, the duty of righteous leadership, sacred motherhood and the mother's power to heal. Kola Boof's purity of heart and earth-based vision deflect the attempts of others to defame her. She becomes the voice of innocence, an eternal virgin/woman/mother, a vessel filled with memories that pave the way to forgiveness of self and others. She speaks the words we say to ourselves, alone, at night. Kola's poetry raises the bar for 21st Century womanist thought; redeeming our hair, our breasts, our vaginas, and our bodies through her imagery. Kola's truth is spoken though men and institutions attempt to stifle and kill her. Perhaps the knowledge that, `you can not kill what gave birth to you', spurs her on, under girded by love of Africa and the African. These revelations strip her bare line by line and we rejoice with her. My favorite poem is `I Am My Own Daughter.' Please, step up and dive with Kola Boof into the Nile! Review by Iya Abiye
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful Poetry from an African Temptress!, April 8, 2005
This review is from: Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems (Paperback)
This is the second book I've read by Sudanese-born Kola Boof and although I thought her fantastic short story collection "Long Train" was angry, this poetry collection is even angrier, not to mention highly sexual.
Angry or not, I consider "Nile River Woman" a masterpiece.
This is what New World Beat Poetry is all about. Passion, restraint and lots of genuinely lyrical footnotes about issues and subjects that many of us don't know anything about.
Granted, as a White Male, there were moments in the book that I felt bad for the racism and hostility that Boof feels towards Arabs, Men and Whites, I totally understood her pain and was completely impressed with her ability to convey even the largest, most complex issues with just a few well positioned words. Her ability to evoke visions through both beauty and nightmare is impeccable.
She's not only a talented fiction writer along the lines of James Baldwin and Alice Munroe (read "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin"), she's also a brilliant poet with a very unique voice. This is raw poetry, for sure, but it's also the most compelling and exciting poetry collection I've read in years. There's nothing else like it. 5 Stars all the way!!!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Emotionally Charged Poetry, June 22, 2004
This review is from: Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems (Paperback)
In her debut book of poetry, NILE RIVER WOMAN, Kola Boof presents a strikingly emotional and somewhat controversial view of the world through the eyes of an intriguing and remarkable woman. To fully understand the depth of her writings, the book tells a bit of Boof's biography. Born in Africa as Naima Bint Harith, Kola Boof was orphaned at an early age when both her parents were murdered for their activism against slavery. She then moved to America where she spent her formitive years. Returning to Africa, she became an activist, a feminist, Osama bin Laden's mistress, and generated so much controversy that she was ordered to death. NILE RIVER WOMAN contains 52 emotionally charged poems, which tackle issues such as religion, slavery, racism, and feminism. Although at times the poetry is graphic and explicit, it conveys just how much the author has had to endure. While I may not agree with Boof's political ideologies, the intensity of her writings and the knowledge of all that she has endured made this one of the best books of poetry that I have read in a while. Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
