Ike Ude-Chime

Biafra Blues & Other Poems Ike Ude-Chime

The Nigeria - Biafra war was one of the most devastating civil war on African soil. The author was a young boy caught up by the war. Ude-Chime, in his poem, "Biafra-Blues," forcibly reopens the wound of the Nigeria-Biafra War, as experienced by the Biafrans, the people of the Southeastern and south-southern Nigeria, mainly of Igbo ethnic group, revealing the gory images of pain, blood, violence, war, and death he witnessed during the Biafran War: In everyone resides one form of deep pain or the other and we tend to bear them individually in our own different ways. Some may decide to quit the scene rather than live with their pains, many will stay silent and move on as if nothing happened, while a few others will find solace through talking or writing about them. I guess I fell into the latter category. It took a lot of courage and time to reflect on the events one witnessed during the Nigeria-Biafra war and put such reflections on paper in the form of poetry. This is a prelude to a more detailed war memoir 'The War Child of Biafra' which hopefully will be published soon. Some of these poems will also feature in the book.