Origins of the Syma Species (African Poetry Book)

Winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets Winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, Tares Oburumu’s collection is a brief history of where he came from: Syma, a neglected oil-producing region of Nigeria. After growing up with a single mother in the creek- and brook-marked region, and himself now a single parent, Oburumu examines single parenthood and how love defines family circles. Mixing music, religion, and political critique, Origins of the Syma Species evokes pasts and futures. Inspired by the relative chaos found in the origin of things, Oburumu’s poems explore how the beauty of chaos binds us to our ancestral roots. In his poems Oburumu identifies with anyone who is a single parent or is dealing with the lonely trauma of a broken home. His poems instill hopefulness in a world that has the means to throw many into poverty and agony. Cover Page African Poetry Book Series Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Foreword Book 1 Emerging Acts of a Green House Tunnel Parental Guidance for August Children Watching the Movie A Beautiful Mind My Father’s Last Hope for Water Illustrations Showing Figures of Speech Left on a Telephone Line Years after the Civil War Teaching Metaphysics, or Disciplinal Notes on Self-Culture The Eulogy & a Brief Description of Buckingham House Surrogacy Let There Be Lamplight Maud, or Letter to the White Egrets Paradise Syma Minor How to Love the Boats Book 2 A Long Walk on Endlessness, the City of J. K. Anowe, the Decembrist Music, or Immortality In the Time of the Telephone Running How to Love a Girl—Austen College Recital for Pablo Neruda’s Genius & the I Is the Revolution The Origin Note 1—a Vision of Afghanistan Note 2—Syma Altar Notes Winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, Tares Oburumus collection is a brief history of where he came Syma, a neglected oil-producing region of Nigeria. After growing up with a single mother in the creek- and brook-marked region, and himself now a single parent, Oburumu examines single parenthood and how love defines family circles. Mixing music, religion, and political critique, Origins of the Syma Species evokes pasts and futures. Inspired by the relative chaos found in the origin of things, Oburumus poems explore how the beauty of chaos binds us to our ancestral roots. In his poems Oburumu identifies with anyone who is a single parent or is dealing with the lonely trauma of a broken home. His poems try to instill hopefulness in a world that has the means to throw many into poverty and agony.