The Edge of a Cry

The title of this volume is, in many ways, a misleading one, as what is offered is vastly more than a cry by a poet consumed with issues of such deep resonance for all of us, that we soon forget the marginal Cry. If his pivot is the wounded knee of his homeland, Oumar Farouk Sesay’s poems not only heal that iconic image of Sierra Leone, they transform, in his searing consciousness and humanity, the land and its people, into a poetic affirmation of pride, resilience and hope. But there is more: we are invited to walk on the many roads that this poet has travelled, and see the complexities of other landscapes, listen to their songs and stories, and be amazed by the rich tapestries of other people, as he seeks to embrace them in his own admirable images and soaring music. With this volume, Farouk Sesay has advanced wonderfully as a poet and can lay claim to being one of the two or three finest Sierra Leonean poets of his generation. Syl Cheney-Coker Freetown, Sierra Leone Author of The Road to Jamaica (SLWS 2015)