Fear Is A Cow is a collection of poems which focuses on the African "condition" and attempts to come to terms with the continent’s beleaguered past, its present dire situations, and the uncertain future. It is an elegiac book, but one that does not grieve overly and unduly over the ills of the past. Rather, the collection of poems celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. This is a book that frames and is framed by that age-old Somali adage: "Elegy is the voice of the survivor."

"In the poetry of Somalian Ali Jimale Ahmed there is love, pain, and the joy of life...[R]aised in an African country in which oral communication is still all important, poetry [for Ahmed is] an entirely natural form of expression."

—Daily Yomiuri (Japan)

"[Fear Is A Cow] is a passionate and elegant work. It speaks for a multitude."

—Charles Alexander, author of Hopeful Buildings

Ali Jimale Ahmed is a poet, essayist, and scholar from Somalia. He teaches at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His most recent book is Daybreak Is Near: Literature, Clans, and the Nation-State in Somalia (Red Sea Press). His poetry and short stories have been translated into several languages.

CATEGORIES:

Poetry/Africa