Ceremony with the Dust

Through his poetry collection, Ceremony with the dust, Onuegbu na Chieze seeks to unravel the several elements that compound the earth life of man.

With remarkable style and dexterity, the author meticulously leads the reader to experience every stage of life as he pages through the three-parted book divided in accordance with the title thus, Part one: ceremony, Part two: With and Part three: the Dust.

This book is one masterpiece that can make you laugh and cry at the same time. Even as he succeeds to render each part of his poetry collection striking, profound and pregnant with African imagery while exploring themes like innocence, love, hatred, conflict, religion and death, he remains relevant to every human being.

The author pricks our emotions as he enjoins us to celebrate early life in part one, ceremony made up of 14 poems. Yet, with the over powering sensation of nostalgia spilling through childhood poems like To the moon, Gone till December, Christmas, Nehemiah me, Little cousin and, with the overriding feel of romance as one savors teenage love poems like Annette, the author cautiously injects moments of solemnity in this part.

By reminding us that this is the moment when our generative power sets in, when we begin to ask questions, when we become self-conscious and begin to assert our individuality and rise above the fold imposed on us by society through poems like Who am I, the author prepares us for the next part of the book.

Part two – With (made up of 9 poems), brings us to the inevitable point of decision everyone must face in life. Thus, with whom do we intend to continue the afore-mentioned ceremony.

The author starts with the poem, Jesus and Lucifer wherein he makes biblical allusion to Mathew 4:1-11 in which the Lord Jesus was tempted by lucifer and compels everyone to decide if he would rather stand strong and uphold the will of God like Jesus did or lose his soul to the world as per lucifer’s temptation.

Through other poems like Four little cobras, what, then? and Ogbanje, the author unravels the conflict that comes with deciding to follow either the light (Jesus) or the darkness (lucifer). While exploring themes such as karma, war and peace, he harps that it would take genuine womanhood to lift humanity back to the place the Lord ordained it to be.

The author continues to dangle the carrot at us in part three, the Dust. As he further pierces our hearts with the 13 poems which basically uncover the themes of death, heaven and hell, the author succeeds to re-assure his readers with scenes of humour. He crowns part 3 with the title poem of the collection: Ceremony with the dust.

In this poem, a man reflects upon life on earth (dust). He speaks of people still celebrating, falling in love despite poor societal growth.

He reflects on all the women and pleasures he has had, then declares that he is not dust but spirit – that these pleasures are mundane. Looking back, he is grateful that he was given the physical body to walk on earth and now, at death, he detaches himself from his flesh (dust), and considers his fulfilled life – a ceremony with the dust.

Onuegbu na Chieze (Onuegbu Michael Ovie Chieze) is an author, teacher and Journalist. In 2016, he wrote thirteen phonetics textbooks, seven of which were published. He is author of Cup of Uwalaka – a verse play and this collection, Ceremony with the Dust.