Whispers from the Lion Mountain: Of War and Peace

By Jimmy B. Smith

This beautifully written book of mostly solemn Poetry succintly captures the true ordeal of an African country in the midst of war, violence, demise, corruption, poverty and hope. Smith creates a relation between these varying themes that abounded in his Motherland Sierra Leone between the period 1991 - 2002. He ponders the future of the country he grew up seeing been torn apart by civil war through his sleek and subtle yet easy to understand Poetry. Between the lines though, this young Poet's voice re-echoes a certain optimism that "THE LION MOUNTAIN" (Sierra Leone's moniker) will bounce back refreshed and take its rightful place in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Apr 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481789127

Jimmy B. Smith

I hold a BA Honors degree from the University of Sierra Leone and has written Poetry since the age of Eight. With my long years of exposure to the genre and having read and meditated on works done by Shakespeare, Soyinka, Peters, Arnold, Armattoe, Angelou, Cheney-Coker and many more both past and present; I believe I'm more than ready to make a mark as the afore-mentioned kindred spirits did and continue to do. With my strong mind and astute creative prowess, I have wowed my readers many times over and continue to do so in my hitherto unpublished state. This is my first foray into the world of publishing and I do feel I deserve it because its finally time my evocatively aesthetic pieces saw the light of day. Poetry for me holds supreme sway as an unrivaled avenue for registering my thoughts; especially those with a strong irregular buzzing pattern. Poetry for me, is a release from the doldrums of oppressive or hyper-pleasuring sensations and as such the comfort that springs from it is a mighty chain-shattering welcome. I'm in my mid twenties and live in Freetown, Sierra Leone in West Africa where I work as a Radio broadcaster. I have a daughter, Mary, aged 5. I lived through the brutal decade-old conflict in my country; a situation which informs most of my poetry.

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© 2013 by Jimmy B. Smith. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/27/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-8911-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-8912-7 (e)

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CONTENTS

Gratuitous Footprints

2.You’ll See Me Rise

Silence

My Twisted Brother

I’m More Than Me

Voodoo

Spirit Of The Dawn

Just This Once

Happy New Year Africa

I Still Rise

Time Spoke

Mum Would Listen

Identity

Midnight Poet

To Freetown, When You Were Defiled

Aminata

Africa We Had A Dream

Restless Nights

Mama Freetown

Liberian Brother (To Charles Taylor)

Of Skies And Friends

You’ll Rise Olduvai

Dawn And Night

The Black Homeland

When We Skipped Hills Like Rams

I Saw Her This Morning

A New Day

Soul-Ful Appeal

To The End Of War

Fiasco And Miracle

Twilight Of Unleashed Hell

Village Bride

These Hands Can Move Mountains

To the memory of my Mum Mary Amara and my Granddad Murray Amara.

To my daughter Mary; be complete.

This book is dedicated to the following people:

Morris; you’re a rock in the midst of sand dunes

Mary; You’re the joy that keeps me raring to go

Millicent; You’re a rose in the wind, but you still somehow manage to hold fast to your beautiful fragrance

Bridgette; You help to sweeten the sugar more and more

Kaudresi; you inject me with supreme belief every day

Gbanabom; How can I forget that we sup from the self-same pot of inspiration?

Marcella and Georgiana; you remind me of my limitations as well as my herculean strength

Erica Hoofkin of AuthorHouse Publishers; gracias Senorita for being a patient Goddess

GRATUITOUS FOOTPRINTS

Tragic numb