INSIDE MY HEAD by Umary Ayim: Poems on nature and human toxicity.

Nature, which in its simplest definition means everything created in the world is perfect, that is, until through the insatiable need to improve upon it, the human is leaving in its wake, environmental destruction, social upheaval, economic woes, spiritual emptiness, injustice, fraud; the list goes on, endless.

In this important book, “Inside My Head,” by Umary Ayim shows by a compelling exposition that though it seems everyone in this century has lost it, there are actually only a few senseless drunkards who happen to be occupying the driving leadership seats, and steering the human race in the wrong course and unless the many good but powerless others awake from their apathy, take back control of the wheel, and applying sensible break at the many man-made dangerous curves, the human race is racing heading on towards a final fatality.

The book is a stunning and illuminating collection of poems. Her writing shows her grasp of contemporary social issues, presented in expressively rich figurative language, imagery and beautiful pictorial texts.

Ayim’s poems have souls. She writes with passion, feelings and a subjective narrative point of view which in my opinion is arts at its best.  What is most appealing in her work is the passion and emotion she displays through the technique of her presentation: it is not, for instance, the image of the battle of disorder the human engages in with nature in the production of sophisticated weapon through advance technology she presents in the poem … “Weapon of mass Destruction,” or, the drift and possible loss of pride and heritage in another poem “Divine Reflection,” that she showcases her play with words in the two poems but the sensibility or its absence; the sensitivity and out pouring emotive way the narrator attempts to make the readers see the drama through her pen eyes.  This is, way different from the straight forward ‘form’ use of the objective narrative technique that is devoid of the shine, meaning, feeling and all the fine and vibrant texture that come with non-form style.

Her work is a big leg up in an attempt to help nature reorder things the way it should be: By detail rendition of how nature was, how bad the situation is, what can be done to make amends and a preview of the utopian state, the human, she calls, need to rethink.

Her imagery is dramatic thematic expository and novel. She not only uses concrete objective representation but also, her use of allusion is clever. But then again, much more than these techniques, she makes sure that her readers can, with little effort, using their minds’ eyes, are able to trace, uncover or place the imagery of her stories-source to the lives and places of their origin.

Although Umary uses very little rhyme and few spattering traditional stanzas, not doing so, has not taken away the shine and beauty of her work, rather, personally, enhances it. She is certainly one I’ll keep an eye out for in the future.