Books by John Ngong Kum Ngong

The Tears of the Earth, without pretence, practically holds court for environmental or eco-concerns with global ripples, staking a legitimate claim as a landmark tributary to the mainstream discourse and current debates on global warming and climate change, especially by portraying Africa, still trapped and anaesthetized in the web of post-colonial vassalage, compelled to mortgage her natural resources for savage exploitation with little or no regard to either environmental impact or sustainability. The poems are an expression of the author's noble indignation at society's governing elite for allowing collective natural resources "Mother Earth' to be callously butchered, so ingloriously ransacked, liberally poisoned and gagged "Beyond Recognition" for mere lucre or "Midas' touch" which procures and sustains the infernal binary of "Power and Pride" deified by our societies.

"In this wide-ranging collection of forty-three poems, John Ngong Kum Ngong undertakes a critical and acerbic diagnosis of the socio-political situation in postcolonial Africa through a deceptively simple, aesthetically complex, and ideologically intriguing style. The multi-facetted and interrelated motifs of 'shadows' and 'seasons', together with a plethora of literary devices such as paradox, suspense, metaphors, allusions, personification, irony, satire, humour, and contrast, are the weapons through which the poet drives home his message. The poems, in this collection, are not only politically 'correct' but are also artistically profound." - Zuhmboshi Eric Nsuh, PhDLecturer, Literary Critic, and Political Analyst

"...this collection is both poetry and a reflection on poetry, on the creative process. In deceptively minimalist style characteristic of seasoned bards and a diction charged with intricate conceits, John Ngong Kum Ngong launches a scathing onslaught on the ruling barons of post-colonial nations who have privatised the nations' wealth and power." - Dr. Gilbert Ndi Shang, Bayreuth University, Germany

Blot On The Landscape is John Ngong Kum Ngong's seventh collection of poetry. The central symbol here is 'blot' which takes on complex and fascinating meanings in this rich collection of 42 poems. At a time when concerns for the environment increasingly receive global attention, the collection expresses and problematises the way in which the environment in particular and the landscape in general are treated. The poet decries the fact that there is filth everywhere; in man's thoughts, psyche and behaviour and nobody seems to care. Seen from this angle, human beings themselves seem to constitute the major blot on the landscape.