Friday Poem – ‘For Natalia’ by Eric Ngalle Charles

~ Seren Books

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘For Natalia’ by Eric Ngalle Charles from his debut collection Homelands.

This cover shows a painting of a young African boy standing in front of a wooden wall. He is wearing a large black hat, blue robe around his waist and is holding a bunch of reeds.

In Homelands Eric Ngalle Charles draws on his early life raised by the matriarchs of Cameroon, being sent to Moscow by human traffickers, and finding a new home in Wales. Rich in tone, subject and emotion, Charles’ poetry moves between the present and the past, between Africa and Europe, and between despair and hope. It discovers that historical injustices now play out in new forms, and that family tensions are as strong as the love within a family. Despite the difficulties Charles has faced, Homelands contains poems of fondness, warmth and humour and, as he returns to Cameroon to confront old ghosts, forgiveness. 

For Natalia I was not destined to leave my bones on the snow-filled terrains of Vladivostok. This, I knew for sure, the treaty was already signed between my maker and I, although a stubbornness detained me. I knew my maker would not leave me half- way, in that lonely existence, swinging through the doors of insanity, a continual decent through hell, and her environs, the snow-filled terrains of Vladivostok. I hear it again in Old Russian Ballads, that filled me with hope so I could not give up. ‘Я вас любил: любовь еще, быть может’ * I loved you, this love can be again. It carried my spirit home, when I was eating leftovers from my mother’s dirty pots. I have known love: when we kissed, I felt your face in my hands. I was not destined to leave my bones on the snow-filled terrains of Vladivostok. Memories are my hiding place, dreams of hell and heaven intertwine, from here, I saw the green fields of my distant home.
‘Я вас любил: любовь еще, быть может’ I loved you, this love can be again. * Alexander Pushkin

Homelands is available on the Seren website for £9.99

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Listen to Eric Ngalle Charles discussing Homelands on The Seren Poetry Podcast.

You can catch up with all of series one by searching ‘The Seren Poetry Podcast’ in your favourite podcast app. Click like, follow or subscribe to have all future editions delivered straight to your podcast feed. Available on all platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Don’t forget to leave us a review if you like what you hear!

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