J. P. CLARK-BEKEDEREMO – THE WEEPING POET

Abstract

The life and poetry of J. P. Clark-Bekederemo is the focus of this paper. I examined the pain and anguish of the poet over the civil war in Nigeria as expressed in his poems. I found that, despite some apparent weaknesses in the poems, the poet succeeds in projecting his sadness at the carnage and wastage experienced by the nation during that historical period. I conclude that these poems also constitute a warning to the Nigerian people, that they should be committed to restoring the national community so as not to repeat the devastating political failures of the past, especially in the context of the Niger Delta crisis within the Nigerian body politic.