60. The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison by Jack Mapanje, A Review
Title: The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison Author: Jack Mapanje Genre: Poetry Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series) Pages: 99 Year of First Publication: 1993 Country: Malawi For the Africa Reading Challenge Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison is a collection of forty-five poems grouped under four sections: ANOTHER FOOLS' DAY HOMES IN; OUT OF BOUNDS; CHATTERING WAGTAILS; and THE RELEASE AND OTHER CURIOUS SIGHTS. Together these interwoven poems tell the story of what got the poet arrested, his time in prison and his time out of prison. Jack Mapanje was arrested and detained in Mikuyu Maximum Detention Center for three and half years without charge. This arrest came on the back of the reprinting of his first collection of poems Of Chameleons and Gods . Right from the beginning, in the Prologue , darkness forebodes as Laughters and ceaseless tears shed/In the Chaos of invented autocracies//Now darkly out of bounds beyond [...] (Page 1)...