Leaked Footages

Nigerian poet Sadiq’s award-winning collection describes scenes of terrorism and war, from the haunting images of women jumping into rivers to escape gunmen, to abandoned, burnt cities and a camp for internally displaced people (IDP). In a time when news and social media platforms have desensitized many to the near constant violence of today’s world, these portrayals are especially powerful and poignant. Take, for example, the ending lines of “drainAGE”: “back home, i waste days / tracing in memory, the skeleton of cities i once knew. so many / people have left. some nights, i find myself / in a dream running toward home. only when i reach / the end of the road do i remember there’s no one left / to return to.” There is a shift midway through the collection when the poems’ descriptions reflect the aftermath for survivors of war.