Ará’lúèbó

The Immigrant Monologues

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

178 kr

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Beskrivning

A layered exploration of the immigrant identity through the voices of multiple Nigerian American characters.The Yoruba word Ará’lúèbó (/ah-rah-loo-ay-bow/), as the book tells us, means “an endearing term for a native who has gone abroad, and/or is returning” or “a person who becomes a foreigner everywhere they go.”In his debut poetry collection, KÁNYIN Olorunnisola showcases the expansiveness of the immigrant experience through the form of the choreopoem, a non-Western style of poetry that incorporates elements of music and theater. The collection tells a multitude of stories through five people (Odunsi, beja, Levi, Sekina, and Ismaila), who, though fictional, represent the emotional truths of the lived experience of an African residing in the United States. As Ismaila says early on, “we r five fly kids hyphenated by time & / geography.”Mixing Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin, and English, Ará’lúèbó: The Immigrant Monologues is a blend of linguistic influences, with debts to visual art and rap music. At the center of its expression is formal experimentation; poems are structured like movie screenplays, diary entries, flowcharts, pie charts, and dictionary entries. The book encompasses a broad span of American, African, and other world history, even as it is strongly rooted in the contemporary, with references to Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar, and other Black creatives. Ultimately, the book asks who is allowed to belong and paints a portrait of what it means to be American and from elsewhere.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-03-15
Mått:178 x 229 x 10 mm
Vikt:227 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:104
Förlag:Acre Books
ISBN:9781968209001

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Mer om författaren

KÁNYIN Olorunnisola is a multidisciplinary experimentalist of Yoruba descent. His writing has appeared in The Georgia Review, The Chicago Review of Books, Al Jazeera, FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, and elsewhere. His debut short film, Chiaroscuro, premiered at the 2024 Rising Tide Film Festival. He is the founder of Sprinng Inc., a literary nonprofit, and a former nonfiction editor of the Black Warrior Review. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.kanyinolorunnisola.com.

Recensioner i media

“‘Let me be whatever I name myself,’ says one or perhaps more than one speaker toward the end of this deeply haunted and haunting book for those ‘who were called aliens in their own home.’ From DC to Oakland to the whole ‘afterlife of America,’ home is an ever-shifting experience, narrated and sung by an unforgettable cast of immigrant voices. The legacies and ongoing violences of colonialism, imperialism, and racism are real—but also real, very real, are the powers of language and love. In these poems love is language, the most inventive and soulful. At the same time, love is reckoning with history and confronting the self/selves. Love is the brilliance of this brilliant poet’s rage: ‘Rage against / the dying of your light & when you are long gone, / I swear this to you: You will live on in my rage.’”

Innehållsförteckning

Title PageThe Ara’luebo Chorus: A Prologue (A Choreopoem)ARA’LUEBO I: Odunsi1. The Ghost of SX MPhil 2. Alien Monologue #13. Willi Ninja4. Adieu Freres 5. Me, Malcolm & the Smoking Gun6. For You, Anton Fransch (1969 – 1989)7. Ode to William Dorsey Swann, the Queen Himself (1860 – 1925)8. Did You Hear About the Flaming Queens?9. Nasty Boys 10. Brotherhood11. Text Dada & the Crew & Let’s Have the Sickest Nigerian Night-Out Ever12. I Hear the Monkeys Love to DanceARA’LUEBO II: beja1. monologue on the first date: an oversharing masterclass2. i ask google for my biography & it tells me all the definitions of the word “black”3. ara’luebo as punchline4. nomenclature (the audience wears beja’s shoes)5. alien monologue #26. confessions upon hearing george michael’s “fastlove” for the first time7. Retroactively Liveblogging the "Miss World" Riots. November 2002. Kaduna, Nigeria. (or the One Where beja Recollects Trauma)8. letter to motherARA’LUEBO III: Sekina1. (self-)portrait as anybody’s favorite girl2. Christening3. grandma diaries4. sekina versus her mother aka mama sekina aka ms. khadija 5. mama sekina’s psychogeography (sekina’s mother gets a solo)6. talking to this socialist chick at the lauryn hill costume party7. alien monologue #38. Me, Viola Davis & Hattie McDaniel Make a Dadaist Film circa 18639. how sekina is feeling today10. how sekina is feeling today (reprise)11. The Miracle of the Red Sea in My Bedroom ARA’LUEBO IV: Levi1. A Three-Tongued Dirge for all My 3 AM Cigars2. White Fish (Ara’luebo Discovers Beauty)3. Shake It, Sweet Thing4. Chiaroscuro 5. Upon Seeing a Queer-Coded Portrait6. alien monologue #4: levi7. Levi’s Reckoning8. Ara’luebo Sestina (The Audience Wears Levi’s Shoes)9. Western Culture I10. Western Culture II 11. A Pantoum for My Executioner12. diptych for the god of fate13. Someday, I’ll Love MeARA’LUEBO V: Ismaila1. 21 Reasons I Am Mad at White People2. Shakespeare in di Ghetto3. Redneck Monologue4. Ismaila’s Soliloquy [duet with k.dot]5. alien monologue #56. Di One Where di Roughnecks Flip di World Upside Down While Looking Fab as Fuck 7. POV: The Quiet Cousin at the Immigrant Family Reunion 8. A Very Niggaish Ars Poetica 9. Who is Built to Survive dis Shit?Epilogue: The Ara’luebo Chorus (A Choreopoem )Acknowledgments