Cherbo Geeplay |

Cherbo Geeplay and Golden Bough of Liberian Poetry

October 22, 2022October 22, 2022 admin2African Literature, Cherbo Geeplay, poetry0 comment

By Dag Walker As Liberia rose from the ashes of war, so too have so many Liberian writers risen to create a new paradigm of literature for the world. The words and visions of Africa rise up to give the world a new path to run, to carry the baton for those who come later, too. An explosion of poetry, memoir, history, of painting and music and dance, architecture, it comes, from my position as a viewer far away, from Liberia. From so much suffering now comes the flowering…

Artists & Reviews

Cherbo Geeplay’s poetry: like full-blooming tropical flowers

June 17, 2021October 24, 2022 admin2Cherbo Geeplay, Headline News, Literature0 comment

By Dag Walker Most of us are far too busy organizing the latest details of the upcoming quarterly financial report for corporate headquarters to piss away our time on things like soul auscultation. Bills to pay, take the car in for a tune-up, consult the caterer for hors d’oeuvres for the party. Listening to the sounds of the soul? What is that? The best I can do is refer you, gentle reader, to poetry; and the best I can do with poetry is to refer you to Cherbo Geeplay! I…

“2. Interview: “Dr. Patricia Wesley & Comrade Cherbo Geeplay”. Liberian Listener. August 14, 2019 https://www.liberianlistener.com/2019/08/14/interview-dr-patricia-wesley-comrade-cherbo-geeplay/ “3 Wen Wryte, “Dismantling the cancel culture.” American Thinker. July 6, 2020. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/07/dismantling_the_cancel_culture.html “4. Trudier Harris, “African American Protest Poetry.” National Humanistic Center, 1917 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1917beyond/essays/aaprotestpoetry.html

Interviews

Cherbo Geeplay: ‘an age when poets’ voices are ever-needed to speak truth to power’

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021 admin2Cherbo Geeplay, Interview, poet0 comment

By Mae Azango Who is Cherbo Geeplay and where was he born? I am an African who takes pride in his origins. I consider myself as a pan-Africanist, a Garveyite in that respect, and a great admirer of Edward Wilmot Blyden. I come from humble beginnings, like most of my fellow citizens. I was born in Pleebo, Liberia, where my dad worked for the Firestone Rubber Company as a teacher. Both of my parents hailed from River Gee. Most of my time growing up was lived in the southeastern part…

Artists & Reviews

Cherbo Geeplay: Understanding his poetry and politics

July 20, 2020July 24, 2020 admin2Africa, Cherbo Geeplay, poetry0 comment

By Dag Walker Thirteen years of civil conflict nearly destroyed the small West African nation of Liberia in the late 20th century. The period of reconstruction that followed in 2003 has surprisingly resulted in an explosion of local literature, some of it world-class in quality. A nation destroyed by war has suddenly produced writers of world-renown and hope for its literature lies on the horizon. “Usually wars or crises provide a new germination, if you will, like a forest that burns down and where new vegetation sprouts,” notes Liberian poet,…

Interview by Professor Patricia Wesley, Penn State University

Interviews

Interview: Dr. Patricia Wesley & Comrade Cherbo Geeplay

August 14, 2019April 25, 2020 admin2Cherbo Geeplay, Interview, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley0 comment

Comrade Cherbo Geeplay was born in Pleebo, Southeastern Liberia, Western Africa, and is a Liberian and African poet whose work has appeared in many journals and publications, and was interviewed by Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley. Can you talk a little bit about how you came to poetry? What has poetry offered to you? And what do you add to the dialogue of Liberian poetry? I think it was in high school, I got my spark from high school. High school was instrumental, and then during the Liberian civil war too,…

Born in Pleebo, Southeastern Liberia in West Africa, Cde Cherbo Geeplay is a Pan African poet; the Liberian native writes about: Africa, the Liberian civil war and its tragedy, and his Grebo heritage. His recently published short story: A CHECK POINT AWAY FROM DYING, was published by a literary magazine in the United States, which foretold the dire struggles of a family desperately trying to survive a gruesome war. Geeplay was among the younger Liberian youth, forced to attend college during the brutal civil war. He studied at the University of Liberia, majoring in Journalism and while in college, worked in the media as A senior staff reporter for several news outlets. His work has been described as layered and intelligent. His poetry first appeared in Sea Breeze Journal (Liberia) and in the Blue Lake Review (New York), Rigorous, a New Orleans based literary magazine, was also the publisher of his poems and debut short story. Geeplay have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies and was THE FINALIST OF THE ADELAIDE LITERARY AWARD FOR POETRY in Adelaide Literary Magazine, 2018, based in New York, also. Cde Cherbo Geeplay is the editor of an online journal, The Liberian Listener, and lives in Edmonton Alberta, Canada, with his family.

Artists & Reviews

Three Poems: Behind Those Walls, By Cherbo Geeplay

June 2, 2019 admin2Cherbo Geeplay, Liberia, poet0 comment

Born in Pleebo, Southeastern Liberia in West Africa, Comrade Cherbo Geeplay is a Pan African poet; the Liberian native writes about: Africa, the Liberian civil war and its tragedy, and his Grebo heritage. His recently published short story: A CHECK POINT AWAY FROM DYING, was published by a literary magazine in the United States, which foretold the dire struggles of a family desperately trying to survive a gruesome war. Geeplay was among the younger Liberian youth, forced to attend college during the brutal civil war. He studied at the University of…

Artists & Reviews

BEHIND THOSE WALLS

February 14, 2016January 31, 2020 adminCherbo Geeplay, poet

My wife whispered: somebody, go call Muna to come here. Let her tell her dad what she told me today. I asked: What’s going on behind those walls in her room? Muna, our daughter’s quiet spoke louder than her usual. Yes, a silence likened to a suicide note. The obvious depression you noticed, with suicide written all over it, like a flower that folds under a burning heat, that writes its own death on the walls of its garden somewhere around the street. The hashtags were all on Facebook, Twitter…

Ralph Cherbo Geeplay: "I was born in Pleebo, Southeastern Liberia, West Africa. I published my first set of poems in 2009 in the Liberian Sea Breeze Journal, edited by Stephanie Horton. A Pan African poet, I write about Africa, the Liberian civil war, my Grebo heritage, and everything in between. I recently published my poetry in the Blue Lake Review, and the Adelaide Literary Magazine for which I was THE FINALIST OF THE ADELAIDE LITERARY AWARD FOR POETRY 2018. I am the editor of an online journal, The Liberian Listener, and live in Edmonton Alberta, Canada, with my family."

Tributes

Farewell to Ellen

December 9, 2013May 6, 2020 adminAfrica, Cherbo Geeplay, poet

Farewell to Ellen It rains so much in Monrovia that a day is like the bloated dough on a grey earthly May, washing over October. My love, the sun, hides in her bright den refusing to be seen. Life comes to a slow twiggy motion; the forest is breathing with moisture, like a hut puffing smoke as a pipe. While the creeks bridged their ledges, there is a seismic run-down Waterside! Enough, no more, the sewage can take! She is in my arms, listening to the music pounding the roof.…