Tastes of Nature

In Tastes of Nature, Cameroonian poet, playwright, and environmentalist Ekpe Inyang seeks to break the monologue of globalization and, once more, let the dialogue between Nature and Culture take the stage. This is not done naïvely, by pretending that modernity never took place. In these poems, written between 1992 and 2021 we never find the belief in a simple return to innocence, nor a nostalgic yearning for a paradise before the Fall. On the contrary, Inyang stays grounded in conservational practices, in the daily interaction with his environment, and the findings of scientific research. His primary aim is to show how local places and global spaces are interconnected through ecological systems, and this ambition stems from a cheerful and sincere admiration for the lush beauty of the natural world.