My Father Paints His Dreams on My Body: Poems (PB) (2026)

How do our ancestors inhabit the world that they have abandoned? What is the place of our family in our hearts? In this stunning debut collection, Ìfẹ́ol?wa Àyànd?l? reveals this interior world in which the past sings its lament in the present moment. The father is Àyànd?l?'s connection to the deep past and his ancestors, who move through love and the Nigerian-Biafran war, but also through the luxuriant landscape of rivers and forests. How does one person balance the past and the present? Animals can show us the way of nature. Prayer can form a river of the soul as it chants, praises, and reveres the terrible beauty of this world.