Guébo considers the Mediterranean not only as a literal space but also as a space of expectation, anxiety, hope, and anguish for migrants. He meditates on the long history of narratives and bodies trafficked across the Mediterranean Sea. What did it--and what does it--connect and separate? Whose sea is it? Ultimately he is searching for what motivates a person to become part of what he calls a "seasonal suicide epidemic."
This translation of Guébo's Songe à Lampedusa, winner of the Tchicaya U Tam'si Prize for African Poetry, is a searing work from a major African poet.