"THE CREATIVE WRITING CAREER I WILL NOW BEGIN" BY NKWETATANG

My creative writing career I will now begin,

For with this tranquil surrounding,

This old-fashioned furniture,

This meagre quantity of books

With few projects realised, but not appreciated,

And few correspondences written, but not responded,

My divine call is clear 

For me to now begin my creative writing career.

To God be the glory.

In 1996, I embarked on this forbearing journey,

And for twenty-eight years,

I have trekked through the aridity of the desert,

And over the sharp-pointed stones

And stumps of the wilderness.

In his poem titled “Ulysses”,

Alfred Lord Tennyson says, 

“Although much is taken, much abides.”

From me, much has been taken,

And to me, much has been given.

No one gets everything.

No one loses everything.

Behind modesty is hidden a great treasure.

To God be the glory.

This forbearing journey took me 

To The Writers’ Retreat Countryside

Where I imbibed romanticism,

It took me to a place which no one knows

Where I played my accordion 

And sang to the resident mystics,

It took me to two African countries

Where I tied long-lasting camaraderie

With established and emerging raconteurs.

It will take me to Oxford

Where I will read My Address

To the Greatest Creative Writers of Blessed Memories 

At Trinity College.

To God be the glory.

Although I will now begin with other things present

In the absence of financial backup,

I must not wait for it for eternity.

Everything does not come to anyone at once.

As I begin to walk faithfully 

Into the sounds of the shadows,

Financial backup will catch up with me 

At the crossroads like my deus ex machina.

To God be the glory.

I won’t wait for everything to come before I begin.

I am in possession of some hard-earned essentials

With which I will begin.

Among them are a flourishing vocabulary,

A sweeping articulacy,

A seething inspiration, and above all, 

An undeterred courage.

Beowulf did say 

That fate often saves an undoomed man 

When his courage is good.

I am Garibaldi with the head of an ox,

But with the heart of a lion.

To God be the glory.

It is the most expensive enterprise –

Demanding much time, 

Much energy and much resources

To aim at that lucid erudition 

Of Plato, of Saint Francis of Assisi,

Of Cardinal Newman John Henry – 

To become a studious artisan or an erudite 

Like Aristotle, Cicero, Sir Thomas More, 

Voltaire, Ralph Waldo Emerson –

To become a nation builder

Like Confucius, Marcus Aurelius, 

Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln –

To become a freedom fighter 

Like Marcus Garvey, 

Martin Luther of Wittenberg,

Martin Luther of Atlanta-Georgia,

Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.

To God be the glory.

Where is my creative writing career

Taking me to?

Whether it is taking me to heaven or to hell,

Like Alfred Lord Tennyson,

Either on this side of the bar

Or on the other side of the bar,

The one thing which is certain

Is that my pilot and I 

Must meet face-to-face.

Be him a pilot of gloom

Or a pilot of bloom,

I will dash swiftly into his embrace.

My resolve is 

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

To God be the glory.

NKWETATANG SAMPSON NGUEKIE,

Hermitage of the Mystic Masters,

- Bamenda, Cameroon, 25th May 2024.

The poet passed pledges to cherish his creative writing career. He promises to strive for and yield unique prosperity like famous writers. He confesses to fight for freedom, speak the truth and attain other positivities in the writing field.