Coming to America by Ifeanyi Menkiti

"Coming to America was Ifeanyi's final gift to all of us. We discovered the finished manuscript soon after he died unexpectedly in 2019. In fact, he had been scribbling lines from the opening poem, 'When this is Done,' on a piece of paper the night he died.This posthumous collection of poems exemplifies his characteristically eclectic style but with the hauntingly unique perspective of someone nearing the end of their earthly journey. Brilliantly intellectual, deeply spiritual, silly, searching, melancholic, and wise, these poems are the twilight ruminations of the philosopher and poet we knew and loved. We hope you find them as beautiful and prescient as we do."

— The Menkiti family

Carol, Nneka, Obiora, Enuma, and Ndidi

With his Neruda-like expansiveness and from his Nigerian vantage, Ifeanyi Mentiki brings the tragic and moral, the sensual and the love-binding dimensions of history and culture into a lyric vision that reminds us of how poetry probes human experience as no other art can.

—Peter Balakian

Ifeanyi Menkiti was a true hero, both as a gifted and delectable poet (what pleasure he takes in stimulating all our taste buds), and as the owner and rescuer of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop. Of course, we also knew him as a distinguished philosopher, and underlying all his poetry is a deep thoughtfulness and spirituality. Those of us who loved him miss him inestimably, but at least we still have his poems, and now with this book, more of them than ever.

—Lloyd Schwartz, author of Who's on First? New and Selected Poems and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic.

For philosopher-poet Ifeanyi Menkiti, Coming to America is equated with coming to the world.  His is as much a physical journey as a spiritual one, the poems covering  much intellectual ground, their subject matter, not infrequently, crossing international borders. In the main, Menkiti’s keen observations and intimate reflections dwell on historical, literary, religious and philosophical matters, with an injection of humor for good measure.  Told with much intelligence and quick wit, this posthumous volume of forty-five poems is delivered in a delightful stream-of-consciousness format, drawing the reader in from the outset.

—Tino Villanueva, author of So Spoke Penelope