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The development of exilic poetry in Anglophone West Africa The nineteenth century was a period of migration that was perpetuated by the socio-political and economic instability in the continent; this caused the decline in the quality of life which had forced many people to go on exile. This study provides insights into the development of exilic poetry in Anglophone West Africa to show that exilic literature is not an accidental product; it grows out of the sordid social, political and economic realities in the sub-region. The contemporary development in exilic literary discourse in Anglophone West Africa indicates a radical shift in vision which is informed by the need to use this literature as a writing-back strategy. We have also discovered in this study that exilic literature in Anglophone West Africa has grown from the simple narration of personal feelings to become a radical ideology for re-ordering of human relations. Moreover, this study shows that there is a wide range of forms emerging from exilic literary experience in Anglophone West Africa in the explication of personal feelings, nostalgia, alienation, political and socio-cultural disruptions. Keywords: alienation, Anglophone West Africa, exile, exilic poetry, migration.A pervading motif in recent Anglophone West African poetry is the narration of the pains and gains of exile; this marks a shift in the thematic focus from the poetry of dehumanization at home to the poetry of humiliation abroad, and by extension, the subtle stigmatization of African leaders for their irresponsible governance. Exile involves the physical displacement of a people from their homeland, either forced or voluntary. It is also concerned with the cultural and psychological disorientation of an individual as a result of estrangement and alienation. Arnold Itwaru (quoted in King 203) underscores the complex nature of exile when he stresses that "to be in exile is considerably more than being in another country, it is to live with myself knowing my estrangement. It is to know that I do not belong here". This estrangement, more than anything is felt at the domain of language when a migrant becomes inaudible as a result of language differences. Exile also has the capacity of providing security for people who are no longer safe in their homeland; this has influenced artistic creativity as writers in exile find it propitious to express their condemnation of the activities of the rulers in the homeland without fear of censorship or incarceration. Syl CheneyCoker has explained that writers go to exile under compulsion in order to help in the reconstruction of their society. He posits that:

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This paper explores the transformative vision of the Nigerian poet, Remi Raji from imaginative mooring in his earlier works to factional realities in Gather My Blood Rivers of Song published in 2009. In some poems in this collection, Raji embraces factional realities as he grapples with the narration of actual existence in Nigeria. This signifies a movement away from the speculative construct of the imagination as he presents the tangible properties of events, not as history, but the facts in reality. This differentiates him from other writers who merely re-echo or document events. Based on the materialist frame of reference presented in some of the poems in this collection, Raji is able to enact plausible narrations that have identifiable referentiality through which he guides his poetic presenta- tion of actual human existence.

Postmodernist reasoning signifies a move from traditional viewpoint to an accelerated technological terrain, the implication of this diversion is noticeable in the eclectic nature of life in contemporary society; all things become a continual flickering without any recognizable or perpetual presence. As a literary concept, postmodernism fashions the problematic landscape for the appreciation of the disordered nature of the world as it focuses on the dismantling of traditional values and affirmation of a fragmented society. Postmodernism, with its subtle emphasis on capitalism, has greatly exacerbated the post-colonial tendencies in Tanure Ojaide's God's Medicine-Men and Other Stories as money becomes a recurrent motif and a chief signifier. The stories underpin the overarching effect of cultural materialism, individuals and the society as everyone is caught in its web; these stories could also be read as the author's depiction of a society that is going through a cultural flux.