When Ben Okri arrived at the Fourth Annual PEN Cabaret, his first trip to the US in 15 years and after writing poetry for nine months solid he had little choice other than to read poetry. He gives a selection of short poems, starting with The World is Rich a mystical hoplesness gives way to the promise of love unfound, the river eventually finding its way to the sea:
They tell me that the world is rich with terror.
I say the world is rich with love unfound
It’s inside us and all around.
Terror is there no doubt, violence hunger and drought.
Rivers that no longer flow to the sea,
It is the shadow of humanity.