Dream Kingdom is a fascinating selection of the Gambian poet Tijan M. Sallah s poetry, which in his own words reflects the mystical and mythical basis for all poetry. This book includes selections from most of the poet s four collections of poetry: When Africa Was a Young Woman (1980), Kora Land (1989), Dreams of Dusty Roads (1993), and Harrow (unpublished). It also includes some unpublished new poems. The poet notes, the volume is a backward gaze at midlife, a selective stocking... Midlife the poet reflects, is the peak of the mountain of life. I look down and fear the fall. Dreams descend from their unrealism to the ground. The poems in this selection reflect a rich and generous imagination, spanning over twenty five years of poetic artistry, ranging from personal experiences of coping with adversity; ordinary experiences of family, love and friendship relationships; to struggles with African politics; to journeys to Persia and ethical musings on America and global injustices in Bosnia and elsewhere; to intellectual flirtations with the mythic and the mystical. These poems are deceptively simple as they are amazingly rich, and they paint the imaginative world of one of Africa s most talented poets of the post-Achebe and Soyinka generation. [These] poems have the immediacy of folklore, and reverberate with the power of an imagination large and generous enough to encompass not only the old civilization of the poet s homeland, Africa, but also the relatively new one of America. It is the images and perceptions they quicken, however, that hold my interest in poem after poem.... A fine [selection]! H. Lloyd Van Brunt, American poet [This] work seems produced by a sure hand! ...enjoy it! Gwendolyn Brooks, late Pulitzer Prize winning poet ...a poet of fine talent. When he touches the subject of his homeland, Africa, there is aliveness, a depth, a sense of time and culture, and an accuracy of portrayal we seldom [experience]... Lee Pennington, Appalachian writer ....there is little question about [his] talent. Charles Larson, Professor and Literary Critic, World Literature Today "[This selection] offers us the  [the poet's] new work and work selected from previous collections.  His touch is still sure; the images sharp; and the phrasing precise. And he has a continuous awareness of contemporary events particularly shown in references to Mandela and the women of Soweto.  ... a welcome new collection." Prof. Dennis Brutus, distinguished South African poet

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