Dreams of Dusty Roads

In 1993, four years after the publication of Kora Land, Tijan published another collection of poetry entitled Dreams of Dusty Roads. This was also published by Three Continents Press in Colorado, USA. It is a collection of 34 poems divided into three parts: Roots (Africa and particularly the Gambia), Branches (America), Dream-Clouds (in the Mind). Beyond material things, believes Tijan, Man craves for spiritual things, longing for the Dream Kingdom where he can experience something that transcends him and will bring about spiritual fulfillment. One can safely say that in this book his mastery of style and theme is proven without doubt. Tanure Ojaide, one of his best friends and a professor at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte made a review of this book in World Literature Yoday published in 1994. He made an excellent review giving a brief but explicit interpretation of each part of the three parts of the collection. In conclusion, he wrote:

“In Dreams of Dusty Roads Tijan Sallah has matured into a master word magician. His lines are strong, varied and interesting. The voice is confident in its movement, with appropriate and recurring images, repetitions, and other techniques employed to talk about his homeland, his sojourn abroad, and his faith that a spiritual/mystical preoccupation would make life meaningful in the contemporary oppressive materialism.

Tanure, who has also edited with Tijan a selection of poetry, finds Tijan’s work quite useful in understanding Africa and the African people. Tijan perceives Africa as a tall woman who looks helplessly as her children go astray. He confesses being a believer of tradition only if it leads to affirming the humanity of every person. He remember’s Hampate Ba’s saying “a dying old man is a burning library”.

“To me, poetry can tap deep into the resources of history – it can reactivate dormant images, and give the past a life in the present, and allow us to go back to the school of the death and revisit their restless skeletons and learn from their muted voices”