Mental Fight An Epic Poem

An epic poem touching on issues of racism, intolerance, and environmental destruction, from the Booker Prize–winning author.

There is much to celebrate in the human journey so far—art in all its forms, advances made in the fields of technology and medicine, and for many of us, the miracle of freedom. But there is also much to regret—racism, intolerance, the destruction of our environment, the reality and the legacy of slavery. In this long, sustained consideration of the state we find ourselves in, Ben Okri invokes the past to explain the present, and sings out a message of hope. The future is still ours to make.

This epic poem, an anthem for the twenty-first century, first appeared in The Times in January 1999. Its message could hardly be more relevant to our present condition. Discover this revised edition of an inspiring and extraordinarily tender work.

Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, essayist, short-story writer, anthologist, aphorist, and playwright. He has also written film scripts. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. His books include the eco-fable Every Leaf a Hallelujah, the genre-bending climate fiction Tiger Work, poetry collection A Fire in My Head, and the novels Astonishing the Gods, The Last Gift of the Master Artists, and Dangerous Love.