"To say these poems are timely would be accurate, but they are also timeless. The subject the poet gives shape and voice to in 'Preface for Leaving Homeland' is the physical, political, and psychological condition of those who are forced to leave their homeland or whose homeland renders them stateless within its borders. The past two decades of migration of Africans seeking asylum in Europe is the primary site of Salawu Olajide's engagement with a longstanding moral question: what is the cost of turning from those needing refuge?" - Shara McCallum. Olajide's chapbook is part of the New-Generation African Poets (SITA) boxset series. The limited-edition boxset is an annual project started in 2014 to ensure the publication of up to a dozen chapbooks by African poets through Akashic Books. The series seeks to identify the best poetry written by African poets working today, and it is especially interested in featuring poets who have not yet published their first full-length book of poetry. Cover art: The Mirage of Hope (detail) (2017), by Aida Muluneh