Joseph Alila's "Thirteen Curses on Mother Africa" is a mournful collection of poems on the cultural, social, economic, political, and medical state of the African continent, and a statement about her future on the world stage. Of course, there are a number of romantic lines in the collection. The author uses soft Satirical Humor to drive his points home. The 'Longsuffering Africa Woman' and 'Ebony's Lazy Husband' are revisited repeatedly; and so are Africa's political ineptitude, disease epidemic, hunger, war and 'Ebony's Alien Husband.'