Preorcjah Vol. 4(2), 2019 https://ezenwaohaetorc.org 25 The poet as the conscience of his people: A reader response approach to Echezona Ifejirika and Ikechukwu Asika’s poetry Christian C. Chukwueloka & Uche Nnubia Abstract This paper explored Ifejirika, Echezona’s The Fulani Herdsmen and Other Poems and Asika, Ikechukwu’s Operation Python Dance. The study depicted how the poets successfully used their poems to sensitize and inform the society (the South East of Nigeria) on issues of national concerns especially as it concerns leadership. In doing this, emphasis was laid on the relationship between subject and actions in the poems, the leaders and the led, etc. The frame work of Humanism and Marxist theory of exploitation were applied in the study. The selected poems carefully mirrored the happenings in Nigeria as it concerns war, deprivation, marginalization, operation, and segregation. The paper, therefore, suggested that there is an urgent need to incorporate into national discourse issues raised by Ifejirika, Echezona and Asika, Ikechukwu on how to address Nigeria problems. Key words: Sensitize, Poet, Poetry, Ifejirika, Asika. Introduction Fidelis Okoro in Pimples and Dimples describes a poet as one who holds a sharp knife in one hand and a microscope in the other and who is given the right to cut portions of life for scrutiny. In accordance with this definition, poets like JP Clark, Christopher Okigbo, Augustino Neto, Leopald Senghor, Dennis