This paper examines the representation of trauma in City Without People, the
collection of poetry by Nigerian poet-scholar, Niyi Osundare. The critical lens of the study also
focuses on how the poet employs poetry as a therapeutic means of working through the trauma
engendered by the Hurricane Katrina experience in the United States of America. Assumptions
from trauma theory serve as theoretical framework for the study. The research reveals that,
contrary to the position held by some trauma theorists that traumatic experiences defy
remembrance and are unspeakable, Osundare’s collection shows the possibility of remembering
traumatic experiences and articulating them. Also, there is evidence that the postmemory of
slavery connects with the collective trauma of the Katrina experience among the Black
community. City Without People also demonstrates a quintessential instance of the deployment
of expressive writing as scriptotherapy.