A BABY IS A EUROPEAN Ewe (Togo) A baby is a European He does not eat our food He drinks from his own water pot A baby is a European He does not speak our tongue He is cross when the mother understands him not A baby is a European He cares very little for others He forces his will upon his parents A baby is a European He is always very sensitive The slightest scratch on his skin results in an ulcer INTRODUCTION This is a Togolese poem from Ewe culture that suggests the similarities between the way babies…
Author: Msomi Bora
IF WE MUST DIE By Claude McKay If We Must Die is a poem by Claude McKay published in the July 1919 issue of The Liberator. McKay wrote the poem as a response to mob attacks by white Americans upon African-American communities during Red Summer. The poem was reprinted in The Messenger and the Workers’ Dreadnought (London) later that year. The poem was also read to Congress that year by Henry Cabot Lodge, the Republican Senator from Massachusetts. Claude McKay IF WE MUST DIE By Claude McKay If we must die, let it not be like hogs Hunted and…
A FREEDOM SONG By Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (Kenya) About the Author Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (1928-2015) is one of the most prolific women writers, not only in Kenya, but also in Africa. She has distinguished herself as a writer of novels, poetry, and children’s stories. She was born in Southampton, England, and came to Kenya as a missionary bookseller in 1954. Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye A FREEDOM SONG By Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye Atieno washes dishes, Atieno plucks the chicken, Atieno gets up early, Beds her sucks down in the kitchen, Atieno eight years old Atieno yo. Since she’s my sister’s child Atieno…
HOLLOW HEADS Jwani Mwaikusa Hollow heads torture me with ignorance, Blind eyes harass me with darkness, Deaf ears tire me with silence, Dumb voices deafen me with gibberish, Blank minds confuse me with emptiness, And, above all, There is power and command. * With wits and ears and eyes, I have speech and a strong mind, But I remain weak and powerless. They oppress me, they torture me They fight me, they kill me. It’s a fight to bring me down to silence, To darkness and gibberish, to ignorance, And through brainwashing to emptiness. * All right, my friends, It’s…
PEDESTRIAN TO PASSING BENZ-MAN Albert Ojuka (Kenya) You man lifted gently out of poverty and suffering We so recently shared: I say why splash the muddy puddle on to my bare legs as if still unsatisfied with your seated opulence you must sully the unwashed with your diesel-smoke and mud-water. and force him buy, beyond his means a bar of soap from your shop? a few years back we shared a master today you have none, while I have exchanged a parasite for something worse. but maybe a few years is too long a time. INTRODUCTION Pedestrian to passing Benz-man…
LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS By William Shakespeare About the Author William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April, which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616. William Shakespeare LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS W. Shakespeare (England) Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no! it is an ever-fixed…
ECHOES Kundi Faraja Me, I plead guilty That my woman is a tool To fulfil my sexual desires, That she’s the source of sensual pleasure. A garden Where I plant my seeds So as to get children Which are mine. And not hers, Who have the right To inherit my property, And not her. I plead guilty That I have regarded my woman As my property, Because I paid the bride price To her parents. What did her parents think When they demanded The cows, The tanks of beer, The goats, The money They knew That they were making…
PROSPERING OF SOCIETY Kajubi It has a strong wire round it And you will heed its beauty. My society is prospering; The labour of my society Is raising its welfare And you will heed its beauty, With a strong wire round it, This building that houses The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. The building of the Ministry For raising the society’s welfare Has a strong wire round it; The people who are leading my society In its struggles to prosper Work inside the strong wire fence, And we are outside. And you will take heed of its beauty And…
SUNRISE Jwani Mwaikusa. Behold! The sun has arisen, And with it the sons of the land have arisen too Forward they go, Well armed, Singing praises to the beauty of the sunrise, With the determination of long-term warriors, Challenging the enemy With the courage of a free mind And the vigour of a clear purpose. Sit and wait brethren, Wait and see what glory they bring at sunset; How they pay homage to the land – And their people! INTRODUCTION Sunrise is a sonnet written by the late Tanzanian professor, Jwani Mwaikusa (1952-2010) that clearly depicts the subject of Struggle…
LOST BEAUTY Jwani Mwaikusa There are only white women around: Awful fakes of white females Reflecting an awful mass of ugliness: And I want a lady To mount the rostrum with And announce to the world: “Black is beautiful!” Yes, I want a black beauty queen With ebony thighs and huge hips With skin sweating blackness And a face dark as the night And bare breasts bouncing Vigour and energy. But my eyes, oh my eyes! They don’t see anything black; It’s only white skins and masks Flashing past and slashing, Destroying my sight so I can’t get what…
