A woman wears wooden sandals
If I sing you a song whose words You have heard in the west You will forget that I come from the East You will tell me that I am a confused Afrikan woman Who has learned from the west to sting with...
View ArticleMama Wambui: National ethno-feminist
In your struggle you exposed traditional chauvinism Seen through the mirror of self In your struggle, There was a sense of weaving a nation A true nation of humanity and unity...
View ArticleWambui, our warrior
The Mau Mau uprising Found you and left you You fought with the white man Like a man And won Wambui our warrior...
View ArticleDekha, Wambui, Wangari
the greedy old men vampires live forever the women who restore rebuild replant remake die in their fullness...
View ArticleGong of death
The gong of death Is going to silence The life bells And snatch my soul Take it into deep wells Dark and unknown...
View ArticleI Almost Lost My SELF!!
It used to amaze me that even though Pre-dreadlocked, Dressed in khanga from head to toe, Carrying my babies on my back Basket on my head Chewing sugar cane sticks And pepper sprinkled muhogo roasts…...
View ArticleTunisian Fire
For Mohammed Bouaz, the vegetable seller who set himself on fire December 17, 2010 in the Tunisian city of SidiBouZid.
View ArticleSong of the wretched
We have no stereos Droning love ballads To lull us from our reality The only music we Know is the wordless symphony Of the buzzing stars The bright eye of the night Candles our hope We don’t know...
View Articlethoughts on freedom
to not want some say that is where freedom lies to be always in the moment some say that is where freedom lies there is no freedom some say some say our world is defined by one creator who has...
View Article1000 times
1000 times before We said never again And here we are 1000 times over Again Making meaningless pledges Which you can’t consume Guiltily plastering your sores So that they may be out of sight And so out...
View ArticleWHO
Who assassinated freedom And buried it 10 feet under? Who wrongfully convicted justice And incarcerated it indefinitely? Who orphaned peace Scarring it eternally? Who crippled progress, Handicapping it...
View ArticleThe definition of our era: the 21st century!
This era will only adjust to accommodate to anything uncommon. And if you feel like the least likely amongst the rest - then you are the one. Because we live in a historical era - all you need to do is...
View ArticleA small list of wonders
The project will bring together a group of ten emerging writers whose writing, it is hoped, will help construct a newer scope of African identity.
View ArticleDefenseless, exploited, abused, and ignored
The plight of domestic workers in Middle Eastern countries and the lack of laws to protect them inspired Elyas Mulu Kiros to write a poem.
View ArticleFor Katonda and Mukasa
I come and sit here as often as I can. Beside the lake, under my favourite fig tree. To relax, to contemplate. Or if I have a problem, it is a perfect place to search for solution....
View ArticleMona
‘Mona’ is a work of fiction, based on the based on stories of Ethiopian women who have been to the Middle East as domestic workers.
View ArticleWe are watching you
We were not there when you enslaved our forefathers We were not there when you showed us your brutality through colonisation We were not there when you forcefully stole our resources We know what you...
View ArticleMy job as a poet is to tell the truth
'My job as a poet is to wake myself up and take responsibility for learning the truth. That means doing hard work, looking beyond headlines, being willing to interrogate data, structures, systems.'
View ArticleAncestral Song
BAMILEKE: I am a Mod Ngam Man of spiders Often called a diviner. I am Bamileke Born in Cameroon Observing the Earth Spider. VOICES: He lives underground With the nature spirits Our ancestral messenger....
View ArticleOur lady of the trees
This short play celebrates the late renowned Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace laureate Prof Wangari Maathai.
View ArticleEthiopia today
Sea of nostalgic generation River of Facebook nation In and out migration Limited freedom of expression No room for innovation, But for incarceration, Parroting, or imitation ... Strong interest in...
View ArticleThe music of obokano
(English version) It is me, Masese Now am coming from Bundo Look how my body smeared with ebundo* is shining Am going to the battlefield with a hummer I have carried with me a spear and a mallet I have...
View ArticleLibation – a poem
I remember the days when you hold a jar of water A metal gong Then you shout that our ancestors must be called they must be heard You shout, CALL THEM! CALL THEM! Yes we call them our ancestors I guess...
View ArticleQuestion of faith
Don't forget to oil your elbows and cornrows the caking dryness of your cuts and bruises. We mustn't reveal the true nature of things. You cannot forget to put yourself together pretty, dress up the...
View ArticleTimbuktu: The far place
The flimsy mask of sovereignty unravels in the desert sand The border posts and sentry gates designed to imprison the poor and the innocent mean nothing in a season of pestilence At the presidential...
View ArticleDambudzo Marechera’s undying legacy
A new book on the celebrated Zimbabwean writer, with rare archival materials, adds fresh angles to the debate about his contribution to African literature.
View ArticleNew Year, new flower
It is a new year Ethiopian New Year I smell flower Yellow flower Ethio flavour And there, I see her My sweet, my lover Red is her colour She is far but near She melts my heart Like chocolate Dark brown...
View ArticleTragic called the kid
How do you holler And not be heard A fury of injustice That has numbed us stern Fury killed a dream Killed the kid Who dreams football on streets Caught in the axis Tragedy and injustice To the world...
View ArticleFifty years of whining!
Where are we now? Guinea pigs of slavery Murderers of our own blood while we sing of freedom! Now complacent and helpless Pretense of humanity Suffocating Pluralism Covering to suppress How we whine!...
View ArticleThe day I wore my best clothes
Winning essay in the 2012 Royal Commonwealth Competition
View ArticleFare Thee Well Achebe
Fare thee well great literary spirit That inspired millions To dream a new. Fare thee well great literary mind That provoked many a mind To think creatively. Fare thee well great literary giant Father...
View ArticleICC World Cup veteran from Africa!
Neither money nor political power can earn you lines in English cricket literature that say, ‘He was a mercurial skipper’ who was ‘elected a vice-president of the Nomads’; ‘He was a leading personality...
View ArticleAchebe buried like a hero
He survived many battles in his long and eventful life and, when he answered the final call, Chinua Achebe immensely earned the hero’s burial accorded him by an appreciative citizenry
View ArticleHow about 'mother of'?
A top Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist says the practice of branding men ‘fathers of’ certain exploits is dangerous and can contaminate the minds of the world’s men and boys, entrenching...
View ArticleSong for the scholars
If Ghana be the land of my roots, Then I'll celebrate the early scholars - Resplendent in my ancestry. Let me start with Muhammed al-Gamba; The first imam of Kumasi. The founder of Koranic education,...
View ArticlePublishers in Kenya have also succumbed to tribalism and money
Established book publishers in Kenya have a keen nose of commerce and politics. They do not publish to store and disseminate knowledge. But instead they publish either to make money or to gain...
View ArticlePoet says writers are full-time workers
In this exclusive and wide-ranging interview with MOSES MAGADZA, BEAVEN TAPURETA, a well-known Zimbabwean poet says, inter alia, that too many people all over the world continue to turn their noses at...
View ArticleMeeting legendary editor Irene Staunton
She is a Zimbabwean editor whose books have won the biggest number of international awards for the country. In this interview she shares her experiences
View ArticleObedient miniskirt
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni recently signed a law that outlaws miniskirts in the east African nation. This poet attempts to make sense of the new law
View ArticleThe past, now and future
Hankering over the ‘glorious’ past as we confront our present struggles is not really helpful. Rather we should dare to invent the future, as Thomas Sankara challenged us
View ArticleDeep inside Sambisa Forest
This fictional account of the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram terrorist group brings out the intense trauma of the experience. It is appalling that, faced with frequent...
View ArticlePeople of Guinea, My People
Thirty years ago, on 26 March 1984, President Ahmed Sékou Touré lay dying. Everybody could agree on one thing and that is that he was a great patriot, a great African and Panafricanist. He was never...
View ArticleHealing in the Homeland: A conversation with Margaret Mitchell Armand
- http://www.margaretmitchellarmand.comMargaret Mitchell Armand is a Haitian scholar, poet, artist and trained psycholo-gist. Born in Haiti and raised between Haiti and the US, Margaret's' life and...
View ArticleAm I a feminist?
Who is a feminist? And what does it mean to identify oneself as such? This poem provides a persuasive perspective for answering these and related questions.
View ArticleOn migrants issues
To the rest of the world, they are merely statistics of persons drowned at sea while trying to reach Europe in illegal voyages. But these are real human beings, with complex lives, pursuing a dream.
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