from Song of Ocol - by
Tell me
/ My friend and comrade,
/ Do you remember
/ The night of uhuru
/ When the celebration drums throbbed
/ And men and women wept with joy
/ As…
African poetry
Ingo tubane - by
Ingo tubane mu mahoro
/ Duhane amahoro ntiduhane imihoro
/ Ingo tureke gupfa ubusa nk’abasazi
/ Dusangire naho tudasa
/ Dusangire uburaro n’uburamuko.
/
/ Nta kamaro ko kumarana
/ Ubwoko bwaremwe n’lmana
/ Ubwoko…
Au bord de l’eau - by
La mer, tu la regardes et tu cherches
/ un mot
/ La vague cogne les récifs
/
/ Tu t’éloignes du bord
/ Ne pas mouiller tes chaussures…
Choice - by
– Who is she whose-feet-go-clattering-the-hard-ground?
/ – The daughter of the new chief-of-thousand.
/ – If it is the daughter of the chief-of-thousand
/ …
Namibia - by
I’ve returned here for many a reason
/ I’ll certainly live here for many a season
/ Like thousands of others I hear its…
Cattle-count - by
1, the rust-red one, hide-gleaming:
/ 2, the blackandwhite one,
/ like a pied crow:
/ 3, the zebra-hide, long belly-knotted:
/ 4, the…
Thank You for Being a Woman - by
Thank you for being a woman
/ For having been born
/ To know the pain of childbirth;
/ For having nursed my mother’s breast
/ To know…
My Son - by
The moon keeps watch
/ and the child sleeps.
/ His head emerges from the covers
/ like a flower smiling at life.
/ His breath is like…
A Year of Grace - by
I’m getting a year of grace
from my year of pain and rage,
my year of famine —
a year to study film
production in Kinshasa
and finally come of age.
The road to nowhere ወደ ምንም የሚያደርስው መንገድ - by
ችኳይ የሚመስለው
/ ፈጣን የሚመስለው
/ በውልውል መኪና
/ በፋሺን መጫምያ
/ ወይም በባዶ እግሩ
/ ሸው እልም የሚለው
/ ይሄ ሁሉ ምሁር ይሄ ሁሉ ማይም
/ መንገዱን የሞላው ክታችም ክላይም
/ ሲመላለስ እንጂ ሲደርስ አይታይም፡፡
/ …
from Minitopography of Santa Isabel - by
Plaza de Espaňa
/
/ The tired afternoon falls
/ on a rhythm of palm trees
/ clad in spring
/ human, a scattered voice.
/ Above, the moon rounds
/ its silver…
The Rain Storm - by
for James
/
/ The rain washed the coat of the wind,
/ dusted the nose of the mountain,
/ licked the blood off its peak,
/ and rinsed…