Category: Poetry

‘On the World Summit for Children at the UN, 1990’ 1 Warriors raise colonies of orphans to celebrate their prowess Players score cheap goals through bridges of infant bones Hyenas abolish spontaneous laughter and make deserts of  childhood Carry no… … Read the rest

‘The Hawk Prays for Peace’ After my feathers have turned red with the blood of victims, after I have converted the moon into a nest and filled it with the spoils of undeclared wars, after I have seized the arms… … Read the rest

‘Telephone Conversation’ The price seemed reasonable, location                                   Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived  Off premises. Nothing remained But self-confession. ‘Madam,’ I warned, ‘I hate a wasted journey—I am African.’                                  Silence. Silenced transmission of Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came, Lipstick… … Read the rest

‘Black Woman’ Naked woman, black woman Clothed with your colour which is life, with your form which is beauty! In your shadow I have grown up; the gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes. And now, high up… … Read the rest

‘Always a Suspect’ I get up in the morning and dress up like a gentleman – A white shirt, a tie and a suit. I walk into the street to be met by a man who tells me “to produce.”… … Read the rest

Hunger makes a person lie down— he has water in his knees. Hunger makes a person lie down and count the rafters in his roof. When the Muslim is not hungry he says, We are forbidden to eat monkey. When… … Read the rest

Background: Dennis Vincent Brutus (1924–2009) was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1924 to South African parents, Brutus was of indigenous Khoi, Dutch, French, English, German and Malaysian ancestry. His parents moved back home to Port Elizabeth when he was… … Read the rest

Background: Christopher Henry Muwanga Barlow (1929-2006) was born on 1st May 1929 in Uganda. Henry Barlow attended King’s College Budo (1936–48), where he excelled in cricket and lawn tennis. It was at Budo that Barlow discovered poetry. He joined Makerere… … Read the rest

Background: Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali (1940—) was born in Vryheid Natal, South Africa on January 17 1940. After his early education, he left Johannesburg. He attempted to gain admission into the University of Witwatersrand but apartheid disallowed this. He worked as… … Read the rest

Background: John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo (1935-2020), popularly known as J. P. Clark, was born in Kiagbodo, Delta State, Nigeria, to Ijaw parents on April 6 1935. Clark received his early education at the Native Administration School and the prestigious Government College… … Read the rest