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More Poetry

More Poetry. Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (1940 - ) Nigeria.

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More Poetry

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  1. More Poetry

  2. Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (1940 - ) Nigeria. • When Ogundipe-Leslie spoke in the U.S. in the late 60’s and early 70’s she expressed a desire to see Nigerian people as liberated as the blacks in the U.S. during the civil rights movement. But, since the tragic civil war in Nigeria from 1967-70, her vision for Nigeria has darkened. She writes of the process of colonization, African economic dependency on the West, the role of women and the question of class in Africa.

  3. song at the African middle classFor agostinho neto • we charge through the skies of disillusion, • seeking the widening of eyes, we gaze at chaos, • speak to deadened hearts and ears stopped with • commerce. We drift around our region of clowns, • walking on air as dreams fly behind our eyes. • we forage among broken bodies, fractured minds • to find just ways retraced and new like beaten cloth.

  4. song at the African middle classFor agostinho neto • and if they come again • will they come again? • and if they come again • will they dance this time? • will the new egungun dance** once more • resplendent in rich-glassed cloth? • will they be of their people’s needs, • rise to those needs, settle whirling rifts • salve, O festering hearts? • will they sya when the come • O my people, O my people, ho to love you delicately? • ** egungun dance: religious ritual with the intention of making contact with the supernatural.

  5. Grace Akello – (1940 - ) Uganda. • Encounter • Teach me to laugh once more • let me laugh with Africa my mother • I want to dance to her drum-beats • I am tired of her cries • Scream with laughter • roar with laughter • Oh, how I hate this groaning • Africa groans • under the load of her kwashiorkored children • she weeps • what woman would laugh • over her children’s graves

  6. Encounter • I want to laugh once again • let me laugh with you • yes, even you my brother who blames me for breeding . . . • I laugh with you • even you who sell me guns • preserving world peace • while my blood, Africa’s blood stains Earth • let laughter be my gift to you • my generous heart overflows with laughter • money and vanity harden yours • clogged in your veins, the blood no longer warms your heart • I will teach you yet

  7. Encounter • I am not bush, lion, savagery • mine are the sinews which built your cities • my sons fighting your wars • gave you victory, prestige • wherein lies the savagery in Africa . . . • Your sons in African looked our family chests • raping the very bowels of our earth • our gold lines the streets of your cities . . . • where are pavements in Africa

  8. Encounter • Laugh with me • Do not laugh at me • my smile forgives all • but greed fetters your heart • the nightmare of our encounter is not over • your overgrown offspring • swear by the western god of money and free enterprise • that they are doing their best for Africa • indeed, Africa the dumping ground • Africa the vast experimental ground • the army bases in the developing parts • enhanced military aid in the loyal parts • family planning programmes in the advanced parts • My son built your cities • What did your son do for me. . .

  9. Grace Nichols (1950 - ) Guyana. • Skin Teeth • Not every skin-teeth • is a smile “Massa” • if you see me smiling • when you pass • if you see me bending • when you ask • Know that I smile • know that I bend • only the better • to rise and strike • again.

  10. Abena P. A. Busia (1953 - ) Ghana • Liberation • We are all mothers, • and we have that fire within us, • of powerful women • whose spirits are so angry • we can laugh beauty into life • and still make you taste • the salt tears of our knowledge – • For we are not tortured • anymore; • we have seen beyond your lies and disguises, • and we have mastered the language of words, • we have mastered the speech.

  11. Liberation • And know • we have also seen ourselves. • We have stripped ourselves raw • and naked piece by piece until our flesh lies flayed • with blood on our own hands. • What terrible thing can you do to us • which we have not done to ourselves? • What can you tell us • which we didn’t deceive ourselves with • a long time ago?

  12. Liberation • You cannot know how long we cried • until we laughed • over the broken pieces of our dreams. • Ignorance • shattered us into such fragments • we had to unearth ourselves piece by piece, • to recover with our own hands such unexpected relics • even we wondered • how we could hold such treasure. • Yes, we have conceived • to forge our mutilated hopes • into the substance of visions • beyond your imaginings • to declare the pain of our deliverance:

  13. Liberation • So do not even ask, • do not ask what it is we are laboring to do this time; • Dreamers remember their dreams • when we are disturbed – • And you shall not escape • what we will make • of the broken pieces of our lives.

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