Was African Renaissance a rebirth of humanity?
Tendai Mwanaka: I am keen on us broadening (funnelling out) the collaborations writing this year. The funnel channels things in. In the process, you don’t lose a lot of the good things. I feel when we only focus on the end product, the poem, we lose the good stuff. But funnelling out means the funnel is a little bigger, thus it accepts more into the poem...we don't just write the poem in this process, we also talk poetry, we create discussions around the poem, and we create the writing process which we might also include in the book with the poem.
Amitabh Mitra: Great Idea, Tendai.... And we will indulge in Prose Poetry. We can write a poem on Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, War, Trauma, Child Soldiers and Healing through Poetry.
Eliza Mabungu: Child soldiers grab my attention
Mandla Mavolwane: How's human trafficking?
Ayomide Owoyemi: Migration/brain drain. Humanitarian emergencies
Mwanaka: I am thinking we can loop together migration, humanitarian emergences, wars, child soldiers, trauma into one big poem...Xenophobia, Human trafficking too. So we can we start with that one.
Archie Swanson:
ancient continent
shifting on tectonic plates of time
surging tsunami of mankind
bending across earth's furrowed face
Mabungu: Huh? I don't get this
Jacobus G. L.Nieuwoudt: It's about immigration if I'm not mistaken
Mwanaka: Yes I think Archie has started from the first human migration...Is that so Archie?
Swanson: Yes that's right agendas. The thought is of Africa as the cradle of mankind with that point in history where civilization exploded and migrated from Africa across all Continents like a giant Tsunami. Today just about all of our human genomes trace back to Africa. The themes that follow in the poem can possibly connect with the current migrations. Agendas = Tendai!!
Mwanaka: Let's meditate on those few 4 lines from Archie. The question is can we just present...or follow the road back, all the way to now, highlighting issues on how the migrations that have happened over the ages have resulted in issues like xenophobia, strife, brain drain, wars etc... or we can run parallels by using flash back and forwards.... or just jump to the present.
Antonio Garcia: can we tie this broad theme in with the idea of African Renaissance? The early 2000s encapsulated this concept with the formation of the AU and NEPAD. Looking at the landscape of Africa today, I am not sure if the renaissance is real or imagined.... The idea was to promote peace and security in Africa through peacekeeping missions to further economic development and alleviation of poverty. I am unsure if there is in fact more wars, refugees, terrorism and other ills
Thato Tshukudu: I am not quite sure if I sufficed the prerequisites...
Thato Tshukudu:
*From the ruins of war*
Erupts war cries from child
soldiers born out of poverty-
carved bullets and propagandist oppression.
Young expendable soldiers trudge
through open graveyard-turned-battlefields
of hope and freedom with trembling
War cries that crack the shell of
the earth like stray bullets knocking on the cranium of a
juvenile able to perfectly recite the
resonance of AKs and landmines in a heartbeat.
This is the land of precocious warriors and decomposing
prayers metamorphosing into dust and dust into battlefield.
Mwanaka: What causes the wars? What causes these little children to enter battlefields? Antonio, can you tie that beginning from Archie with African Renaissance... When Thabo talked of it, was he borrowing from the beginning of human race? Also I am interested in why the first human race depicted by Archie moved, migrated out of Africa...what was the drive. Can someone motivate why the first humans migrated in prose or poem form?
Chuma Mmeka:
For want of a better life
The youth, aged and children alike
Gravitate from sweet Africa's cradle
Wars, slavery, poverty and discrimination
Tear us apart and push the lily-livered from shore
Education is poor, lottery visas drain our brains
Those left, seem born too hollow:
Wallowing in a worse world status
Yet men of letters will always tell
That ours is the provenance of homo civilization
Thato Tshukudu:
Economic elements breed a war of poverty
Africa's brothers and sisters search for tranquillity in foreign grounds
like pollen distributed to the world by a gust of wars and slavery
Like proud flags their legs plant on shallow soil to feed from the soil's purity
Africa's cradle manifests into a painful reminder of an unpromised tomorrow
But his children still carry her pride for many more generations.
Mwanaka: Thato, that's a good take but I feel like you didn't move away from Chuma's take? Are they other reasons why people migrate other than the ones Chuma and Thato noted in their pieces?
Mikateko Mbambo:
For love... Mine moved, to invade and conquer!
But instead, they fell in love and made numerous children
So, we kept migrating because we constantly found ourselves falling in love with people outside our inhabitants
Those who buy sun rays, limping with thorns in their feet
Drinkers of bitter waters
Where conquered by love
Abel Sehloho:
All my efforts seem to be in vain.
Succumbing to giving my dream away.
Doors shutting aggressively to my vulnerable face.
Tears flowing with undying hope.
I couldn't fathom why my sweat and tears tasted bitter.
With the bit of strength I had left with, I stood up and stared into my cracked spirit.
No hand to hold me but my own.
This is a story that will not define my path.
With every adversity faced, I have slowly shifted into being the soldier that I am today.
Ayomide Owoyemi:
See the Argonauts,
Black astronauts, seeking the life found on pastures green,
Smoked out by strife and guns,
Better life for our daughters and sons
Once again we will cross the seas,
To work for massa
Hoping one day we return as kings
Like the son of Mufasa
Jacobus: I was 17 or 18 when I first saw the images of the people burning in the townships. I had no idea what was going on. It was in a white school and they projected it onto a wall for us. I shook my head once they explained xenophobia to us. It made no sense. It was not only brutal but hypocritical as well. They still do it to this day. And the police just stand there. Looking on as the petrol is poured out onto the man or woman or child. Smoke. Indians. Help? No. Just another life.
Michael Ochoki: I was discussing this phenomenon the other day. You know, if we had one continent without borders. Such utopic outlook on things!
Mwanaka: I do agree with you Michael. A lot of our problems stems from the Berlin Balkanized borders enacted on us
Antonio Garcia:
Haboob
The winds brought the sand from the desert, an engulfing cloud blocks the sun
They call it Haboob, a violent flood of dust
I cover my eyes and mouth, the swoosh of the wind is deafening, my hand remains on my gun
with no dialogue and law, the bullet is the only power in this world unjust
for a moment the sandstorm erases everything, nothing can be seen
In an instant there is darkness, there is no crying, there is no famine
history is blotted out by the absence of the present, there is no killing, genocide has never been
a past undone, Darfur is free of suffering, pain and sin
the dust clouds fall and when the storm subsides the skies open up again
we return to the moment, a lost people living in the future waiting for someone to care
Internally displaced people are still there, they were forced to flee, Fata Burno Camp remains,
They escaped the genocide, for an existence short of living, scars of the past on display in despair
was African Renaissance a rebirth of humanity, art, science and progress ?
does our continent's leaders want peace and reconstruction?
will there be time of empowerment and peace- how long before Africa emerges from her distress?
is it our personal Haboobs that deceives and blinds us to the destruction?
I look out at the emptiness of the desert , my gun still in my hand, a society violent
we make it so: _inter arma enim silent leges_ in war the law falls silent
Joseph Ntensibe:
Then i heard the owls hooting at noon
The weaver bird chorused at midnight.
A loud silence canvassed the land
The gods shyed away in resignation.
The dead rose and vanished.
The doves with clipped flatters flew...to the land unknown
We bathed in blood
And merried with the dead.
This become the state they stated.
He on the throne-at the grave yard.
waved at the dwellers
Mikateko Mbambo:
He
My great great paternal grandfather
White
She
Black
Great maternal grandmother
Working the farm
Yes
The very one her father once owned
Now belonging to a white man
Forcefully
Like the love he made to her
The rape he forced on her
Here we are
Hair curled
Elongated noses
Exotic they call us
Moved
Across seas
Fish
Survival
I hate him
She said
I loved her
He said
In this racial maze
We shifted
We were coloured
We curled
Shifted
We
Still find ourselves explain
The shade of our skin
We migrated
Mwanaka: Garcia, Ayomide, Ntensibe and Mbambo, what are your poems about?
Ntensibe: I was crazed with the murky air desperation during scuffles in African conflicts
Mwanaka: Aluta continua!
Daniel da Purificação: Im Daniel da Purificação, sending my greetings from México to all of you and enjoying this amazing creative moment here on this BEST NEW AFRICAN POETS elder village. A luta continua e a vitória é certa!!!
Garcia: my addition stems from my personal experience, slightly pessimistic and overshadowed by grief
Christopher Kudyahakudadirwe: Great pieces, hey. I'm liking them.
Mandla Mavolwane:
We wander helplessly enduring
The wrath of the scorching sun
How did we get into this mess?
Oh yes! We were exiled
Exiled by endless wars
Now we seek refuge
And they turn a blind eye
Yet they are the perpetrators
Of the mayhem in our land
Who shall we turn to for help?
We are out of place on this planet.
Ibrahim Nureni:
Who Will Ride the Horse Again?
there is a raid of stars in my country
how eyes unearth the source of tiny rivers.
a nightmare eulogizes
the weaverbirds chew the soil again
and then; schoolgirls become stardom.
the dunes beneath the seashore beam
after the facades of our tragedy.
my country—
the cocooned dreams are broken
like a tortoise’s shell.
who?
who will ride the horse again
again and again
to the greener pasture?
Mwanaka: Mandla and Nureni try to explain what are your pieces about? Let's broaden ...tackle issues to do with human trafficking, unforced migration, trauma, personal...
Mavolwane: I was dwelling on the refugees that succumbs to the ravages of war and end up being homeless and when they seek refuge in other countries they are denied entry making them to feel like no one gives heed to their situation
Mwanaka: There are not many suggested solutions or healing mechanisms in the poems so far
Thato: Human trafficking occurs solely for sexual exploitation and slavery but I added a healing mechanism that gleams light to this issue. The igneous fists symbolise Africa's historical strife that lead to Africans protecting their own. I symbolised our sisters as diamonds that can never crack despite going through such plight. And by mentioning that they were born from Africa's soil I wanted to show that, that despite being made vulnerable and broken, our sisters are rich and rare.
I hope that made sense. I tried Tendai.
Christopher Kudyahakudadirwe:
Untitled note
Why is it that when I look at you
The first thing that I see is your colour?
Yes, tell me why it is so, tell me my brother!
Why is it that I can't see you when I'm looking for you?
Why has colour blinded us, why my sister?
When you're black I see the criminal in you,
I see the opportunity to accuse you of drug dealing
I want to abuse you, to make you the hewer of my wood
When I'm white you see the racist in me
Yes, you see white privilege; you see the proverbial silver spoon.
Why has the colour of our skins come between us, why?
Look, some are foreigners because they are black
Others are expatriates or tourists because they are white
When is the human race going to be colourblind?
Was He a fool to create us in His image differently?
Mwanaka: Great Chris...it delves into xenophobia deeply, how it has been about one's colour
kudyahakudadirwe: This xenophobia issue is pronounced especially in South Africa where black people do not question the nationality of white people but that of other black people from other African countries.
Mwanaka: Why is that so? I have always wondered
Jacobus: Africa is only for Afrikans when they question the nationality of white people. Otherwise it's about the ills of capitalism and the effect it has on the black tribes of South-Africa. If parties here had a stance on immigration - which as far as I can tell they do not - things won't be as fucked in the townships. I won't elaborate on my thoughts regarding the current situation they find themselves in relation to living in a democracy and being the majority at the same time but I digress. It comes down to education and indoctrination. Both of which wanting in the majority's minds. Is it normal? I guess it is. I mean the king of the Zulus call for xenophobia and the government just about turns a blind eye. I guess it has to do with '' Cultural Sensitivity'' laws.... And the reason why they don't question white nationality so much is quite obvious, we are white, which means we're either of European decent or of European decent....That and psychology, the effects of Christianity and Capitalism.
Kudyahakudadirwe: I can't agree more. Your perspective can actually be presented in a poetic form. Have a look at it.
Ayomide: I like the fact that as we write we discuss, we analyse issues: One thing i would love views on is this. What is wrong in (with) the black man? Why does it seem we have suffered arrested development, why are we the poster race for everything poor, "evil", backward and diseased
Mwanaka: Thanks Wafula, Ayomide, Jacobus, Chris...I think they are a lot of issues raised here. Let's talk about them. Do we blacks hate our own colour...if so who made us hate it? The issue of white privilege has been torched on, how can that be resolved. Have we blacks failed to run our countries?
Ayomide: We have been "independent" for a while (largely) but we have mostly failed or are failing states across the black continent. What is wrong with the black man?
Ntensibe: Consideration should be whether we hate the colour or circumstances surrounding us beyond the colour. Statistically though we may not rule out the fact the ratio of suffering "black" Vs other races overweighs on the scale. It is thus not the colour we hate but the situations we undergo. We have not really failed to run our countries but priorities of our claimed to be leaders seem to be channelled towards subjective rather than objective benefits. A few nations whose leaders have observed that have changed-T.Z, Ghana (sometime back-anyway they are few)
Kudyahakudadirwe: Nepotism & corruption. These two are a relic of traditional African govts. We have not graduated out of them.
Jacobus: The question you should ask yourself is why your ancestors couldn't stand up against the white and Jewish man. Why you struggle to govern your people and work from there. A wise man points fingers inward. That's what I've learned.
Kudyahakudadirwe: Remember how chieftainships were handed down to relatives.
Mwanaka: But Joseph, even Ghana you mentioned, that has had real democracy for years haven't grown economically, people are still poor there just like they are in say South Africa that got independent a few years ago
Mwanaka: Jacobus, what do you mean by our ancestors not standing up against white or Jewish people?
Ntensibe: They paint an abstract piece and you think all is well. At least Ghana has a thing close to "democracy"
Mwanaka: Can we answer these questions in poetic form...I think we have opened a whole arena to explore our topic...there is issues of governance that needs to be tackled in our poem. Then the black and white issue
kudyahakudadirwe: This is one of the reasons why South-Africa is in the state it is today, Apartheid Governments and their Nationalism laws.
Jacobus: Pure ignorance. It's no different to the Zulus thinking the voortrekkers are wizards for having guns. It's bullshit. A lot of it has to do with racial purity and cultural assurance but not allow them to read and the tea? Those aren't Dutch ideas. Nationalism is not about suppressing other cultures. It's about nurturing your own. It's about respecting other cultures and respecting their right to exist. The other nonsense is not nationalism. They use a perverted form of nationalism as an excuse to propagate their bullshit capitalist rhetoric by creating a slave class which they can exploit to further their imperialist directives. This is not only done by way of culture but religion as well as seen during apartheid when priests and clergy told white people that it's God's will and their duty as Christians to support Apartheid. They used the bible as a way to justify it by indoctrinating children and ignorant Calvinists against other races by telling them the bible says they aren't human. Calling them demons even. Who owns the church? What do they have to gain by doing this? Yes. Break free of the illusion. Understand without being told what to think. Stupid people are easily swayed. Always remember that.
Mabungu: This reminds me of Kenyatta's observations. About the settlers teaching us to pray with our eyes closed and when we opened them, the land was gone. It's because Africa no longer belongs to the natives that such ills are towards black people from black people. We have been blinded by Western motives and allowed to be told we are poor. Why would such a rich continent receive aid from western countries? We have all the minerals but instead of focusing on the main issue that we have lost Africa as a whole, we focus on who belongs where and all that kind' of fruitless nonsense
Mwanaka: So I still think blacks were made to hate their own skins. Because frankly speaking if a government has policies like those for at least 50 years, and apply them rigidly...those laws interpreting them deeply meant being black is wrong...because any connection with that skin results in punishment. Its a conditioning system, like the B.F Skinner's experiments
Ayomide: I think we need to move forward and ask ourselves the hard questions. Nigeria has been independent for over 50 years, but we are still nowhere, we can't blame the white man, we have been unable to have good governance. Look at Haiti, look at Liberia, independent black nations for a long period of time, but look at where they are. We need to ask ourselves hard questions. Yeah, we should, we have had leaders like Lumumba, Sankara who were exemplary but were snuffed out in their prime
Kudyahakudadirwe: Do you think it's the blacks who invented skin lightening creams in an effort to join the white race or the white people in an effort to assimilate blacks: assimilado by Portuguese & French?
Ayomide: Where are our Lee Kwan Yews? Where are the visionaries like they had among the Asian tigers that pulled them from situations like ours into affluence in the modern age? Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and others in their group were like us years ago (maybe not this bad), they were colonised and repressed too but see where they are. What made the difference? Governance, leadership. I know i have generalised a lot, but that's the big picture
Ayomide Owoyemi:
We shall rise, someday we shall rise,
From the ashes of our shame and losses,
The cradle shall no more be a just saddle,
Mwanaka: We need new contributions on how these governance and leadership issues have resulted in breakdown of countries and the resultant strife, poverty, migration etc.. In poetic form then we can discuss that afterwards. Let's tackle governance now
Mitra: I think we are missing the Indian in Xenophobia. Remember the Mahatma was thrown out of the first class compartment at Petermarizburg. Today we are seeing a reverse Xenophobia. The Natal Indian Congress precursor to ANC is largely forgotten Delhi has a Nelson Mandela Road just close to the Indian Parliament. Indian Immigrants with South African citizenships are denied the same rights as a black South African
Mwanaka: Yes totally Amitabh...I agree with you...its multi pronged... Its not just white on blacks, or blacks on blacks... but even blacks on Asians, vice versa
Chuma Mmeka:
We are Africans, O yes, we are Africans
Regardless of colour, tongue, creed, tribe, borders, curtains and demarcations, we all are Africans
Call it evolution, call it migration, to the north, south, east and west, over time, mankind comes from Africa
Ignore ignorance, prejudice pride; Insult apartheid, spit on racism; Africa birthed us all
And like the oscillation of the fan; as the earth moves round the sun, mankind's return is assured
Just like clockwork clocks back to start, the shift will round back to the cradle of the Homo Africanus
This is true for we all are Africans!
Kudyahakudadirwe: I must quickly correct the above: we ain't Africans these days. We are Halfricans. Just a chuckle!
Ibrahim Nureni:
Haiku on xenophobia
singing songs
of the speckled sheath--
Zulu birds
Bianca Nieuwenhuis: I really like it Chuma, very similar theme to my poem which appeared in the 2016 anthology
Mwanaka: We are all Africans as far as I am concerned. We all belong here. We have to find a way to live together... that's the reality. Amitabh, can you do a stanza on Indian or Asian Africans around one of these issues. Some other day I was just walking from the shops and I just started thinking about these issues. Funny how we humans we create our own cells. We created these borders for ourselves. A Zimbabwean can't go to Zambia without a paper (passport). He is illegal when he goes to Zambia without proper papers. But that doesn't happen with animals. They don't need papers to fly into Zambia, neither does the water in Zambezi. How can we be illegal in a planet where we were born, how can it only applies to humans. Worse as the first stanza from Archie made it clear we all were born here in Africa. We all came from the same person or people.
Mmeka: I really fell in love with that Archie's start
Sehloho: Xenophobia is a very deep and serious one to focus on. It seems we, as Africans we already have classified ourselves based on our cultures/norms. Anyone who is from a different African country poses a thread to society whereas people from other western countries are embraced. It's really sad to be honest.
Mitra: Tendai, I deal with Violence and Trauma everyday I shall do that in prose poems and my work in Masisi and forced amputations of Tutsis. I was the personal physician to General Nkunda then
Jacobus: Borders are important. If one crazy leader decides to do something crazy the only thing stopping the insanity from washing over onto your street are the borders that separate you from it. And let's be honest Africa has had its fare share of insane politicians that put a lot of its people to the sword.
Mari Ballot:
When I met Mandela "when he spoke more than silences fell (he had more than an exceptional story to tell) stanzas spoke of something greater than suffering and pain. Sentences stalked, searched past me past the time of now for a different tomorrow without such sorrow, fragile thoughts, poems miraculously measured lay upon the tearstained paper ransacked remembrance of what he tried the hardest to forget and forgive, the scars did not disfigure him... they were not just of skin and chained feet but of a spirit who dreamt and that could not write defeat
Mitra: But in Zimbabwe during 91 and 92 when I served at Bulawayo Mpilo General, truly speaking I had the most pleasant experience, Trauma was a rarity and the National Minister of Health Timothy Stamps knew me and all doctors in Zimbabwe by their first name. He used to visit our homes and meet families. He never had any body guard
Archie Swanson:
i dug a root
in a dry river bed
for i was hoping to be fed
and i believed that it would nourish me
and so i ate every last bit
from fibrous flesh to corky pit
good and wholesome
i tore the skin in strips
it tasted sweet upon my lips
as i developed an acquired taste
chewing in unholy haste
a bit like olives turgid roughness
not tender but with gritty toughness
a bit like hops without the beer
a bit like dandelion greens
a bit like raw coffee beans
as i dug in my desire
i discovered i was not alone
for there were others
with the self-same fire
and we agreed
there was no better way to feed
in any case the root in mind
was the only root that we could find
over weeks and months and years
i fed myself till i was bloated
yet i received no real nutrition
no vitamins proteins butterfat
not one addition
somehow i did not think of that
as i developed fierce migraines
and the sharpest abdominal pains
until one day at last i found
that the root beneath the ground
that had not nourished me
was the root of bitterness you see
Mwanaka: Nice one Archie. It seems to speak to the issue, though in a hidden way
Eliza Mabungu:
"let's put borders so they won't bother us!" Shouted the settlers.
Their motive was division of the natives.
Round their land with fences!
Surround them with lenses!
Lenses that can spot them so they can stop them!
With guns they guard around!
Abel Sehloho:
Men of Greed
The powerful hurts the powerless.
Independence and freedom becomes a myth.
A child's cry pierces through our cracking land.
Nothing but hunger and unsolicited pain.
Skies turn black with sorrow while men in opulent suits prosper
.
Jacobus G. L.Nieuwoudt:
Heil
To the old guard
But not the new
as the struggle
Continues
Without you
Hoist up the sails
And remember my name
For I am the forefathers
Of my forefathers
And the offspring that
Came
Now all that is
Young and new
Is also old
And willing to be
Gifted to you.
Remember now as the wood
Broke apart
And the pirates from
The north
Met Poseidon and
The world snake
For stealing
A million of our
Most beautiful
And purest
And yes some
Of our finest
Our own
Remember them
Now as they too sink into
A hot desert hell.
Question begets
met with an easy answer
Think the colonies were
Taken under slaver
pretense
Pray
Tell
When it was in spite of that
The women
Men
And children
They answer.
Hard pills to swallow.
Like a bird it brings back
News to the govern.
Their pussies
Defiled until death
In haram
For if you are sillky
sweet
Milky
Teet
Thunder
Born
You deserve
To suffer
Embrace
The scorn
Why?
Just cause.
Now burn.
For the same reason.
That you bare no reason.
That you kill.
That you die.
That you change tongues.
In the whitest
Rightest
Mightest
Dye.
And still
You ask
Why?
Tendai Mwanaka: I am keen on us broadening (funnelling out) the collaborations writing this year. The funnel channels things in. In the process, you don’t lose a lot of the good things. I feel when we only focus on the end product, the poem, we lose the good stuff. But funnelling out means the funnel is a little bigger, thus it accepts more into the poem...we don't just write the poem in this process, we also talk poetry, we create discussions around the poem, and we create the writing process which we might also include in the book with the poem.
Amitabh Mitra: Great Idea, Tendai.... And we will indulge in Prose Poetry. We can write a poem on Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, War, Trauma, Child Soldiers and Healing through Poetry.
Eliza Mabungu: Child soldiers grab my attention
Mandla Mavolwane: How's human trafficking?
Ayomide Owoyemi: Migration/brain drain. Humanitarian emergencies
Mwanaka: I am thinking we can loop together migration, humanitarian emergences, wars, child soldiers, trauma into one big poem...Xenophobia, Human trafficking too. So we can we start with that one.
Archie Swanson:
ancient continent
shifting on tectonic plates of time
surging tsunami of mankind
bending across earth's furrowed face
Mabungu: Huh? I don't get this
Jacobus G. L.Nieuwoudt: It's about immigration if I'm not mistaken
Mwanaka: Yes I think Archie has started from the first human migration...Is that so Archie?
Swanson: Yes that's right agendas. The thought is of Africa as the cradle of mankind with that point in history where civilization exploded and migrated from Africa across all Continents like a giant Tsunami. Today just about all of our human genomes trace back to Africa. The themes that follow in the poem can possibly connect with the current migrations. Agendas = Tendai!!
Mwanaka: Let's meditate on those few 4 lines from Archie. The question is can we just present...or follow the road back, all the way to now, highlighting issues on how the migrations that have happened over the ages have resulted in issues like xenophobia, strife, brain drain, wars etc... or we can run parallels by using flash back and forwards.... or just jump to the present.
Antonio Garcia: can we tie this broad theme in with the idea of African Renaissance? The early 2000s encapsulated this concept with the formation of the AU and NEPAD. Looking at the landscape of Africa today, I am not sure if the renaissance is real or imagined.... The idea was to promote peace and security in Africa through peacekeeping missions to further economic development and alleviation of poverty. I am unsure if there is in fact more wars, refugees, terrorism and other ills
Thato Tshukudu: I am not quite sure if I sufficed the prerequisites...
Thato Tshukudu:
*From the ruins of war*
Erupts war cries from child
soldiers born out of poverty-
carved bullets and propagandist oppression.
Young expendable soldiers trudge
through open graveyard-turned-battlefields
of hope and freedom with trembling
War cries that crack the shell of
the earth like stray bullets knocking on the cranium of a
juvenile able to perfectly recite the
resonance of AKs and landmines in a heartbeat.
This is the land of precocious warriors and decomposing
prayers metamorphosing into dust and dust into battlefield.
Mwanaka: What causes the wars? What causes these little children to enter battlefields? Antonio, can you tie that beginning from Archie with African Renaissance... When Thabo talked of it, was he borrowing from the beginning of human race? Also I am interested in why the first human race depicted by Archie moved, migrated out of Africa...what was the drive. Can someone motivate why the first humans migrated in prose or poem form?
Chuma Mmeka:
For want of a better life
The youth, aged and children alike
Gravitate from sweet Africa's cradle
Wars, slavery, poverty and discrimination
Tear us apart and push the lily-livered from shore
Education is poor, lottery visas drain our brains
Those left, seem born too hollow:
Wallowing in a worse world status
Yet men of letters will always tell
That ours is the provenance of homo civilization
Thato Tshukudu:
Economic elements breed a war of poverty
Africa's brothers and sisters search for tranquillity in foreign grounds
like pollen distributed to the world by a gust of wars and slavery
Like proud flags their legs plant on shallow soil to feed from the soil's purity
Africa's cradle manifests into a painful reminder of an unpromised tomorrow
But his children still carry her pride for many more generations.
Mwanaka: Thato, that's a good take but I feel like you didn't move away from Chuma's take? Are they other reasons why people migrate other than the ones Chuma and Thato noted in their pieces?
Mikateko Mbambo:
For love... Mine moved, to invade and conquer!
But instead, they fell in love and made numerous children
So, we kept migrating because we constantly found ourselves falling in love with people outside our inhabitants
Those who buy sun rays, limping with thorns in their feet
Drinkers of bitter waters
Where conquered by love
Abel Sehloho:
All my efforts seem to be in vain.
Succumbing to giving my dream away.
Doors shutting aggressively to my vulnerable face.
Tears flowing with undying hope.
I couldn't fathom why my sweat and tears tasted bitter.
With the bit of strength I had left with, I stood up and stared into my cracked spirit.
No hand to hold me but my own.
This is a story that will not define my path.
With every adversity faced, I have slowly shifted into being the soldier that I am today.
Ayomide Owoyemi:
See the Argonauts,
Black astronauts, seeking the life found on pastures green,
Smoked out by strife and guns,
Better life for our daughters and sons
Once again we will cross the seas,
To work for massa
Hoping one day we return as kings
Like the son of Mufasa
Jacobus: I was 17 or 18 when I first saw the images of the people burning in the townships. I had no idea what was going on. It was in a white school and they projected it onto a wall for us. I shook my head once they explained xenophobia to us. It made no sense. It was not only brutal but hypocritical as well. They still do it to this day. And the police just stand there. Looking on as the petrol is poured out onto the man or woman or child. Smoke. Indians. Help? No. Just another life.
Michael Ochoki: I was discussing this phenomenon the other day. You know, if we had one continent without borders. Such utopic outlook on things!
Mwanaka: I do agree with you Michael. A lot of our problems stems from the Berlin Balkanized borders enacted on us
Antonio Garcia:
Haboob
The winds brought the sand from the desert, an engulfing cloud blocks the sun
They call it Haboob, a violent flood of dust
I cover my eyes and mouth, the swoosh of the wind is deafening, my hand remains on my gun
with no dialogue and law, the bullet is the only power in this world unjust
for a moment the sandstorm erases everything, nothing can be seen
In an instant there is darkness, there is no crying, there is no famine
history is blotted out by the absence of the present, there is no killing, genocide has never been
a past undone, Darfur is free of suffering, pain and sin
the dust clouds fall and when the storm subsides the skies open up again
we return to the moment, a lost people living in the future waiting for someone to care
Internally displaced people are still there, they were forced to flee, Fata Burno Camp remains,
They escaped the genocide, for an existence short of living, scars of the past on display in despair
was African Renaissance a rebirth of humanity, art, science and progress ?
does our continent's leaders want peace and reconstruction?
will there be time of empowerment and peace- how long before Africa emerges from her distress?
is it our personal Haboobs that deceives and blinds us to the destruction?
I look out at the emptiness of the desert , my gun still in my hand, a society violent
we make it so: _inter arma enim silent leges_ in war the law falls silent
Joseph Ntensibe:
Then i heard the owls hooting at noon
The weaver bird chorused at midnight.
A loud silence canvassed the land
The gods shyed away in resignation.
The dead rose and vanished.
The doves with clipped flatters flew...to the land unknown
We bathed in blood
And merried with the dead.
This become the state they stated.
He on the throne-at the grave yard.
waved at the dwellers
Mikateko Mbambo:
He
My great great paternal grandfather
White
She
Black
Great maternal grandmother
Working the farm
Yes
The very one her father once owned
Now belonging to a white man
Forcefully
Like the love he made to her
The rape he forced on her
Here we are
Hair curled
Elongated noses
Exotic they call us
Moved
Across seas
Fish
Survival
I hate him
She said
I loved her
He said
In this racial maze
We shifted
We were coloured
We curled
Shifted
We
Still find ourselves explain
The shade of our skin
We migrated
Mwanaka: Garcia, Ayomide, Ntensibe and Mbambo, what are your poems about?
Ntensibe: I was crazed with the murky air desperation during scuffles in African conflicts
Mwanaka: Aluta continua!
Daniel da Purificação: Im Daniel da Purificação, sending my greetings from México to all of you and enjoying this amazing creative moment here on this BEST NEW AFRICAN POETS elder village. A luta continua e a vitória é certa!!!
Garcia: my addition stems from my personal experience, slightly pessimistic and overshadowed by grief
Christopher Kudyahakudadirwe: Great pieces, hey. I'm liking them.
Mandla Mavolwane:
We wander helplessly enduring
The wrath of the scorching sun
How did we get into this mess?
Oh yes! We were exiled
Exiled by endless wars
Now we seek refuge
And they turn a blind eye
Yet they are the perpetrators
Of the mayhem in our land
Who shall we turn to for help?
We are out of place on this planet.
Ibrahim Nureni:
Who Will Ride the Horse Again?
there is a raid of stars in my country
how eyes unearth the source of tiny rivers.
a nightmare eulogizes
the weaverbirds chew the soil again
and then; schoolgirls become stardom.
the dunes beneath the seashore beam
after the facades of our tragedy.
my country—
the cocooned dreams are broken
like a tortoise’s shell.
who?
who will ride the horse again
again and again
to the greener pasture?
Mwanaka: Mandla and Nureni try to explain what are your pieces about? Let's broaden ...tackle issues to do with human trafficking, unforced migration, trauma, personal...
Mavolwane: I was dwelling on the refugees that succumbs to the ravages of war and end up being homeless and when they seek refuge in other countries they are denied entry making them to feel like no one gives heed to their situation
Mwanaka: There are not many suggested solutions or healing mechanisms in the poems so far
Thato: Human trafficking occurs solely for sexual exploitation and slavery but I added a healing mechanism that gleams light to this issue. The igneous fists symbolise Africa's historical strife that lead to Africans protecting their own. I symbolised our sisters as diamonds that can never crack despite going through such plight. And by mentioning that they were born from Africa's soil I wanted to show that, that despite being made vulnerable and broken, our sisters are rich and rare.
I hope that made sense. I tried Tendai.
Christopher Kudyahakudadirwe:
Untitled note
Why is it that when I look at you
The first thing that I see is your colour?
Yes, tell me why it is so, tell me my brother!
Why is it that I can't see you when I'm looking for you?
Why has colour blinded us, why my sister?
When you're black I see the criminal in you,
I see the opportunity to accuse you of drug dealing
I want to abuse you, to make you the hewer of my wood
When I'm white you see the racist in me
Yes, you see white privilege; you see the proverbial silver spoon.
Why has the colour of our skins come between us, why?
Look, some are foreigners because they are black
Others are expatriates or tourists because they are white
When is the human race going to be colourblind?
Was He a fool to create us in His image differently?
Mwanaka: Great Chris...it delves into xenophobia deeply, how it has been about one's colour
kudyahakudadirwe: This xenophobia issue is pronounced especially in South Africa where black people do not question the nationality of white people but that of other black people from other African countries.
Mwanaka: Why is that so? I have always wondered
Jacobus: Africa is only for Afrikans when they question the nationality of white people. Otherwise it's about the ills of capitalism and the effect it has on the black tribes of South-Africa. If parties here had a stance on immigration - which as far as I can tell they do not - things won't be as fucked in the townships. I won't elaborate on my thoughts regarding the current situation they find themselves in relation to living in a democracy and being the majority at the same time but I digress. It comes down to education and indoctrination. Both of which wanting in the majority's minds. Is it normal? I guess it is. I mean the king of the Zulus call for xenophobia and the government just about turns a blind eye. I guess it has to do with '' Cultural Sensitivity'' laws.... And the reason why they don't question white nationality so much is quite obvious, we are white, which means we're either of European decent or of European decent....That and psychology, the effects of Christianity and Capitalism.
Kudyahakudadirwe: I can't agree more. Your perspective can actually be presented in a poetic form. Have a look at it.
Ayomide: I like the fact that as we write we discuss, we analyse issues: One thing i would love views on is this. What is wrong in (with) the black man? Why does it seem we have suffered arrested development, why are we the poster race for everything poor, "evil", backward and diseased
Mwanaka: Thanks Wafula, Ayomide, Jacobus, Chris...I think they are a lot of issues raised here. Let's talk about them. Do we blacks hate our own colour...if so who made us hate it? The issue of white privilege has been torched on, how can that be resolved. Have we blacks failed to run our countries?
Ayomide: We have been "independent" for a while (largely) but we have mostly failed or are failing states across the black continent. What is wrong with the black man?
Ntensibe: Consideration should be whether we hate the colour or circumstances surrounding us beyond the colour. Statistically though we may not rule out the fact the ratio of suffering "black" Vs other races overweighs on the scale. It is thus not the colour we hate but the situations we undergo. We have not really failed to run our countries but priorities of our claimed to be leaders seem to be channelled towards subjective rather than objective benefits. A few nations whose leaders have observed that have changed-T.Z, Ghana (sometime back-anyway they are few)
Kudyahakudadirwe: Nepotism & corruption. These two are a relic of traditional African govts. We have not graduated out of them.
Jacobus: The question you should ask yourself is why your ancestors couldn't stand up against the white and Jewish man. Why you struggle to govern your people and work from there. A wise man points fingers inward. That's what I've learned.
Kudyahakudadirwe: Remember how chieftainships were handed down to relatives.
Mwanaka: But Joseph, even Ghana you mentioned, that has had real democracy for years haven't grown economically, people are still poor there just like they are in say South Africa that got independent a few years ago
Mwanaka: Jacobus, what do you mean by our ancestors not standing up against white or Jewish people?
Ntensibe: They paint an abstract piece and you think all is well. At least Ghana has a thing close to "democracy"
Mwanaka: Can we answer these questions in poetic form...I think we have opened a whole arena to explore our topic...there is issues of governance that needs to be tackled in our poem. Then the black and white issue
kudyahakudadirwe: This is one of the reasons why South-Africa is in the state it is today, Apartheid Governments and their Nationalism laws.
Jacobus: Pure ignorance. It's no different to the Zulus thinking the voortrekkers are wizards for having guns. It's bullshit. A lot of it has to do with racial purity and cultural assurance but not allow them to read and the tea? Those aren't Dutch ideas. Nationalism is not about suppressing other cultures. It's about nurturing your own. It's about respecting other cultures and respecting their right to exist. The other nonsense is not nationalism. They use a perverted form of nationalism as an excuse to propagate their bullshit capitalist rhetoric by creating a slave class which they can exploit to further their imperialist directives. This is not only done by way of culture but religion as well as seen during apartheid when priests and clergy told white people that it's God's will and their duty as Christians to support Apartheid. They used the bible as a way to justify it by indoctrinating children and ignorant Calvinists against other races by telling them the bible says they aren't human. Calling them demons even. Who owns the church? What do they have to gain by doing this? Yes. Break free of the illusion. Understand without being told what to think. Stupid people are easily swayed. Always remember that.
Mabungu: This reminds me of Kenyatta's observations. About the settlers teaching us to pray with our eyes closed and when we opened them, the land was gone. It's because Africa no longer belongs to the natives that such ills are towards black people from black people. We have been blinded by Western motives and allowed to be told we are poor. Why would such a rich continent receive aid from western countries? We have all the minerals but instead of focusing on the main issue that we have lost Africa as a whole, we focus on who belongs where and all that kind' of fruitless nonsense
Mwanaka: So I still think blacks were made to hate their own skins. Because frankly speaking if a government has policies like those for at least 50 years, and apply them rigidly...those laws interpreting them deeply meant being black is wrong...because any connection with that skin results in punishment. Its a conditioning system, like the B.F Skinner's experiments
Ayomide: I think we need to move forward and ask ourselves the hard questions. Nigeria has been independent for over 50 years, but we are still nowhere, we can't blame the white man, we have been unable to have good governance. Look at Haiti, look at Liberia, independent black nations for a long period of time, but look at where they are. We need to ask ourselves hard questions. Yeah, we should, we have had leaders like Lumumba, Sankara who were exemplary but were snuffed out in their prime
Kudyahakudadirwe: Do you think it's the blacks who invented skin lightening creams in an effort to join the white race or the white people in an effort to assimilate blacks: assimilado by Portuguese & French?
Ayomide: Where are our Lee Kwan Yews? Where are the visionaries like they had among the Asian tigers that pulled them from situations like ours into affluence in the modern age? Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and others in their group were like us years ago (maybe not this bad), they were colonised and repressed too but see where they are. What made the difference? Governance, leadership. I know i have generalised a lot, but that's the big picture
Ayomide Owoyemi:
We shall rise, someday we shall rise,
From the ashes of our shame and losses,
The cradle shall no more be a just saddle,
Mwanaka: We need new contributions on how these governance and leadership issues have resulted in breakdown of countries and the resultant strife, poverty, migration etc.. In poetic form then we can discuss that afterwards. Let's tackle governance now
Mitra: I think we are missing the Indian in Xenophobia. Remember the Mahatma was thrown out of the first class compartment at Petermarizburg. Today we are seeing a reverse Xenophobia. The Natal Indian Congress precursor to ANC is largely forgotten Delhi has a Nelson Mandela Road just close to the Indian Parliament. Indian Immigrants with South African citizenships are denied the same rights as a black South African
Mwanaka: Yes totally Amitabh...I agree with you...its multi pronged... Its not just white on blacks, or blacks on blacks... but even blacks on Asians, vice versa
Chuma Mmeka:
We are Africans, O yes, we are Africans
Regardless of colour, tongue, creed, tribe, borders, curtains and demarcations, we all are Africans
Call it evolution, call it migration, to the north, south, east and west, over time, mankind comes from Africa
Ignore ignorance, prejudice pride; Insult apartheid, spit on racism; Africa birthed us all
And like the oscillation of the fan; as the earth moves round the sun, mankind's return is assured
Just like clockwork clocks back to start, the shift will round back to the cradle of the Homo Africanus
This is true for we all are Africans!
Kudyahakudadirwe: I must quickly correct the above: we ain't Africans these days. We are Halfricans. Just a chuckle!
Ibrahim Nureni:
Haiku on xenophobia
singing songs
of the speckled sheath--
Zulu birds
Bianca Nieuwenhuis: I really like it Chuma, very similar theme to my poem which appeared in the 2016 anthology
Mwanaka: We are all Africans as far as I am concerned. We all belong here. We have to find a way to live together... that's the reality. Amitabh, can you do a stanza on Indian or Asian Africans around one of these issues. Some other day I was just walking from the shops and I just started thinking about these issues. Funny how we humans we create our own cells. We created these borders for ourselves. A Zimbabwean can't go to Zambia without a paper (passport). He is illegal when he goes to Zambia without proper papers. But that doesn't happen with animals. They don't need papers to fly into Zambia, neither does the water in Zambezi. How can we be illegal in a planet where we were born, how can it only applies to humans. Worse as the first stanza from Archie made it clear we all were born here in Africa. We all came from the same person or people.
Mmeka: I really fell in love with that Archie's start
Sehloho: Xenophobia is a very deep and serious one to focus on. It seems we, as Africans we already have classified ourselves based on our cultures/norms. Anyone who is from a different African country poses a thread to society whereas people from other western countries are embraced. It's really sad to be honest.
Mitra: Tendai, I deal with Violence and Trauma everyday I shall do that in prose poems and my work in Masisi and forced amputations of Tutsis. I was the personal physician to General Nkunda then
Jacobus: Borders are important. If one crazy leader decides to do something crazy the only thing stopping the insanity from washing over onto your street are the borders that separate you from it. And let's be honest Africa has had its fare share of insane politicians that put a lot of its people to the sword.
Mari Ballot:
When I met Mandela "when he spoke more than silences fell (he had more than an exceptional story to tell) stanzas spoke of something greater than suffering and pain. Sentences stalked, searched past me past the time of now for a different tomorrow without such sorrow, fragile thoughts, poems miraculously measured lay upon the tearstained paper ransacked remembrance of what he tried the hardest to forget and forgive, the scars did not disfigure him... they were not just of skin and chained feet but of a spirit who dreamt and that could not write defeat
Mitra: But in Zimbabwe during 91 and 92 when I served at Bulawayo Mpilo General, truly speaking I had the most pleasant experience, Trauma was a rarity and the National Minister of Health Timothy Stamps knew me and all doctors in Zimbabwe by their first name. He used to visit our homes and meet families. He never had any body guard
Archie Swanson:
i dug a root
in a dry river bed
for i was hoping to be fed
and i believed that it would nourish me
and so i ate every last bit
from fibrous flesh to corky pit
good and wholesome
i tore the skin in strips
it tasted sweet upon my lips
as i developed an acquired taste
chewing in unholy haste
a bit like olives turgid roughness
not tender but with gritty toughness
a bit like hops without the beer
a bit like dandelion greens
a bit like raw coffee beans
as i dug in my desire
i discovered i was not alone
for there were others
with the self-same fire
and we agreed
there was no better way to feed
in any case the root in mind
was the only root that we could find
over weeks and months and years
i fed myself till i was bloated
yet i received no real nutrition
no vitamins proteins butterfat
not one addition
somehow i did not think of that
as i developed fierce migraines
and the sharpest abdominal pains
until one day at last i found
that the root beneath the ground
that had not nourished me
was the root of bitterness you see
Mwanaka: Nice one Archie. It seems to speak to the issue, though in a hidden way
Eliza Mabungu:
"let's put borders so they won't bother us!" Shouted the settlers.
Their motive was division of the natives.
Round their land with fences!
Surround them with lenses!
Lenses that can spot them so they can stop them!
With guns they guard around!
Abel Sehloho:
Men of Greed
The powerful hurts the powerless.
Independence and freedom becomes a myth.
A child's cry pierces through our cracking land.
Nothing but hunger and unsolicited pain.
Skies turn black with sorrow while men in opulent suits prosper
.
Jacobus G. L.Nieuwoudt:
Heil
To the old guard
But not the new
as the struggle
Continues
Without you
Hoist up the sails
And remember my name
For I am the forefathers
Of my forefathers
And the offspring that
Came
Now all that is
Young and new
Is also old
And willing to be
Gifted to you.
Remember now as the wood
Broke apart
And the pirates from
The north
Met Poseidon and
The world snake
For stealing
A million of our
Most beautiful
And purest
And yes some
Of our finest
Our own
Remember them
Now as they too sink into
A hot desert hell.
Question begets
met with an easy answer
Think the colonies were
Taken under slaver
pretense
Pray
Tell
When it was in spite of that
The women
Men
And children
They answer.
Hard pills to swallow.
Like a bird it brings back
News to the govern.
Their pussies
Defiled until death
In haram
For if you are sillky
sweet
Milky
Teet
Thunder
Born
You deserve
To suffer
Embrace
The scorn
Why?
Just cause.
Now burn.
For the same reason.
That you bare no reason.
That you kill.
That you die.
That you change tongues.
In the whitest
Rightest
Mightest
Dye.
And still
You ask
Why?
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