Best Continent Poems
Why is Africa the dark continent?
Is it the skin, but this is skin-deep…
Is it the hope, which by faith we keep?
Is it the future, which we cannot see,
Or is it the label
That was given unfortunately?
When we in Africa
Look up at the bright blue sky
We see the hope and glory
In eyes about to die
When we in Africa
Live in poverty
We rely on Help that sets us free
To eternal wealth
When we in Africa
Get sick, we pray for God to heal
And our singular and faithful appeal
Sees many miracles
When we in Africa
Look at the world’s philosophy
Of smut and grime and flesh sublime
We are happy to be poor
When we in Africa
Pray for our brothers’ keep
We sink peacefully into our restful sleep
As worries do not keep us up
When we in Africa
Are pitied by the nations
As they build their careers in grimy subway stations
We pray for them
For the poor will be blessed
As the wide road gives you rest
But rest assured
You may be lured
To the (eternal) darkest continent!
ATLANTIS - The Lost Continent
There once was a fifth continent, known as Atlantis. Is it fact
or fiction ? Well that is for everyone to decide. In the
early beginning of modern times there was Atlantis, an
advanced civilisation, that had moonstone crystals and used
them for suppling heat for everyone, larger crystals had the
power to destroy the world, the scientist realised this and
wanted to protect their secret, but the King and his astrologers
found out about this from spies in the kingdom, they were
planning a conquest of the new world and would travel past
the pillars of Hercules to invade and to take control of the free
world. As their plans were to unfold, the volcanoes were starting
to erupt with anger as they had enraged the gods with their
evil intentions, as they were all ready for there conquest
the volcanoes erupted and people were in panic and tried to
flee Atlantis, by this time the island was starting to sink
beneath the waves. The evil king and his men were swamped
by hot lava and ash and were choking on the fumes as the
beautiful cities of Atlantis was doomed. After a short time
the few boats that did escape moved into the distance
the refugees were all looking at the destruction of the once
proud city of Atlantis. Atlantis is now gone as it sinks into
the depths of the ocean. Years later it would be well
remembered as Atlantis, - the lost continent.
Under a full night of black night stars, shooting and shining, turning a world of sun worlds, everything universe and cool wind, mountains of dark sound and a stream's breath song, I think often, until dawn, of your strong love. All of these true things becoming mine as a shore. And we inside as a breath baby. Listen, life darling long, four horses grazed nearby my head last night, like good luck. Struck thus I write: your love is greater than the real celestial globe.
How is it the powerful night attends you like a magician his queen? Something thicker and velvet than deep sea foam for you swirl lover. Something true to the events of our lives, the clear mountainous horizon of vision. Over the vast green earth O population of human and animal lovers to chewing very cud, our bond is fulfilled as a mother. A tremendous earthquake couldn't exist without us.
Land as one piece so large
surrounded by the waters
and structured by several borders.
I saw an angry African tower over a bleeding brother
I saw a by-passer look on, with little bother
I saw a neighbour inflict a new scar and a blister
I heard a woman’s yelling silence a pleading sister
A foreign accent crying out for help
A cry drowned out by indigenous mob’s blame
A mob that takes over our conscience and the sense of self
As an innocent life is buried in stones and torched in a flame
This can’t be Africanism
It can’t be humanism
Where are the smiles that draw us together?
Where are the smiles that mean warm words we don’t need to utter?
The rhythm of our continent is in the songs and drums
Don’t let it succumb to the swords and guns
Don’t fight a brother, fight for your stolen history
Don’t fight a sister, fight against the distorted identity
Don’t fight a brother, fight against the colonial legacies
Poor against poor, does not kill inequality
Black against black, does not bring diversity
African against African, does not yield self determination
We defeated the same oppression
That sought to divide our nations
Africa has one soul
Africa has one voice
Africa has one choice
To unite and continue to walk in freedom
Into a beautiful Africa, a home with many homes
Say no to Xenophobia
The white ice is glittering everywhere,
The view of that Continent is super,
The Arctic ocean is vibrating with glacier,
The seils, Panguins, whales are moving there.
The global warming is soaring rapidly,
The ice of the Artic are melting randomly,
The sea levels are rising dangerously,
The low lying countries will submerge surely.
Shall we let it be done?
The hardest job can't be done by one
We could unitedly protect the Arctic ocean,
We should not put our initiatives undone.
"Anytime the sun rise,it smiles with me,
And when it's setting,cries with me,
It really loves my race,
Respects my unique custom,
Always praying to get closer to me,
How colourful it breaks its rays into me,
My children likes it,
How good and powerful it is,
Violence can't intimidate when it should appear and disappear,
Birds sing to make sure they get what they want from me;
Flies in the sky to highest horizons,
With luring and seductive feathers,
Mountains and valleys,full of wild and overwhelming animals of different species,
Green vegetation,full of herbs good to remediate pestilences,
and clean water bodies;
Thus, attractive waterfalls and rivers which flow into tunnels and convert into one broad source,
...pour its relevance to a big ocean,
Nature do I sleep within;
Surrounds me with seasons backed with fortunate futures,
I'm the bravest,strongest,confidential and carries prospective qualities as these,
Enmity doesn't play master plans against my truth,
Political societies that contains me in the world recognition,
Counts my flaws against me,
Everything is really going to be fine,
Colonisation stole my dominance,changed the status of me to slavery,
Yet still,my birthright is held respectively,
Out of my belly comes refreshing and nutritional crops,
Democracy is a banner placed to my gate,
Enemies reveal Hypnotism against my progression,
What of Imperialism?
Weapon to crash my bones,
But I'm rooted to a rock,
For I'm likened to Mount Zion,
Black is my ultimate colour,
And nothing would change me,
'AFRICA' is the name; home of peace and solidarity",
Where can I find Africa alive?
Africans, a very sick population
language, diluted, truncated, lost
education, bedeviled, colored
economy, bed-ridden, in drips
democracy, without soul, spirit
industries, baseline and debased
agriculture, genetically modified
youth, foreign caricature beings
patriots, hidden agents of powers
mass media, devil’s delight
African essence, assimilated
Where can I find Africa alive?
all I see including me, I guess
is a bundle of alloyed humans
that lives in Africa but breathes
and lives in the West or the East
body in Africa, heart across seas
body in sick bay, mind kidnapped
that is social is not African
that is political is not African
that is economic is not African
that is cultural is not African
Remove all that is not African
and remain with naked Africa,
that is Africa, half alive, half dead!
Africa my continent
I remember you today as always
The cradle of civilization
The land of great and revered warriors
Endowed extravagantly with all God’s natural resources
Africa my continent
The land of great promise
Africa of Achebe’s Things fall Apart, I salute you.
Rise up and take your destiny in your own hands
The abundance of wealth in your bowels
Should be a blessing to your poverty-stricken children
Africa you must stop disappointing God
Africa my continent
It is time to purge your off-springs of notorious acronyms
Which have become their lot
The poverty capital of the world
The corruption infested countries
The third world countries
The least developed countries
Developing countries
-hole countries
Emerging economies
Underdeveloped countries
Arise Africa and shine for your star has risen!
they call her
the dark continent
though the sun shines
brightest on her
blue rain pours on her
every day
making nonsense
of her sun’s toil
'the sun has ascendant between us,
between two pinched,
that bow to each other;
love with the sun ascendant,
has red on our orgasmic ally
stem;
we are now like a shadow, thy
set, in the same continent;
but kiss the air husbandry.
Doing is Happening
There are imaginary lines to mark locations in a map
Horizontal parallel layti are latitude lines.
Vertical khari lambi are longitude lines.
Four directions to go
The time is now.
Note.Maps can only guide readers.
Lesson.The marker of imagination is an important ingredient.
Fingers pull at sunlight, warm and trembling,
curling it around small, unstoppable palms.
Dust sparkles in the air like fairy particles,
twirling and whirling as if the sky itself,
is shaking secrets like sprinkles just for me.
The carpet folds beneath bare toes, soft as moss and rough as bark,
each step a drumbeat in a forest of my own making.
The tongue tastes words as they form, sweet with dust and sharp with soap,
syllables ripening before they leave the lips.
Shadows slither across walls, curling and uncoiling,
following the hum of laughter that trembles in the throat and spills like water.
Torchlight puppets move across surfaces as I narrate stories of beasts and wonders,
I have not yet lived to see,
yet they feel as real as any game of pretence,
as real as the tents I build and the villages I raise,
from mats and bedsheets, with soft toys aligned as citizens.
All puddles tremble under my boots, reflecting clouds that wink and wander,
a leaf pirouetting from nowhere, a stick humming secret music,
and the wind pressing soft against the nape of my neck,
telling stories in a language only skin can hear.
Knees bloom with tiny triumphs, trenches of scraped concrete,
deepened by running barefoot, but nothing my mother cannot coo away.
My hands remain sticky with juice and glue, ears wide for the scrape of a chair,
the creak of a door, the whisper of pages, the symphony of ordinary miracles.
And still, my eyes open wider, drinking the tilt of light,
the smell of wet earth, the shimmer of moving air.
The world is alive, trembling, waiting for nothing,
but to be touched and tumbled through by little smiles,
a submerged continent rising just for my delight.
Imagine the world full of bloom
Imagine a continent full of the joy of smiling faces
They have magical power to transmit the warm gentle feeling to the others
Flowers come out from the ground where rain joins with fertilizer,
(All kinds of worms collaborate to make it happen!)
Humans come in and go out from the ground where sadness, anger, jealousy,
are mixed with satisfaction, happiness and memory, also great fertilizers
How do you use them?
I'd like to see your fully blossoms
Down a runway skybound
to cross a continent,
see from a window
a city fall away
with bright beads
strung along a coast,
then turning inland,
clumped townships
shrinking to solitary lights
sunk far apart
into hours
of featureless dark.
Disconnected
from the earth,
let the mind paint
the blank distances
and wander landscapes
of Namatjira's hills
and ghost gums
and photographic stills
of outback towns
and along railway lines
spearing the horizon
where a big sun
hemorrhages
into an evening sky.
Then settle back
and allow a familiar picture
to arise from behind closed eyes
of light patched office towers
and stacked apartments
with tall derricks
puncturing the night
as it slides by
in soundless haste.
And way below,
playing out on some
inner screen, follow
stuttering road signs
and arteries of red tail lights
leading to narrow alleys where,
as if funneled into an ear,
you hear the sound of sirens
being dragged
along hot, crowded streets.
In time, let the noise abate
until faces dissolve and life
slurries back into a thick
air conditioned hum.
Doze a little
then try to unpack
the images collaged
across the hours.
Nothing adheres.
What had once
held together seems
to fray and fall apart.
Feel a slight unease
as the engines begin
to throttle back and comence
the slow descent. There,
bubbled on the horizon,
see the glow of city lights
drawing in a converging arc
of flights like moths.
Notes.
Namatjira refers to great Australian and First Nation painter,
Albert Namatjira (1902 - 1959) famous for capturing central Australian landscape including the iconic Ghost Gum, a species of Eucalyptus tree. His work speaks to a deep spiritual connection to the land, something held by his people for well over 40,000 years.
Poem refers to flight across the continent of Australia, East to West, approx. distance 4000 km.