Best Xenophobia Poems
A bsurd and foolish it might be
B ut it’s my nature, you’ll agree;
C annot ignore what I go through
D espite the help I get from you.
E ach time a stranger comes in sight
F ragile emotions turn to fright
G et me excited at one glance
H opelessly standing in a trance.
I ndeed I tremble, break in sweat
J ittery feelings that I get
K nocking together both my knees
L ord, I go thinking, save me please!
M aybe the problem can be solved
N eeding a pro to get involved
O ut of the groove I have to move
P erhaps in time I will improve.
Q uestions and answers are at hand
R eally I want to understand
S ome of the things that haunt my mind
T he doubts that I have to unwind.
U nless I act before it’s late
V enom of thought will seal my fate.
W ish that the phobia will now end
X eno reverting to a friend.
Y earning to welcome all mankind
Z ealous to foster peace of mind.
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This poetic form is called “Abecedarian”.
This is an Acrostic where all the consecutive
letters of the alphabet are used.
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30th Aug 2014
Contest: Abecedarian
Sponsor: Shadow Hamilton
Placing: 1st
They're knocking at me door
In the middle of the night
They're knocking at me door
Giving me an awful fright.
They taking me
To a camp where
Ashes fall like black snow.
I'll not be overjoyed
By goose-stepping boys
With boots to their knees, oh hey,
And brown shirts and billy clubs
Cheese grater belly rubs
Coming to take me away.
History has formed us into one braid
to stay strong and never surrender to any blade
standing side by side to be each others shade.
Why then do we classify one another into grades?
So that some cut others off just b’cos they are made?
There’s still hope, this togetherness will not fade
whatever it is, we have collectively paid
let’s stop hate from this unprecedented raid
so that unity will eventually get love laid.
We are Africans! Enough has been said.
Seems as a country full of saints and carriers of purity
as all crimes are interestingly attributed to outsiders
tagging them the influential teachers of immorality
yet such crime lovers show the capability of posing a threat
through the embarrassment caused on locals due to their industrious nature
Understanding the half-hearted privileges such a partial acceptance offers,
settlers become more creative, hardworking and productive
with limbs running on entrepreneurship, trade and commerce
while citizens comfort themselves
in the exaggerated pride of their home soil
which results in a war without cause or reason
The government ought to be a job creator
but how ironic, internationals are paying dearly for it.
It is claimed that foreigners are the thrombus in the channel of employment.
Yet these hated people
are self employed with shops, businesses and service centers
which are destroyed as a form of remittance of some sin
Every nation has her share of international mixture
yet a lot do not debase them as foreigners or aliens
the one down south of the dark island of all countries should be the least,
considering the continent’s role in its history,
irrespective of what her excuse may be
Look inwards if strangers are preferred in the national work force,
to find some answers- you angry mob
Examine your home, if passers-by enjoy more of the milk it produces.
Why target and shoot at the tree
when the bird is left alone to dine and sing?
Policemen catch fun while a soul converts to black coal,
humans lynched like a left over meal from vultures,
businesses ransacked and turned into forceful philanthropy,
these are evidences of character built on a very low budget.
If those responsible do nothing about social development,
With or without these ‘aliens’, the economic problems will still prevail
Why Africa
Africa! Africa! Africa!
Once the bosom of unity,
The mother of humanity,
A cradle of human dignity,
A people rooted in integrity.
The world’s mirror of charity,
The true home of hospitality,
Once revered as pillars of morality.
What plague has fallen upon Africa?
Africans killing Africans,
Brothers slaying brothers,
Patriots betraying compatriots.
Mothers and children now seek refuge under bridges,
The old and the weak abandoned to their fates.
Where have we kept our forefathers’ legacies?
They taught us love and oneness,
Trained us to stand for uprightness,
Showed us the meaning of compassion.
Nelson Mandela fought for love, peace, unity, and justice—
He dreamed of African unity, not Afrophobia.
Kwame Nkrumah stood for African freedom;
He never preached African terrorism.
Africans, Africans… where are you?
Rise and lay down your arms.
Drop every weapon of destruction against Africa.
Embrace one another with love.
Unite and end racism and discrimination.
Rise above selfishness; reject xenophobia.
Africans, we are one—
One people, one continent, indivisible.
Together, we can end all xenophobic attacks.
TANGWA LIVINUS ACHA
UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDE II, SOA
20th April 2015
Life is good but unpredecteble
You never now what will happened tomorrow
Life is not always dasame
Good things happened to good people
Good things came to people who deserve it
Why are we always fight our own people
Why are we baiting our brothers and sister's
Why are we not live in peace
Let rice up and say xenophobia must fall
Let change our life's
Let love our self
Let change our nation
Let unit and say out loud #xenophobia must fall
Recently broke free from the chains of apartheid
the bottom region of the second largest island
possessing three power houses to the usual one
and one of the local champions spare heading its region.
It has its own share of true records
housing both the smallest and largest plants.
The only volunteer to abandon programs of nuclear developments
and boasts of a population worthy of a global market.
From the cheapest electricity to the largest wine route,
to the train which is most enjoyable and expensive
and a street shined on by two golden stars,
but now gradually becoming a chronic and xenophobic addict.
Auditory dementia envelops upon a grandeur scale. Skepticism dilutes the
experience, painting an abyss of soul in-cognizant. Xenophobia empowers the weak,
imploring a dissonant decadence awaiting.
“Prejudice wears a variety of hats, none of them becoming.”
~ Kevin Ansbro
Is it fear or is it hatred
Of a stranger, the unknown
The premise that the unworthy
Could deprive you of your throne?
Is it feeling self-important
With a right to underrate
Foreign people with behaviour
Prone to sow the seeds of hate?
Selfish, haughty, prejudicial
Are the stickers on your back.
Do your customs and religion
Make you special? What the heck!
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Published in "Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace"
~ (PoetrySoup) 2026
Children of Xenophobia
Children eating bullets and firecrackers
Beggars of smile and laughter
Silent corpses sleeping away fertile dreams
Povo* chanting new nude wretched slogans
Overstayed exiles eating beetroot and African potato
Abortions and condoms batteries charging the lives of nannies and maids
Children of barefoot afternoons and uncondomized nights
Sweat chiselling the rock of your endurance
The heart of Soweto, Harare, Darfur, Bamako still beating like drums
Violence fumigating peace from this earth.
Kinder der Xenophobie
Kinder, die Kugeln und Feuerwerkskörper essen
Bettler von Lächeln und Lachen
Stille Körper die fruchtbare Träume wegschlafen
Povo* die neue nackte elende Slogans singen
Zu lang wegbleibende Exilierte die Rote Beete essen und Afrikanische Kartoffeln
Abtreibungen & Kondome Batterien die die Leben von Kinder- und Dienstmädchen aufladen
Kinder barfüßiger Nachmittage und kondomloser Nächte
Schweiß der den Fels deiner Ausdauer meißelt
Das Herz von Soweto, Harare, Darfur, Bamako schlägt noch wie Trommeln
Gewalt die Frieden wegräuchert von dieser Erde.
Translator's note:
* “the povo (the 'people' - referring to the low-income majority)” – This definition was offered in 1994. Cf. “[...] it has been frequently asserted that the access of the povo (the 'people'. - referring to the low-income majority) to the University of Zimbabwe has improved .” (Paul Bennell and Mkhululi Ncube, “A University for the Povo? The Socio-Economic Background of African University Students in Zimbabwe Since Independence”, in: Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 20, No. 4, Dec. 1994, pp. 587-601. – A skeptical asssessment of povo is offered by an apologist of the West who asserts that “the Povo masses are not attuned to the western format of democracy.” (Charles W. Duke, Zimbabwe: The Land That Weeps. Yeadon, Leeds, West Yorkshire : Best Books Online/ Mediaworld PR Ltd., 2003, p.83.)
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 chagrin in my mind
is hurting but I don't want
to be a folly then I put a
vexation on my life
but I was tempted to kill
the stars and lost all my
money even though
I have Xenophobia
the lilacs are blooming in
the land above I mourn'd
for love walking through the
pale dawn on a saturday night
but I can't like people
because I have Xenophobia.
Xenophobia
We are not seeing the Africa inspired by Mandiba.
We are not seeing the Africa inspired by our
Ancient Kings of rusted spear and shield.
This is not Africa!
This is African inspired after colonization,
The one set at the period of imperialism.
The Berlin conference of 1884-85.
The oppressors have been winning a long time now
Comes the south Africa against all Africa
Shame should slam the face of south African
Who are perpetrating the brutal and barbaric act.
In Bloemfontein sudden death of our brothers we see
The Nigeria, Somalian, Ghanaian, Tanzanian
Contribute the rescue of there black brothers
When they suffer under apartheid
We are the most divided and dysfunction race on the planet
The whitish have called the black land there home
Our fellow black man is been oppress and sabotage
Our black woman and her infant child have turn to runaway slave
Chasing her with all metallurgy
We allow the line of boarders to separate us.
HEAL THY SELF O WOUNDED AFRICA
(no to XENOPHOBIA).
Wake up a voice shouted
You slept like a pregnant woman
While the drum beat of my assagil sounds like trumpet
With fear and deep chill I listened
The ghost of mighty black warrior standing in shiver
As I face the Great Zulu warrior lost in fear
I saw him Shaka cry to the members of Mambers the great Gods of Africa
There before him stands the Mighty Nile in disbelief
With the Niger filled with bloods disagrees to stay calm
The Senegal and the Congo revolted with flood
The orange and the Limpopo grumble and cried as the sky shared their pains with continuous rain pour.
O you failed cried d Zambezi as she invades her neighbors with flood
A knock on my door I heard a voice shout
Speak out for Africa
It is I Kwameh Nkrumah speaking
This is a sacrilegious act echoed the Mighty Zik
When the house is not in order the cockroaches becomes violent
Cried out the anguish voice of Awolowo
From afar I saw a running giant coming with the force of a chariot
Then I heard a voice so mighty was it that the visitors chased it with fear
He a mighty figure decorated and protected by glory of stars
Stood there is burning eyes of anger
Cover in the black glasses with general pride
As curious as a questionnaire
I ventured in to the glorious illusionary scene
Standing before my trembling eyes was The General Abacha in his full stature
Like a Ligtening spark the mighty figure bent his head in shame
As I looked to behold who thou art
There before me I saw The Mighty Mandela in tears of betray
Weep no more thou wounded soul
The thunderous voice of King Sailaise shouted
In council with the great Ghaddafi as furious as
Idi Amin
Sankara frowned like a disgraced old man
While the ghost of Seda Sengho felt it lost its victories like Anthonio lost all his titles
In schock I turned as a firmed hand gently parted my hand
It was a mighty spirit with two heads
It is the heads of the great secretaries
Achebe and Giwa
Handing me a pen a paper
Written on it
Heal thyself O Africa before yesterday bleed to death.
Before the black man's turmoil was his foster
And race amongst them was an imposter too
No wonder I grew to watch from a black and
White television set... from infancy to juvenile
Ages had past, each day break Ma got rinsed
Busking became a hobby... Never was I eager
To question the brother's ill treat, I grew too,
To acknowledge his inflictions and incursions
Now that I had proudly waved the colonial fleet
As the show got clear and clearer, letting off
By-gones be by-gones another race was being
Bred... Blackism rose. Brothers upon brothers.
The spirit of Madhibha never sort Xenophobia
Zulu ramps BaShona, Mfecane of the 21st century
Africa now a war zone tribe against tribe awry...
Nehanda was this your plight Ma? Clues I thirsty for.