Negritude has been invaded,
by carefully instilled dread of better change
while misery endures a standing ovation
Power is methodically toned down
in phases,
to colonise freedom…
Don’t allow it
The future is now related,
servitude ingrained
by liberation’s inflated egos’ quest to quench,
Blind to constitutional elevation
of these masses, and an impending storm,
We are not surrounded by defeated fighters…
These lies are unfounded
This battle cannot be grated,
By weakly defined attempts to wrench
a revolution from our roasted patience,
History coloured in sweat may lie forlorn
but piously spawns patterns in melting snow
Don’t let it slip unseen into
a miserly pit…
Let them know
you know
Categories:
negritude, freedom, rights,
Form: Free verse
How my raw heart raved
At the news of your departure
For them that can read
The sands of a forlorn heart
Will the rains ever come again
And hover my lover back to me?
I groped for the blind guide
Swore to fence his inner sight
To eternally end his thieving me
Of the only pearl
That my heart longs to keep:
That my eyes long to behold!
I cried on my mother’s lap
‘Let me be; I must have her
I must fly after her!’
Was all that forsoothing
No more than just a hoodwink-
A coquette’s meanly premium?
These torrid passions
Of a lonely heart
Have torn an unforgettable path
Thru’ the hows, whys and wherefores
Of a gallant search
For something to treasure!
Were I a prince, a poet or even a pauper
I would lead a chaste life
I would attend to my calling
Forget all the wicked nightmares
And attune to a life of celibacy and negritude
I would forfeit the worldly harvest!
You who travel to her nooks and corners
Will you tell me what’s behind the horizon?
What clouds hide me from her skyline?
Is there another star under God’s heaven
That shines brighter in her heart1
Tell me- my vigilant sensibilities.
Categories:
negritude, heartbroken,
Form: Free verse
Reflections
Perchance refractions
On mirror of civilization
Unveiling deep furrows-
Nausea of despair!
Ugly shadows of innocence
Haphazard ruins
Harbingers to Africa.
Mother Africa
Unleash black juju
Denounce anaemic gods and
Sing blues to negritude
Dream with Senghor
continental dreams
Dreams individual-
Like Nkrumah
A touristo blackano!
And African huts
Where come rains
To water our negritude
Come clouds
To hide our wrecks, rubble.
Robbed of freehold rights
By mayor and corporation
At slum clearance!
Acclaimed sons and daughters
Of former freedom fighters
In our misery!
Mother Africa
Forget them
Forget a touristo blackano
Behind wrecks
Behind smutty, illicit stuff
Behind oblique natives!
Forget these loud symbols of welfare
Albeit feigned
Symbols of might
Albeit loaned
Symbols of unity
Albeit fictitious
Symbols of friendship abroad…
Forget these things!
They mask the essential you
Distorting your true image
The image truly befitting
Our motherland:
The world’s caustic kaleidoscope!
Categories:
negritude, africa,
Form: Free verse
Each voice, every night
I never dream escaping away.
Tonight, he opened under rain, love.
Our voice - eternal gift -
Over Earth sleeps on needles again...
No darkness.
I could answer nothing true.
Learning one very exiguous year,
Other usual afternoon, nowhere...
You may obey reasons
Every time healing another negritude...
Imagine death over me,
Your love, our endless life...
Categories:
negritude, life, time
Form: Acrostic
On thy breast I suck
On thy belly I walk
On thy hand I cluck
On thy nose I cock
On thy orders I talk
With your knuckles I knock
With your brain I fork
With your tears I shock
With your mouth I pork
In your warmth I rock
In your agony I sock
In your sweat I work
In your strength I pluck
Mama Africa I know you sleep not
Your sleeplessness has watered the African root
You have suffered for all that is black in colour
You have laboured for the Negritude race
You have toiled for the Black *******
You remain our source of inspiration
You remain our point of innovation
You remain our fountain of knowledge
Your innate unique creativity remains our pride
Even if today is stormy and stuffy
Yesterday bouncy and bumpy
Tomorrow will be juicy and yummy
Mama Africa,
Sprinkle on us ceaselessly the water of life.
Categories:
negritude, black african american, childhood,
Form: I do not know?