Niyi Osundare
Complete Analysis of "Ours to Plough, Not to Plunder" by Niyi Osundare
Introduction "Ours to Plough, Not to Plunder" by Niyi Osundare is a poignant and thought-provoking poem that …
Showing posts from August, 2023
Poem from La Tradition du songe (1985)
Secret Destiny by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
The sun unveils beneath the sky’s circle A land of rivers and forests A woman of savage virtue Dishevelled by brackish …
Poem from Les Racines congolaises (1968)
Death and Rebirth by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
May the hide of the earth split beneath my feet, May the valve of the sky open and show me The high niche of the sun or…
Poem from Les Racines congolaises (1968)
Noonday in Immaturity by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
With a dozen blows the clock betrays the pulse of time, And the day-forged sun Now begins its retreat amid a blaze of s…
Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
Pilgrimage to Loango Strand by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
I have followed to this strand the scent of their blood Of my blood Forgetting other scars burnt by the hard wind In da…
Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
Submarine Tombs by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
With my sevenfold inquisitorial eye, More obscene than the urban wind, I have raised up through its ripping folds A dre…
Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
The Voices by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
Far across the waves, the wing of a gull Ventilates a sea full of impurities – The insult and darkness of refusal – I r…
Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
News of My Mother by Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard
I am now very high upon the tree of the seasons; Far below I see the firm earth of the past. When the fields opened the…
Tchicaya U Tam’si
Legacy by Tchicaya U Tam’si
The singing violin has not burnt the wind when a procession of raw bones snows wildly upon us A hesitant love pours not…
Tchicaya U Tam’si
Epitaph by Tchicaya U Tam’si
We are this union of water salt and earth of sunshine and flesh bespattering the sun no more among the sea marks but be…
Tchicaya U Tam’si
Poems from Le Ventre (1964) by Tchicaya U Tam’si
1 ‘The Congo is myself’ (Lumumba) I myself will be the stage for my salvation! Already velvet breaks the silences with …
Tchicaya U Tam’si
Four poems from Épitomé (1962) by Tchicaya U Tam’si
A bouquet of faded flowers in my letterbox… I I was naked for the first kiss of my mother I was naked before Sammy and …