Malawi poetry
Snail’s Lament by Albert Kalimbakatha
Crumbled I die Tortured I die Out in the dark. Crumbled I die Tortured I die Out in the rain. Crumbled I die Tortured…
Malawi poetry
Stella Chipasula
I’m My Own Mother, Now by Stella Chipasula
Mother, I am mothering you now; Alone, I bear the burden of continuity. Inside me, you are coiled like a hard question …
Malawi poetry
A Hanging by Frank Chipasula,
His pendulous body tolled its own death knell from the rope yet refused obstinately to die, clinging desperately to t…
Malawi poetry
Nightmare by Frank Chipasula
Darkness chained me to my tattered reed mat; The hand of tyranny sprinkled The soot of ignorance in my eyes, and sleep …
Malawi poetry
Nightfall by Frank Chipasula
In the sad hotel that drinks a swamp, You breathe malarial air and enjoy Frog music piped in from the dismal swamp. B…
Malawi poetry
The Witch Doctor’s Song by Frank Chipasul
My people, beat the drums, the male and female drums that I may feed my famished feet with the quickness of ancestral…
Malawi poetry
The Rain Storm by Frank Chipasula
The rain washed the coat of the wind, dusted the nose of the mountain, licked the blood off its peak, and rinsed the …
Malawi poetry
Blantyre by Frank Chipasula
Rusty grey roofs, stunted white-washed walls, the city wears a borrowed Scottish accent, and hides behind a clump of ma…
Malawi poetry
A Love Poem for My Country by Frank Chipasula
I have nothing to give you, but my anger And the filaments of my hatred reach across the border You, you have sold many…
Malawi poetry
in a Free Country by Frank Chipasula
They ran out of cuffs, but with apologies for the inconvenience, they carefully wrapped barbed wire round the wrists …
Steve Chimombo
Developments from the Grave by Steve Chimombo
We have come full circle, it seems: burying our dead right in the homestead now, on the sites the living had built. W…
Steve Chimombo
Napolo: The Message by Steve Chimombo
Was it a decade after Napolo I met you, friend? No matter. We lived to tell the story around the fire in whispers and b…
Malawi poetry
Smiller’s Bar Revisited by Jack Mapanje
No, how do you know they no longer seek what Their hearts desire those girls at Smiller’s Bar? Note how they sneer at…
Malawi poetry
Your Tears Still Burn at My Handcuffs by Jack Mapanje
After that millet beer you brewed, mother (In case Kadango Mission made something of Another lake-son for the village t…
Malawi poetry
The Famished Stubborn Ravens of Mikuyu by Jack Mapanje
These could not be Noah’s ravens, these crows of Mikuyu Prison groaning on our roof-tops each day; wherever they wander…
Malawi poetry
The Cheerful Girls at Smiller’s Bar by Jack Mapanje
The prostitutes at Smiller’s Bar beside the dusty road Were only girls once in tremulous mini-skirts and oriental Bea…
Malawi poetry
An Elegy for Mangochi Fishermen by Jack Mapanje
Today even those fireflies have become The banners for our night fishermen The crabs and dondolos dare not Peep out o…
Malawi poetry
Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails byJack Mapanje
Skeletal Kampuchea children staring, cold Stubborn Irish children throwing grenades These are objects too serious for…
Malawi poetry
Before Chilembwe Tree by Jack Mapanje,
Didn’t you say we should trace your footprints unmindful of quagmires, thickets and rivers until we reached your nsol…
Malawi poetry
The Stranglehold of English Lit by Felix Mnthali
Those questions, sister, those questions stand stab jab and gore too close to the centre! For if we had asked why Jan…