Author: Msomi Bora

LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS By William Shakespeare About the Author William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April, which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616. William Shakespeare LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS W. Shakespeare (England) Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no! it is an ever-fixed…

ECHOES Kundi Faraja Me, I plead guilty That my woman is a tool To fulfil my sexual desires, That she’s the source of sensual pleasure. A garden Where I plant my seeds So as to get children Which are mine. And not hers, Who have the right To inherit my property, And not her. I plead guilty That I have regarded my woman As my property, Because I paid the bride price To her parents. What did her parents think When they demanded The cows, The tanks of beer, The goats, The money They knew That they were making…

PROSPERING OF SOCIETY Kajubi It has a strong wire round it And you will heed its beauty. My society is prospering; The labour of my society Is raising its welfare And you will heed its beauty, With a strong wire round it, This building that houses The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. The building of the Ministry For raising the society’s welfare Has a strong wire round it; The people who are leading my society In its struggles to prosper Work inside the strong wire fence, And we are outside. And you will take heed of its beauty And…

SUNRISE Jwani Mwaikusa. Behold! The sun has arisen, And with it the sons of the land have arisen too Forward they go, Well armed, Singing praises to the beauty of the sunrise, With the determination of long-term warriors, Challenging the enemy With the courage of a free mind And the vigour of a clear purpose. Sit and wait brethren, Wait and see what glory they bring at sunset; How they pay homage to the land – And their people! INTRODUCTION Sunrise is a sonnet written by the late Tanzanian professor, Jwani Mwaikusa (1952-2010) that clearly depicts the subject of Struggle…

LOST BEAUTY Jwani Mwaikusa There are only white women around: Awful fakes of white females Reflecting an awful mass of ugliness: And I want a lady To mount the rostrum with And announce to the world: “Black is beautiful!” Yes, I want a black beauty queen With ebony thighs and huge hips With skin sweating blackness And a face dark as the night And bare breasts bouncing Vigour and energy. But my eyes, oh my eyes! They don’t see anything black; It’s only white skins and masks Flashing past and slashing, Destroying my sight so I can’t get what…

YOU ARE LOST Isack Mruma To you dada.⃰ it’s the days that matter, for we are unable to chat in the language we had. When I look at you and see my pay slip in your eyes I feel empty and sapped. Your glance, sister, is to me the measure of the heat of the dough in my pocket. Never are passions cool, to you I am now a tool, and all my wage is now the fare: I ride on your throbbing kisses. It is you I accuse, because your love is lost, and you only touch me with…

DOUBLE BEATING By Richard Mabala About the Author Richard Mabala is originally from the United Kingdom and gave up his passport to become an official Tanzanian. He has been an educator, professor at a university, a poet, and a recognized writer of Secondary school English readers (Mabala the Farmer, Hawa the Bus Driver, and others). Richard Mabala DOUBLE BEATING Richard Mabala My neighbours gather round, Listen to my cry, And tell me please, When the hummer pounds the nail And the nail bites Mercilessly Into the wood, Who is the wood to blame? You saw Today my husband beat me,…

LOOK AT A MAP Kajubi Look at a map; You will perceive a beautiful country with rivers of fishes, many valleys suitable for grain, lakes overflowing with milk and honey, mountains of good black soil a few minerals, yearning for full utilization: Seventeen million people…. You look at the map; You will not see the splendour of my country, seventeen million souls on this vast area of land, the world calling them wretched. And I here, a chosen son of the land, a son my people chose to confide in, and give the last handful of grain, from the barn,…

JUST SIT, OPPRESSOR, JUST SIT Isaac Mruma Just cross your legs With the belly covering them, Oppressor. Just yoga there, Smoking imported cigars, A product of their toil, Oppressor. Just sit belching Yesterday’s feed, Stoop there and grin At bones toiling in Suffocation. Count oppressor, Spell out in your book of evils Recording the toll of the unlucky You have robbed. When they sell their unga To the lone fat you And you clasp it tightly, Hoarding Their own property; When you eat As they die just rest. The bullet of reawakening Will raise you From your nap, For it…

THE GRACEFUL GIRAFFE CANNOT BECOME A MONKEY Okot P B’tek (Uganda) My husband tells me I have no ideas Of modern beauty. He says I have stuck To old-fashioned hair styles. He says I am stupid and very backward, That my hair style Makes him sick Because I am dirty. It is true I cannot do my hair As white women do. Listen, My father comes from Payira, My mother is a woman of Koc! I am a true Acoli I am not a half-caste I am not a slave girl; My father was not brought home By the spear…