Born in 1906 at Joal in Senegal, of the Serere tribe, Senghor has had a distinguished career as a scholar, philosopher and politician. Educated in Senegal and France, he was the first West African to graduate at the Sorborne in Paris. He has taken a prominent part in the cultural and political development of his…
Backgroud of the poet John Pepper Clark was born Kiagbodo in Ijaw, 1935. He was educated at Government College, Ughelli and has an English degree from University College, Ibadan. He was the founding editor of The Horn, Student poetry magazines which played a crucial role in the history of literary development in Nigeria. He worked…
I GIVE YOU THANKS MY GODI give you thanks my God for having created me blackFor having made of meThe total of all sorrows,and set upon my head5 the World.I wear the livery of the CentaurAnd I carry the World since the first morning. White is a colour improvised for an occasionBlack, the colour of…
My new phone is “smart.” I guess that I’m not.Amazing what all this here smart phone has got.TV and Weather and Internet, too.There’s just no limits to what it can do.Check my blood pressure and my temperatureWithout even probing all my apertures.I now know the time in Paris or Greece.I can track the migration of…
Aquíhijas del verbo: madres, los esparemos. Escúchenos, “vivos se los llevaron, vivos los queremos.”Recuérdenlo en el nombre del padre, del hijo y del hermanodetenidos y desaparecidos. Esperamos con la frente en altopunto por punto unidas como la cicatriz a sus costuras. Nadie podrá destruir ni desarmar nuestros pesares juntos.Amen.
Background of the poet John Pepper Clark, an Ijaw of the Delta area of Nigeria, was born in 1935, and was educated in University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he studied English Literature. He started and edited a poetry magazine, The Horn, while a student, and his early poems appeared in the magazine. He has worked…
The universe has no one to be one with;Out of hundreds of watchers,not one can see.Fate’s tree is crowned with thorns;you can search forever butno blossom will break its opacity.Promises make the rounds of this world,giving hopes not theirs to give.Since the world has no sweetness,restrain your bitterness when you seethe man selling vinegar. He…
Leopold Sedar Senghor is a poet, philosopher and scholar. He is one of the eldest and most prominent living persons associated with African poetry and culture. Born in 1906, Senghor was educated in Dakar, Senegal and Paris, France where he made history as first West African to graduate from the Sorbornne and teach in French…
Background of the poet Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali, (born 1940, Vryheid, Natal, South Africa), South African poet who wrote in English and Zulu and whose work drew deeply upon the immediate experience of life in the Johannesburg township of Soweto. Mtshali worked as a messenger before his first collection of poems, Sounds of a Cowhide Drum (1971), won…
The wind howls, the trees sway,The loose house tops sheets clatter and clang,The open window shuts with a bang,And the sky makes night of day Helter-skelter the parents runPressed with a thousand minor cares,‘Hey you there! Pack the household waresAnd where on earth’s my son?’ Home skip the little children.‘Where have you been you naughty…