About poems
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I read this poem and liked it and thought you might like it too. It's by Evan X Hyde, external from Belize and is called About Poems:
We didn't know
no better
we was small
we was slaves
so they said
we they said
will teach you
about poems
poems is like this
trees by Joyce Kilmer
God can make a tree
poems by a fool like me
poems is like this
they have to rhyme
in every line
and every time
poems must be nice
so we tried to write poems
while we was still small
and was slaves
and we was slaves
and they said good, that's poems
but after we get big
and fight for freedom
and write
the way we feel
hunger in the eyelashes
of our eyes
and hatred give us fever
they said NO
those is not poems
they is hatred
they is violence
they is not nice
neither proper
nor correct
most uncourteous
so we said all right
it's not poems
it's AMANDALA
AMANDALA they said
what's that?
and we said
it's what we call poems by men like me
God can still make a tree
The poem is part of a compilation published by Bloodaxe called World Record, external. The book features the work of approximately 200 poets from around the world, most of whom are taking part in Poetry Parnassus, external at the South Bank Centre, external: an event the organisation describes in language more hyperbolic than poetic, as "the biggest gathering of poets in world history". It has just started and runs until 1 July.
Here's another poem from the collection that caught my eye and ear. It's called Bitter as Fruit by Ana Paula Tavares, external from Angola:
Beloved, why have you returned
with death in your eyes
and without any sandals
as if someone else were dwelling in you
in a time
beyond all time
Beloved, where did you lose your metal tongue
with its signs and proverb
with my engraved name
where did you leave your voice
soft as grass and velvet
and studded with stars
Beloved, my beloved what has returned of you
is your shadow
split in half
is a you before you
words as bitter
as fruit
Note: It is a tradition, among men of the Kwanyama people, to carry in their mouths a leaf-shaped strip of metal ornately engraved with signs and sayings and used to produce whistling sounds.