Poetry Explorer

Search Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Search Results

Back to search

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Searching...
Subject: AFRICA
Matches Found: 305

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` A FAR CRY FROM AFRICA, by DEREK WALCOTT    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Ancestors & Ancestry; Black Heritage; Heritage; Heredity


A KIND-HEARTED STATUE, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The quiet little transvaal
Last Line: Why, it is blest again!
Subject(s): Kruger, Stephanus Johannes (1825-1904); Statues; Transvaal, South Africa


A MEMORIAL OF AFRICA, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Upon a rock I sat - a mountain-side
Last Line: Unfold a world, that I, thy child, might see.
Subject(s): Africa; Creation; God


A SONG FOR SOWETO, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At the throat of soweto
Last Line: With the song of soweto
Subject(s): Soweto, South Africa; Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


ABAFAZI (WOMEN), by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Where the shining tyumie river
Last Line: And give their lives: %the struggle continues
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Mandela, Nelson (b. 1918); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ABANDONED TOWN IN THE TRANSVAAL, by JOHN BRANDER    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is a quiet world %in the eastern transvaal
Last Line: As if %someone has gone %and may not be back %soon
Subject(s): Transvaal, South Africa


ABOUT GRAFFITI, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Graffiti is the writing on the wall
Last Line: Soon garffiti will wade into jo'burg %unhampered by the tourniquet of influx control
Subject(s): Graffiti; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ABUDANCE, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I possess a thousand thundering voices
Last Line: But again and again the branches shoot forth with new seasons
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AEROGRAM PUNJAB, by REETIKA VAZIRANI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We sailed by africa, back home [or, pyramids]
Last Line: You're good with maps. Find me [or, what a holiday. I'm a globe]
Subject(s): Africa; Geography; Maps; Sailors And Sailing; Travel


AFAR IN THE DESERT, by THOMAS PRINGLE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Afar in the desert I love to ride
Last Line: Saying, -- man is distant, but god is near!
Subject(s): Adversity; Africa; Consolation


AFREEKA BRASS, by MWATABU OKANTAH    Poem Source                    
First Line: I hear you trane
Last Line: And black ... %africa
Subject(s): Africa; Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music And Musicians


AFRICA, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Home / oh
Last Line: All of my bones / remember
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Home; Memory; Negroes; American Blacks


AFRICA, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Home %oh
Last Line: All of my bones %remember
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Home; Memory


AFRICA, by DAVID DIOP    Poem Source                    
First Line: Africa my africa %africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannahs
Last Line: Slowly its fruits grow to have %the bitter taste of liberty
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA, by DAVID DIOP    Poem Source                    
First Line: Africa my africa
Last Line: The bitter taste of liberty
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA, by JAMES RUSSELL GRANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Africa. Skull with a golden chin
Last Line: Doe eyes
Subject(s): Africa; Travel


AFRICA, by MARIA WHITE LOWELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She sat where the level sands
Last Line: Rigid and black, as carved in stone.
Subject(s): Africa; Nature; Singing & Singers; Songs


AFRICA, by ILVA MACKAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Africa %mother of children
Last Line: The sound of warriors answering the call for freedom
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AFRICA, by CLAUDE MCKAY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light
Last Line: Of all the mighty nations of the sun.
Alternate Author Name(s): Edwards, Eli
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh! She is very old. I lay
Last Line: "old sphinx, behold, we cannot read!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA PAESE NOTTURNO, by KENNETH KOCH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Just one ray of light africa my africa
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA PAESE NOTTURNO, by KENNETH KOCH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Just one ray of light %africa my africa
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA REVISITED, by ROBERT DUNCAN            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICA, MUSIC AND SHOW BUSINESS, by ABDULLAH IBRAHIM    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Geography / so many theories of east and west abound
Last Line: And she scratched vaguely under her armpit.
Subject(s): Africa; Jazz; Music & Musicians


AFRICAN DREAM, by BOB KAUFMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In black core of night, it explodes
Last Line: Green screams enfold my night
Subject(s): Africa; Dreams; Nightmares


AFRICAN MOON SONG, by EDA LOU WALTON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Step down from the waters
Last Line: Is crying for rest!
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICAN PROMETHEUS, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: High %upon the krantz
Last Line: Prometheus %endures
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AFRICAN SEQUENCE, by WILLIAM JAY SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Down from the woodlands and over the whispering dunes
Subject(s): Africa


AFRICAN VIOLETS, by ELEANOR G. R. YOUNG    Poem Text                    
First Line: How the wind shrieks!
Last Line: Of far-off africa.
Subject(s): Africa; Flowers; Jungles; Travel; Violets; Journeys; Trips


AFTERMATH, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The rains will be levelling the mounds we have dedicated to liberty
Last Line: Which will be coming so long as we advance, brother, advance
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AGRARIAN REFORM, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: I saw a black man
Last Line: There is still time
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ALL THAT WE NEED, 4 A.M., by SUSAN RICH    Poem Source                    
First Line: The train threads a needle through the night
Last Line: Gives way, and lovers sigh, turn over, %too full of light to sleep
Subject(s): Cape Town, South Africa; Travel


ALL WENT MAGNIFICENT IN '21, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: We address our people's cause
Last Line: The clapping of our guns %curtain-calls the fisted years
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ALL WILL BE OURS AGAIN, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: To us the progeny
Last Line: It will come back %all will be ours again
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AND DENIS GOLDBERG, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Many those %who saw
Last Line: We value it no less
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AND I WATCH IT IN MANDELA, by JOHN MATSHIKZAI    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is not to wait until the sky is blue
Last Line: And I watch it in mandela
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AND SWEET SMELL OF DUST DEFEATED, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Clouds are contrasts to the sky
Last Line: And sweet smell of dust defeated
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AND WORTHY SONS OF THE LAND, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: Distended stomachs %of our children
Last Line: Their beings %torn asunder
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ANNEALED MICROPOLIS, by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Our karroo now has midwinter as its heart
Last Line: Annulling and healing cold drought, in november
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ANOTHER DAY (FOR BRAM FISCHER), by HUGH LEWIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was like any other day
Last Line: Like any other day
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ANTHEM FOR A NEW DAY, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've been woken mornings
Last Line: If I'd ask you to write the symphony
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ASSEVERATIONS, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The fire will not ask me to make its bed
Last Line: There is never work without resistance
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ASYLUM, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH    Poem Source                    
First Line: At first those closest to you shot holes in you
Last Line: Only with love as the body for your death
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AT A FUNERAL, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Black, green and gold at sunset; pageantry
Last Line: Better that we should die, than that we should lie down
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AT HOME IN DAKAR, by MARGARET DANNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: When the african arts
Last Line: Feeling neither too ill nor too old
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Art And Artists


AT LANSDOWNE BRIDGE, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: After the whoosh of doors slid shut
Last Line: Cornering, holds it in spidery light
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AT THE DAWN I SAW AFRICA, by JOHN MATSHIKZAI    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Today I have died
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


AUTOPSY, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My teachers are dead men. I was too young
Last Line: Has infinite possibilities no longer
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


BAREFOOT BLACKMAN, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Man of humble origin
Last Line: Of empire %crumble
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


BEAST IN THE SOUTH, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At last the beast that moved south
Last Line: Had hunted down to his den
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Concentration Camps; South Africa


BEFORE INTERROGATION, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Their triumph when landing him
Last Line: They are taught to jump out %before interrogation
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


BEHIND A BARRED WINDOW, by HUGH LEWIN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: High %very high
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


BIDING TIME, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Building a certain future
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


BOY ON A SWING, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Slowly he moves
Last Line: Why was my father jailed?
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


BUILDING A FUTURE, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: There is no lament
Last Line: On the hard rock %of time
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


CATENA, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Pray you, remember them
Last Line: Father grieving %mothers weeping %bodies of children torn and bleeding %pray, remember them: %we rem
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; South Africa - Apartheid; Soweto, South Africa


CELINE, by J. S. VENIT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Is africa a good place to hide? It must be far away
Last Line: Pride I am so difficult to read and yet so largely %distinct or different
Subject(s): Africa


CHARLES GEORGE GORDON, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Not kilimanjaro towering to the sun
Last Line: Ah, deathless is the glory, is the shame!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Death; Gordon, Charles George (1833-1885); Kilimanjaro, Mount (africa); Dead, The


CHEIK ANTA DIOP: POEM FOR THE LIVING, by MWATABU OKANTAH    Poem Source                    
First Line: To who do I say
Last Line: For the living. Africa
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Ancestors And Ancestry


CHILD OF ISANDHLWANA (FOR SOLOMON MAHLANGU), by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: In scaffold's chill shadow
Last Line: By arm as resolute as mandela's
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


CHILD OF THE CRISIS, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: To know our sorrow %is to know our joy
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


CHILD WHO WAS SHOT DEAD BY SOLDIERS IN NYANGA, by INGRID JONKER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The child is not dead
Last Line: The child grown to a giant travels through the whole world %without a pass
Subject(s): South Africa - Apartheid


CHRISTIAN SETTLEMENTS IN AFRICA, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Winds! What have ye gathered from afric's strand
Last Line: "when the sun from the midnight of chaos burst."
Subject(s): Africa; Christianity; Missions & Missionaries


CITY JOHANNESBURG, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This way I salute you:
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


CITY JOHANNESBURG, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This way I salute you:
Last Line: Jo'burg city, johannesburg, jo'burg city.
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


CITY OF LONDON PROFIT MAN, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: City gent %money gent
Last Line: To greed - %pop!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


COLONIZATION OF AFRICA, by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All sights are fair to the recovered blind
Last Line: "and mercy's voice has said, ""rejoice -- thy soul is free!"
Subject(s): Africa


COMPLETION OF THE PHOENICIAN, by SHAWN STURGEON    Poem Source                    
First Line: O, the phoenicians have just sailed around
Last Line: But give the phoenicians their due - the world's %their word, and how nice to have seen it through
Subject(s): Africa


CONSCIOUSNESS, by BRENDAN KENNELLY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Back from africa, she says she's conscious of the fact
Last Line: If it meant she could feed a starving child.
Subject(s): Africa; Human Rights; Poetry And Poets


COSMOS IN LONDON, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Leaning over the wall at trafalgar square
Last Line: The rat-toothed sea eats rock, and who escapes %a lover's quarrel will never rest his roots
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


COUNTERPOINT OF MARCHING FEET, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: We will %remember durban
Last Line: When the sun ignites %above that town
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


DANCING WITH DIZZY (OR MANTECA, BY MR. BIRKS), by KWADWO OPOKU-AGYEMANG    Poem Source                    
First Line: These dancers are not used to waiting for the beat
Last Line: I'll never go back to cape coast
Subject(s): Africa; Dancing And Dancers; Gillespie, Dizzy (1917-1993)


DEATH OF A MILITANT (FOR JOSEPH 'MKHUTHUZI' MDLULI), by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: He was a broad, powerfully-made man
Last Line: He shall be avenged!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


DEATH ON A GOLD MINE, by LINDIWE MABUZA    Poem Source                    
First Line: After centuries of dead examples
Last Line: In our continuous stream %of ripe blood
Subject(s): Mines And Miners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


DIAMOND CUTTERS, by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: However legendary %the stone is still a stone
Last Line: And know that africa %will yield you no more
Subject(s): Diamonds; South Africa


DREAMING (A SONG OF AFRICA), by WALTER JAMES REDFERN TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am a barbarian out of the sunless forest
Last Line: I hold a bright patch of the sky with those hills and earth's delicate antlers.
Subject(s): Africa


DUAL NATIONALITY, by BARRY TAYLOR    Poem Source                    
First Line: Myself am shared by countries two
Last Line: A double muse
Subject(s): East Africa - Foreign Population


DUSK, by VICTOR MOTAPANYANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dusk goads my mind
Last Line: The everlasting spring of struggle - %patience, perserverance and success
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


EMBERS OF SOWETO, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Out of the crucible %warrior army of new age
Last Line: The cry vrystaat! Dries on assassin's lips
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


EMBRACING EXILE, by LINDIWE MABUZA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Yes %we drift
Last Line: High on its sunlit crest %of awesome beauty
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ENDURANCE: 5, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When we shook hands in the athenian dusk
Last Line: And the dark enclosure of wire %whose barbs are buried in my brain
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


EPITAPH OF LOVE (IN MEMORY OF SOLOMON MAHLANGU), by LINDIWE MABUZA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Where does the brave steel go
Last Line: To the unbroken rhythm %of surging dancing spears
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ETHIOPA, by FENTON JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O minstrel lyre of ancient ethiop
Last Line: Throughout the world his fellows of the dusk.
Subject(s): Africa; Ethiopia; Haiti; Slavery; Serfs


EVERY ATOM OF HIS SUBSTANCE (A TRIBUTE TO JACK HODGSON), by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Jack is here with us
Last Line: As the moon pilots the night %towards the teeth of the sun
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FACES OF COMMITMENT, by LINDIWE MABUZA    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's been long now
Last Line: It also defines precisely %to bind us closer
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FAR CRY FROM AFRICA, by DEREK WALCOTT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt
Last Line: How can I face such slaughter and be cool? %how can I turn from africa and live
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Ancestors And Ancestry


FEARFUL RUINS, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: On the broken walls %bats hang away from the sun
Last Line: And cover their footsteps with desert dust
Subject(s): South Africa


FIREWING, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you think of your country
Last Line: Or we'll teach the pigs to climb trees
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FIRST DAY AFTER THE WAR, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: We heard the songs of a wedding party
Last Line: We saw our ancestors travelling tall on the horizon
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FLIGHT ACROSS AFRICA, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Earth, from miles up, lies
Last Line: The bloody baft -- which is enough touchdown
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Africa; Aviation And Aviators; Flight; Travel


FLIGHT OF THE SPEAR, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let all behold
Last Line: You are as great as the mountains %of your country!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FOR A DEAD AFRICAN, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We have no heroes and no wars
Last Line: The warriors who secured the final prize
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FOR BRAM FISCHER, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: This time has known no peace, not yet
Last Line: Men have honoured you %we too
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FOR CHIEF, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: So the old leonine heart is stilled
Last Line: And how shall I express my gratitude and love?
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Luthuli, Albert John (1898-1967); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FOR DON M. - BANNED, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is a dry white season
Last Line: But seasons come to pass
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FORGET NOT OUR MOTHERS, by ILVA MACKAY    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Africa shall be free! %we shall free her!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FORWARD EVER!, by LINDIWE MABUZA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Like the bouncing sounds of seasons
Last Line: In the future's pounding shores
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FREEDOM DAY SONG, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Each freedom day vorster
Last Line: Is your nightmare now
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


FUNERAL OF ANOTHER VICTIM, by UNKNOWN+287    Poem Source                    
First Line: Doornkop %black brawn thet we carry
Last Line: Yet like a sea %it never reaches
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GOD WILLED, WE IGEDE WON OUR FREEDOM, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: We igede won our freedom, truly
Subject(s): Freedom; Igede (african People); Igedeland, Africa


GOD'S OWN COUNTRY (RURAL AFRICA), by ARTHUR SHEARLY CRIPPS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Crying as babes cry
Subject(s): Africa


GOING TO JINJA, by JIM STUNTZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: For a thousand ugandan shillings
Last Line: To shop, looking for a basket %for my mother
Subject(s): Africa; Travel; Uganda


GOING TO WORK, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: I go to work
Last Line: Rolling under mr. De wiel's oxwagon
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GOLD COAST CUSTOMS, by EDITH SITWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: One fantee wave
Last Line: For the fires of god go marching on.
Subject(s): Customs, Social; Gold Coast, Africa


GOLD-MINERS, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Towers rise to the skies %sounds echo their music
Last Line: Walking the deserted halls %we who are locked in the pits o f gold
Subject(s): Gold Mines And Miners; South Africa


GRAVEL IN MY THROAT, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
Last Line: I'll be damned if I talk
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GREAT ONES, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: And the great ones are here %they have sat before the fire
Last Line: They sing for us their poem %they narrate the story of our beginnings
Subject(s): South Africa


GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA, by ROY FULLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The green, humped, wrinkled hills: with such a look
Last Line: And the emotion brought from a world already %dying of what starts to infect the hills
Subject(s): Africa


GROUP PHOTO FROM PRETORIA LOCAL .. FOURTH ANNIVERSARY, by JEREMY CRONIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: An uprooted tree leaves
Last Line: Mostly in short pants, %some of us barefoot
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GROWING, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No! %this is not dying when the trees
Last Line: I'm teaching about the growing of things
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GUERILLA, by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sometimes feel a cold love burning
Last Line: Even and all our death must lead
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GUERILLAS, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And I lie with my body curved to the light clay
Last Line: And a fierce will to smash an evil cruel thing
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


GUILT, by KOFI ANYIDOHO    Poem Source                    
First Line: And they opened up his wound
Last Line: But they hanged him all the same
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; Capital Punishment


HAG RIDING, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why / is what I ask myself
Last Line: I ride I ride
Subject(s): Africa; Hope; Life; Self-satisfaction; Optimism


HAG RIDING, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why %is what I ask myself
Last Line: Over the rump of the day and honey %I ride -- I ride
Subject(s): Africa; Hope; Life; Self-satisfaction


HANDCUFFS, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Handcuffs %have steel fangs
Last Line: Have hope, brother, %despair is for the defeated
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HANG, by HUGH LEWIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I once met a man
Last Line: Finish and klaar %a corpse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HELL, WELL, HEAVEN, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I do not know where I have been
Last Line: Was that thoko's voice? %hell, well, heavens!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HERITAGE, by COUNTEE CULLEN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What is africa to me
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Black Heritage


HERITAGE, by COUNTEE CULLEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What is africa to me
Last Line: Lest the grave restore its dead. %not yet has my heart or head %in the least way realized %they and
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History


HERITAGE OF LIBERATION, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Since it was you who in all these thin seasons
Last Line: We bequeath to you the rays of morning
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HISTORY OF IGEDE, by MICAH ICHEGBEH    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have a history to narrate
Last Line: Our kinship was truly from the beginning of time!
Subject(s): Igede (african People); Igedeland, Africa


HOMECOOKED SUN-DRIED, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Beasts are preying in our land
Last Line: Monomanic %misanthropes
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HOMEWARD BOUND, by ES'KIA MPHAHLELE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The mountains that I like
Last Line: You need not look just the way I want
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HOPE, by VICTOR MOTAPANYANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Night embers are burning
Last Line: Envelops our miserable lives
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


HUSBAND AND HEATHEN, by SAM WALTER FOSS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O'er the men of ethiopia she would pour her cornucopia
Last Line: For the terra del fuegian and the turcoman and turk.
Subject(s): Africa; Charity; Heresy; Women; Philanthropy; Heretics


HYMN FOR THE HEALING OF STRIFE, by NEWMAN HOWARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Heroes of hampden's race, and ye
Last Line: And bind the bonds of brotherhood!
Subject(s): Africa; Fights; Freedom; Peace; Liberty


I AM THE EXILE, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: I hear the cries and sirens
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


I FOUND SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES MOST HOSPITABLE, by KIT WRIGHT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Meat smell of blood in locked rooms I cannot smell it
Last Line: My only consideration is my family
Subject(s): South Africa


I REMEMBER SHARPEVILLE, by SIPHO SYDNEY SEPAMLA    Poem Source                    
First Line: On the 21st of march 1960
Last Line: Africa's priceless heritage to mankind
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


I WILL WAIT, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have tasted, ever so often
Last Line: Having been so flooded and so dry, %I wait
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


I, A FREEDOM FIGHTER, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am the guttural sounds of your fear
Last Line: Nay, to throw it in an endless pit
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


IF POETS MUST HAVE FLAGS, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: They %ask for graceful poetry
Last Line: If we must have flags - %let them be always red
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


IMPROVE YOUR FATHERLAND, THEN, by ODEH IGBANG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Iruh: when the grass burns, we hunt its field
Last Line: You do not send an impatient one
Subject(s): Igede (african People); Igedeland, Africa; Nigeria; Politics


IN DETENTION, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: He fell from the ninth floor
Last Line: He hung from a piece of soap while washing
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


IN LABOUR PRISONS CONJURED, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the ripe-banana coloured sun
Last Line: I shall count aloud our blessings %in sacrifice
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


IN MAN LIES ALL HIS REVOLUTION, by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: February %each young man dead
Last Line: We swear %lie %basil
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


IN PRAISE OF ANCESTORS, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even now the forefathers still live
Last Line: We sing the anthems that celebrate their great eras %for in deed life does not begin with us
Subject(s): South Africa


INJUSTICE, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Me, I cry easily if you're hurt
Last Line: I'll never get used to nightmares %but often in dream of freedom
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ISANDHLWANDA, by ZINJIVA NKONDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Isandhlwanda %mayihlome! The war-cry
Last Line: Let the spear sing
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


J.B. MARKS: AN EPITAPH, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: He was a mountain of a man
Last Line: Let's look (as he once did) %to others among us!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


JAMESON'S RIDE, by ALFRED AUSTIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wrong! Is it wrong? Well, may be
Last Line: Than the crushings of all the rand.
Subject(s): Jameson, Leander Starr (1853-1917); Transvaal, South Africa


JOURNEY, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Ringing out from our blue heavens
Last Line: Such is death this blood in our veins: %freedom or death
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


JUNE 16 YEAR OF THE SPEAR, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They call me freedomchild
Last Line: All over this land of mine
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa


KILIMANDJARO, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hail to thee, monarch of african mountains
Last Line: Father of nile and creator of egypt!
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Egypt; Kilimanjaro, Mount (africa); Mountains; Nile (river); Hills; Downs (great Britain)


KISENYI, by JOHN BUTLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let us not lie to ourselves
Last Line: That is very heart
Subject(s): Africa


LETTER FROM KAMPALA, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At this other end of africa
Last Line: To get home to you
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Africa; Letters; Memory; Writing And Writers


LETTER FROM PRETORIA CENTRAL PRISON, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The bell wakes me at 6 in the pale spring dawn
Last Line: Sorry there's no more space. But date your reply
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


LETTER TO OLIVER TAMBO ON 75 ANNIVERSARY OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Too long, tambo, it's too long
Last Line: Blown this day by j.P. Clark from nigeria
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Angola; Freedom; South Africa


LIGHTS, by JOHN MATSHIKZAI    Poem Source                    
First Line: No looking back, no turning around, we've said
Last Line: Hard lights are flashing on
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


LILIAN NGOYI, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lilian %I hear you are fifty-nine
Last Line: Should be beautiful %like you
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


LIVINGSTONE, by FRANCIS BROOKS    Poem Text                    
First Line: On dusky shoulders
Last Line: Death!
Subject(s): Africa; Courage; Immortality; Slavery; Valor; Bravery; Serfs


LONG DROP, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Look down %from a headlong-height
Last Line: The murderers stand %above the abyss
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


LOVE EXILE LAND, by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I shall not be sad
Last Line: And become one, and grow on forever
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


LOVEPOEM FROM PRISON, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: It takes the dark to make me see
Last Line: I can absolve - if you will absolve in turn
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


LUTA CONTINUA (FOR DUMA NOKWE), by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If in the ritual delirium we felt
Last Line: His name is spear of the nation. Mayibuye!
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MANDELA'S SERMON, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Blessed are the dehumanized
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): Mandela, Nelson (b. 1918); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MANIFESTO, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This then is our choice and task
Last Line: Change is going to come
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MASOCHISM, by ZINJIVA NKONDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Words - %powerful and rhetoric
Last Line: Enjoying painful excitement %masochism
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MAYIBUYE IAFRICA, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Like the memories %of fatherless black children
Last Line: Translated memory rides %past and future alike
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ME AND THE RAIN, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tonight it rains
Last Line: The rain inspires me. %pula! Pula! Pula!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MEASURE FOR MEASURE, by SIPHO SYDNEY SEPAMLA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Go measure the distance from cape town to pretoria
Last Line: Let me tell you this %you'll never know how far I stand from you
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MEN IN CHAINS, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: The train stopped %at a country station
Last Line: The train went on its way to nowhere
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


METAMORPHOSIS, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hardly out of a napkin
Last Line: Now I understand
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MIDSUMMER SLEEP AND ZIMBABWE BATTLEFIELD, by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Listening grey with seed-spill
Last Line: When morning its lustrousness on the pearl shell %now pour it
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MIDSUMMER: 4, by DEREK WALCOTT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This spanish port, piractical in deverseness
Last Line: The plaza's cracked by the jungle's furious seed
Subject(s): Africa; Summer


MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO BABANG (A PERSON IS A PERSON BECAUSE OF OTHER, by JEREMY CRONIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: By holding my mirror out of the window I see
Last Line: In my mirror, %a black fist
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MOTIVATED TO DEATH, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We knew each other well
Last Line: Shall so die. %even in alex?
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MY BROTHERS IN THE STREETS, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh you black boys
Last Line: It's black women who are crying
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


MY MOTHER'S POEM, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO    Poem Source                    
First Line: The day after %my father
Last Line: My father %was buried
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; Fathers; Funerals; Mothers


NATIVE'S LETTER, by ARTHUR NORTJE                        Poet's Biography
First Line: Habitable planets are unknown or too
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


NATIVE'S LETTER, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Habitable planets are unknown or too
Last Line: For some of us must storm the castles %some define the happening
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


NEAR-JOHANNESBURG BOY, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My way is from woe to wonder
Last Line: We shall
Subject(s): South Africa


NEW AGE, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The questions which have always been here
Last Line: Are a worker's song of fidelity %to the land that mothered you
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


NIGHTFALL IN SOWETO, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nightfall comes like %a dreaded disease
Last Line: Why can't it be daytime? %daytime for evermore?
Subject(s): Danger; Human Rights; Night; Soweto, South Africa


NIGHTSONG: CITY, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep well, my love, sleep well
Last Line: My sounds begin again.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Great Britain - Commonwealth & Colonies; South Africa - Apartheid; British Empire; England - Empire


NO CAUSE FOR ALARM, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: A warning %in confidence
Last Line: For the sake of us all, %and your farm
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


NO MORE STRANGERS, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It were us, it is us
Last Line: We will tell freedom %we are no more strangers now
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


NOSTALGIA, by REBECCA MATLOU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nostalgia you are not repellent
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


NOZIZWE, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: You were to be the centre of our dream
Last Line: By their sunken eyes your body was cursed %the moving river shall swallow it!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Treason And Traitors


OCTOBER IN THE KINGDOM OF THE POOR, by LORNA GOODISON    Poem Source                    
First Line: October, month for rainy weather
Last Line: The stars just come and encircle my head %in a gracious diad
Subject(s): Africa; Ancestors And Ancestry; October; Poverty


OLIFANTS CAMP, by W. PATRICK MCCAFFERTY    Poem Source                    
First Line: To olifants camp we came
Last Line: Set on the sheltered veldt
Subject(s): Africa; Travel


ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM FOR 1979, by JACK A. MAPANJE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails
Subject(s): Africa; Death - Children; Poetry & Poets; Death - Babies


ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM FOR 1979, by JACK A. MAPANJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails
Last Line: The year of the child must make no difference then %where tadpoles are never allowed to grow into fr
Subject(s): Africa; Death - Children; Poetry And Poets


ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA, by PHILLIS WHEATLEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land
Last Line: May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - Women; Love - Loss Of; Mortality


ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS, by IGNATIUS ROYSTON DUNNACHIE CAMPBELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You praise the firm restraint with which they write
Alternate Author Name(s): Campbell, Roy
Subject(s): Authors & Authorship; South Africa


ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS, by IGNATIUS ROYSTON DUNNACHIE CAMPBELL    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You praise the firm restraint with which they write
Last Line: But where's the bloody horse?
Alternate Author Name(s): Campbell, Roy
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; South Africa


ON THE COMING VICTORY, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Behind the dark hills
Last Line: The long night lumbers grudingly %into the past
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ON THE DEATH OF YOUNG GUERILLAS, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: You called me, but I made no response in that night
Last Line: Could it be you are blind in your destruction?
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; War


ON THE SAME (ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS), by IGNATIUS ROYSTON DUNNACHIE CAMPBELL    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Far from the vulgar haunts of men
Last Line: And writing novels with her broom
Alternate Author Name(s): Campbell, Roy
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; South Africa


ON TOP OF AFRICA, by BAHADUR TEJANI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nothing but the stillness
Last Line: On the way %ti kilimanjaro
Subject(s): Kilimanjaro, Mount (africa)


OPEN LETTER, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We say what is lost
Last Line: Another way of defining relationships
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


OTTFFSSENTE, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twelve / a dozen / a docent
Last Line: All sang / do
Subject(s): Africa


OTTFFSSENTE, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twelve %a dozen %a docent
Last Line: And the tiger %all sang %do
Subject(s): Africa


OUR HOME-COMING, by UNKNOWN+287    Poem Source                    
First Line: Feet flat against the streets
Last Line: The blood that we shall have shed
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


OX HOOVES TROD HEAVILY, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
Last Line: The oval shape %of the globe
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


PASSAGES: AN AFRICAN EXPERIENCE OF THE KIASPORA, by EDWARD BRUCE BYNUM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Where the skull leans eastward
Last Line: The coconut, open its milk, the skull is %discarded, the salt digests
Subject(s): Africa; Travel


PITY FOR POOR AFRICANS, by WILLIAM COWPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I own I am shocked at the purchase of slaves
Last Line: He shared in the plunder, but pitied the man.
Subject(s): Africa; Slavery; Serfs


PLACE OF DREAMS, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: There is a place %where the dream is dreaming us
Last Line: Someone, somewhere, is dreaming us, in the ruins
Subject(s): South Africa


PLAINS, by ROY FULLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The only blossoms of the plains are black
Last Line: The animals gallop, spring, are beautiful, %and at the end of every day is night
Subject(s): Africa


POEM, by ES'KIA MPHAHLELE    Poem Source                    
First Line: What is there that we can do or say
Last Line: Do pain will bleed and let the islands in
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


POEM FOR SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our own shadows disappear at the feet of thousands
Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Women


POEM FOR SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our own shadows disappear at the feet of thousands
Last Line: We are the ones we have been waiting for
Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Women


POEM OF VENGEANCE, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Min, %big strong smiling mini
Last Line: As the precious gasps %escape into the pretoria air
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


POEMS ABOUT PRISON, SELS., by DENNIS BRUTUS            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


POET AND GUERILLA, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: In amsterdam the exiles meet
Last Line: Waits for the bullets and the song
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


POET'S DEATH IN OXFORD, by DAVID+(2) EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Die skolly boy digter is dood
Last Line: And you lie forever at the tip of the root
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


POLITICAL PRISONER, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I desired to talk
Last Line: Priding herself only in the shadows of yesterdays
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


PORTRAIT OF AN ASIAN AS AN EAST AFRICAN, by JAGIT SINGH    Poem Source                    
First Line: The past has boiled itself over
Last Line: And wash away the sins of history
Subject(s): East Africa - Asian Population


POT, by PARVIN SYAL    Poem Source                    
First Line: I should not have been here
Last Line: For I am alien
Subject(s): East Africa - Asian Population


POWERED TYPHOONS UNWIND SLOWLY, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Leaving a day stunned with sun
Last Line: First a bite at white battalions %then on to breach the dam wall door
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


PURE WHITE, ONLY WHITE, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Immigrant workers at capetown's door
Last Line: Are grey faced or green
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


QUESTION TO OPPOSITION LEADERS, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO    Poem Source                    
First Line: How could you?
Last Line: In the collective name %of our struggling millions: %will you?
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, by ARTHUR NORTJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The underbelly of the shark
Last Line: Uncouth will be the interrogations and bloodly the reprisals
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


RED OUR COLOUR, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let's have poems %blood-red in colour
Last Line: Eats the decade
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


REMEMBER ME, by VICTOR MOTAPANYANE    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Draw me closer to the dawn of freedom
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


RISE OF THE ANGRY GENERATION, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The great eagle lifts it wings from the dream
Last Line: They are the abiding anger of the ancestral fathers
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ROADGANG'S CRY, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Pneumatic drills %roar like guns in a battle field
Last Line: Abelungu ngo'dam - whites are damned %basibiza ngo jim - they call is jim
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


ROUTINE OF A LETTER WRITER, by JESSICA GRANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: I measure breakfast in a tin cup
Last Line: She just woke up that way, screaming
Subject(s): Africa; Writing And Writers


SACRIFICE, by UNKNOWN+287    Poem Source                    
First Line: We need money %to buy our birth
Last Line: Like cheap pants %in the wind
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SERVICE, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A dime %in the slot
Last Line: And who knows at what price?
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Africa; Money; Plantation Life; Service; Smoking


SHARPEVILLE, by UNKNOWN+287    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sharp-evilled are these lanky seasons
Last Line: A rest from our own fears
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SIRENS, KNUCKLES, BOOTS, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The sounds begin anew
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Police States; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SISTERS IN ARMS, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The edge of our bed was a wide grid
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Death - Children; South Africa; Racism; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


SKIN SHIELD OUR PRIDE, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: We, in umkhonto we sizwe
Last Line: To touch fingers with soviet workers
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SLAVE MAN, by ZINJIVA NKONDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: The man slave %the shout of silence the rhythm of the hammer
Last Line: Well wait for the partisanship %of dilettantes
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SLAVE TROT, by ZINJIVA NKONDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Trotting on the broken step
Last Line: If there is a shrug of a shoulder %who shall fail
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SOLDIER AT WAR, by REBECCA MATLOU    Poem Source                    
First Line: A soldier alone in reality I live
Last Line: We are the children of the spear
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SOLOMON MAHLANGU ADDRESSES HIS GAOLERS, by REBECCA MATLOU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Don't be puzzled that I smile
Last Line: I touch this darkness and give %meaning
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SONG (WE SING), by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: We sing our sons who have died red
Last Line: And the birth from the dust that is green we sing
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SONG FOR ILVA MACKAY AND MONGANE, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE                        Poet's Biography
First Line: Hear now a sound of floods
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SONG FOR ILVA MACKAY AND MONGANE, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hear now a sound of floods
Last Line: We shall know each other by our bloodstains
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SOUTH AFRICA SALUTES UZBEKISTAN, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We shall dream yes
Last Line: This fruit this love. %mayibuye!
Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNION, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is not difficult to feel compassion
Last Line: Against the impregnable shadows of the moon over %the hatred
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Compassion; South Africa


SPEARS AND PLOUGHS!, by LINDIWE MABUZA    Poem Source                    
First Line: We once asked steel
Last Line: Man's real friend
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SPIDER, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders; Allegories; Bugs


SPIDER, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales
Last Line: Ex machina. Nor did they seem deterred by this
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders


SPIRIT OF BAMBATHA, by UNKNOWN+286    Poem Source                    
First Line: We will meet
Last Line: When the nation is free
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


STANDING ARMED ON OUR OWN GROUND, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Remember the agony years
Last Line: And cost the sacred path %from casualty to liberty
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


STATUE TREATMENT, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
Last Line: The hate is held %an idea with fury kept
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


STILL THE SIRENS, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Someday there will be peace %someday the sirens will be still %someday we will be free
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism


STORM WITHIN, by REBECCA MATLOU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The storm within you mother
Last Line: With the swoop of your backside
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


STUDIOUS HIGH-SCHOOL BOY HE LOOKED, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: In a maniac world he was safe
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SUNSHINE LAND, by FRANCIS CAREY SLATER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Blue skies burning above
Subject(s): Africa


SURPRISINGLY SINGING, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: While whites %on sabbath greens
Last Line: Surprisingly %singing
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


SWEET MEAT HAS SOUR SAUCE; OR, THE SLAVE-TRADER IN THE DUMPS, by WILLIAM COWPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A trader I am to the african shore
Last Line: Which nobody can deny.
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Slavery; Trade; Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs


SWORD EULOGIZING ITSELF AFTER A MASSACRE, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: By the skills of broken men I was moulded
Last Line: The shadows of the dead haunted them %tearing their minds t o the voices of the innocent
Subject(s): South Africa


TEN TARGETS REEL UNDER RAGE OF VISION, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: After years of bruising loads
Last Line: His eyes blaze down dead-still barrel, %ten targets reel under rage of vision
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TENDING HATE, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: Look at me
Last Line: And the child-soldiers are not avenged
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


THE AFRICAN PRINCE, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It was a king in africa
Last Line: One hope within his heart.
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Africa; Courts & Courtiers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


THE CONTINENTS, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I had a vision in that solemn hour
Last Line: "claim empire for the free!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Africa; Past; Prophecy & Prophets; Time


THE FOUR ZOAS: THE SONG OF LOS, by WILLIAM BLAKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I will sing you a song of los, the eternal prophet
Last Line: Urizen wept.
Subject(s): Africa; Asia; Bible; Mythology; Far East; East Asia; Orient


THE GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA, by ROY FULLER            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The green, humped, wrinkled hills: with such a look
Subject(s): Africa


THE MORNING DREAM (1), by WILLIAM COWPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Forced from home, and all its pleasures
Last Line: Ere you proudly question ours!
Variant Title(s): Slave's Complaint;the Negro's Complaint
Subject(s): Africa; Blacks; Slavery; Serfs


THE NEAR-JOHANNESBURG BOY, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My way is from woe to wonder
Subject(s): South Africa


THE PLAINS, by ROY FULLER            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The only blossoms of the plains are black
Subject(s): Africa


THE QUEST FOR THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They needed to know. They came, they suffered
Subject(s): Nile (river); Speke, John Hanning (1827-1864); Pain; Africa; Suffering; Misery


THE SCORPION, by WILLIAM PLOMER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Limpopo and tugela churned
Last Line: A scorpion on a stone.
Subject(s): Africa


THE SHORE OF AFRICA, by FRANCESCO MARIA DE CONTI    Poem Text                    
First Line: Pilgrim! Whose steps those desert sands
Last Line: And bathe with tears the grave of liberty.
Subject(s): Africa


THE SONG OF THE CITIES, by RUDYARD KIPLING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Royal and dower-royal, I the queen
Last Line: To seek the happy isles!
Subject(s): Auckland, New Zealand; Bombay, India; Brisbane, Australia; Calcutta, India; Cape Town, South Africa; Cities; Halifax, Canada; Hobart, Tasmania; Hong-kong; Madras, India; Melbourne, Australia; Montreal, Canada; Quebec, Canada; Rangoon, Myanmar (burma); Si


THE SUGAR-CANE: ADVICE TO SLAVE-OWNERS, by JAMES GRAINGER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Must thou from afric reinforce thy gang?
Last Line: From each some blood, as age and sex require.
Subject(s): Africa; Disease; Slavery; Strength; Serfs


THE TRAVELLER AT THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In sunset's light, o'er afric thrown
Last Line: Thine own sweet paths in search of thee!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Nile (river); Travel; Black Heritage; Journeys; Trips


THE WOMEN OF DAN DANCE WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS ..., by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I did not fall from the sky
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Africa; Women


THERE IS A PIG, by UNKNOWN+287    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Where no fish enjoys a bath
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


THERE WAS A GIRL, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: A girl in a print dress, once, they say
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


THEY CLAPPED, by YOLANDE CORNELIA GIOVANNI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They clapped when we landed
Last Line: Dream they saw a free future
Alternate Author Name(s): Giovanni, Nikki
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks


THING OF BEAUTY, by DEBORAH GORLIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: For their annual beauty contest, the woodabe men of africa
Last Line: By which they feel at once their own fast substances, their inborn masks
Subject(s): Africa; Beauty


THIS DAY, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Like any other day I came home
Last Line: Sang the hymn, our hymn, the song of liberty
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


THIS IS JOHNNY, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Of an amber hue
Last Line: From shifting sands, south, %three thousand miles
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


THIS PATH, by REBECCA MATLOU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Child of the soil
Last Line: And bid the sod to seed freedom
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


THOUGHT ON JUNE 26, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Was I wrong when I thought
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TO A HUSBAND, by MAYA ANGELOU    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your voice at times a fist
Last Line: I sit at home and see it all / through you
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Love - Marital; Negroes; American Blacks; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


TO A HUSBAND, by MAYA ANGELOU    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your voice at times a fist
Last Line: I sit home and see it all %through you
Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Love - Marital


TO HAVE RESPITE - AFTER THE FIGHT, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wish someone kind can shout: 'coward'
Last Line: To have respite
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TO LORD DUNSANY (ON HIS RETURN FROM EAST AFRICA), by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For you I knit these lines, and on their ends
Last Line: And where the weeds among the flowers do spring.
Subject(s): Africa; Greetings; Plunkett, Edward [dunsany] (1878-1957)


TO THE GENIUS OF AFRICA, by ROBERT SOUTHEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O thou who from the mountain's height
Last Line: There, genius, thou hast breathed the gales of death.
Subject(s): Africa; Genius; Revolutions; Slavery; U.s. - Race Relations; Serfs


TO THE MILLONS HUNGRY, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
Last Line: As the hawk the sky %thou the land
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TO THOSE WHO PERSUADE US, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Our sincerity %in action
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TO WHITE SOUTH AFRICA, by COSMO PIETERSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: If, when your walk around the cape's flat sands
Last Line: You're blind to, ten miles from your eyes, stark misery
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TODAY IN PRISON, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And those who will do the much %that still needs to be done
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TOUCH, by HUGH LEWIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When I get out
Last Line: Here I am %please touch me
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TOUSSAINT L'OVERTURE: HIS ANCESTRY, by GEORGE CLINTON ROWE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A tribe surnamed the arradas
Last Line: And made his grave.
Subject(s): Africa; Toussaint L'ouverture (1743-1803)


TOWNSHIP TERROR, by UNKNOWN+287    Poem Source                    
First Line: The nightly fear
Last Line: Sad tears of marijuana %onto the earth
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TRANSVAAL MORNING, by WILLIAM PLOMER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A sudden waking when a saffron glare
Subject(s): Morning; Transvaal, South Africa


TRAVELING, by JAMES R. LEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thought I caught a comet's tail
Last Line: Lifted me to the rift valley
Subject(s): Africa; Poetry And Poets; Travel


TRIBUTE FOR STEVE BIKO, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The dusty roads
Last Line: Even if they robbed him of his life
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Biko, Steve (1946-1977); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


TWO FRESCOES, by FORD MADOX FORD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Down there where europe's arms
Last Line: Rose over africa.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hueffer, Ford Hermann; Hueffer, Ford Madox
Subject(s): Africa; Art & Artists; Courts & Courtiers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


TWO LESSONS FROM THE SKY: 1. AFRICA, by DAVID CITINO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sometimes I think too much about the devolution of
Last Line: Those sad eyes that look down on a minuscule, %blurred world
Subject(s): Africa; Sickness


UNFINISHED ADVENTURE', by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not by the same route, our return
Last Line: Certain, by such magic our triumph is assured
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


VENGEANCE, by MAZISI KUNENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: How would it be is I came in the night
Last Line: Witnessing the explosions of our revenge
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Vengeance


WAY IN AFRICA, by ARTHUR SHEARLY CRIPPS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I said, 'I'll go my road alone'
Subject(s): Africa


WE FOUND COMMON SONG, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Testing solidarity %in tashkent
Last Line: And our victories %soon to be celebrated!
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


WE WILL RISE AND BUILD A NATION; IN DEFIANCE OF NEOCOLONIAL DICTATORS, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO    Poem Source                    
First Line: At independence %we garlanded our leaders
Last Line: Grafted with justice for all %enshrined with limitless hope
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism


WEDDING, by HUGH LEWIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Solly nathee %stood alone
Last Line: Stood on the koppie overlooking his home %alone
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


WHAT'S IN THIS BLACK 'SHIT', by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is not the steaming little rot
Last Line: That's what's in this black 'shit'
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


WHEAT EARS, by HEID E. ERDRICH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Driving into blue january cold, I take
Last Line: Will close on my home town tonight
Subject(s): Africa; Tourists; Travel


WHEN GOLDA MEIR WAS IN AFRICA, by ALICE WALKER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: But, withal, opined golda, a people of charm %and good taste
Subject(s): Africa; Meir, Golda (1898-1978)


WHEN LIGHTS GO OUT (FOR SOME WHO ARE IN SOUTH AFRICAN JAILS), by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is with the shadows of night
Last Line: Can you hear the footsteps
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


WHERE NO SEED BORE FRUIT BEFORE, by BARRY FEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: In an authorized ghetto
Last Line: And seeds take root %where no seed bore fruit before
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


WOMEN OF DAN DANCE WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS ..., by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I did not fall from the sky
Last Line: What is already dead
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Africa; Women


WOMEN'S DAY SONG, by UNKNOWN+289    Poem Source                    
First Line: Celebrate our women in campaigns
Last Line: To celebrate freedom %and to honour women's day
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Women


WORKING, by UNKNOWN+288    Poem Source                    
First Line: Working %to drink full
Last Line: To know %dignity
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement


WORLD AND SOUL, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This infant world has taken long to make
Last Line: Unfold a world, that I, thy child, might see.
Subject(s): Africa


YOU NORTHAMERICAN POETS, by SARAH MENEFEE    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Your government grant your shattered linguistics %in the glare of soweto and sharpeville
Subject(s): Politics; South Africa


YOUNG HEROES - I, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He is very busy with his looking
Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement