Songs We Learn from Trees
eBook - ePub

Songs We Learn from Trees

An Anthology of Ethiopian Amharic Poetry

  1. 304 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Songs We Learn from Trees

An Anthology of Ethiopian Amharic Poetry

About this book

This is the very first anthology of Ethiopian poetry in English, packed with all the energy, wit, and heartache of a beautiful country and language. From folk and religious poems, warrior boasts, praises of women and kings and modern plumbing; through a flowering of literary poets in the twentieth century; right up to thirty of the most exciting contemporary Amharic poets working both inside and outside the country. These poems ask what it means to be Ethiopian today, part of a young, fast-growing economy, heirs to the one African state which was never colonised, but beset by deep political, ethnic, and moral problems.
Finalist for the 2021 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry.

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Yes, you can access Songs We Learn from Trees by Chris Beckett, Alemu Tebeje, Chris Beckett,Alemu Tebeje, Chris Beckett in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & African Poetry. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Carcanet Classics
Year
2020
Print ISBN
9781784109479
eBook ISBN
9781784109486
Topic
Literature
Subtopic
African Poetry
Index
Literature

III. CONTEMPORARY POETS

ወንዲዬ አሊ

WONDIYE ALI

ON VASTNESS

If the cloud you thought would be a trail of victory
the mist of hope you thought would turn to rain
and drench the ground
drift off beyond your sky
into the vastness…
if the apple in your garden does not ripen
and your cupboard remains bare
if you catch a golden fish which then
slips from your grasp
and vanishes back into the river
into vastness…
when you plough a virgin field and plant it
but the seedlings fail to grow
your dreams sail off on hope’s canoe
way off beyond the river
into the vastness…
when you are at the door of your objectives
and find yourself alone
on rising currents of emotion
your deeds’ raft smashed to pieces…
who would you then seek refuge with?
who would you quarrel with?
tell me man to man
what would you do?

YESTERDAY’S ME

Like the sun
shines then fades,
or a rose
blooms then dies,
like river-water flowing
out of sight,
a night that lingers only in the imprint
of a dream…
my yesterdays
my last year and my year before
I call to them
but nothing’s there
they’ve gone! …
so where can I find me?
yesterday’s me?
the honey sweet the lemon sour
year-ago me before-that me…
years that took me and don’t bring me back
just passing through…
those yesterdays of yesterday
careless days
small minutes…
ticking – ticking
sticking – sticking
pieces
to its handicraft of me
a moulded shape
a me I do not know
the sort of me who says
where are my yesterdays?
God only knows!

A VIRGIN BRAIN

Our parents birth us
as a gift
to future generations
they bring us up
as gifts
to carry their good name
the things that they believe in
when they lead us down the aisle
and organise our wedding party
it is not only their dream
that they fulfil
but everyone’s
we call it life this circle that is always turning
and if we marry
or divorce
we are really doing it for others
to make at least the surface of our lives make sense
*
when we can
we wink at one another
wink with all the bright-eyed people
otherwise
we sink our shells
and hide from other people’s eyes
we know that if we do not perfume
this so-called life
that we are living…
the others who de...

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Songs We Learn from Trees
  4. Amharic Poetry: A Short Introduction
  5. Translators’ Note
  6. I. FOLK & RELIGIOUS POETRY
  7. II. TWENTIETH-CENTURY POETS
  8. III. CONTEMPORARY POETS
  9. IV. POETS OF THE DISAPORA
  10. Biographical Notes
  11. Acknowledgements
  12. Index of Poem Titles
  13. About the Author
  14. Copyright