When S/HE enunciates I Love You It can take you a lifetime to really believe IT As to accept this endearment Is to learn a whole new language Altering the rhythms of your heartbeats forever As you now appreciate subtle motions of Love In the mundane & profound Much like clouds wafting, mutating Yet serene…
Dark Skin Blues
You said that I represented evil. The shadow of the night glistened on my skin. You blatantly associated me with tar because my melanin glowed under the sun. You said that my existence was a misrepresentation of beauty. So, you wrapped me under your arm like a clutch bag and led me through the dark…
The wife of the born-again Christian husband in Kampala
The faithful wife of a born-again Christian husband is a baffled woman. She will slap her cheeks with a Bible So that she doesn’t laugh at the jokes of a pastor. After all her husband is supposed to provide all the humor that is necessary. She will hold her aching thighs together and pray for…
Dear African Woman
Dear African Woman If I haven’t told you that you are beautiful, you are If I haven’t told you that your smile is lovely, it is If I havent told you that your dark skin is more beautiful than the night sky, it is Dear African Woman Only you can understand what it means to…
Mrs Gray
Mother dear whom everyone favors has a tree that bears fruits of labor. She takes the fruits before they even ripen to the waterside market to sell the way she takes children to the auction ground to be taken abroad to unknown households in Monrovia. She makes much profit and does not care. The seeds…
Mother’s Touch
In the village compound which was cleanly swept and tidy a compound not easily accessible by road a group of old women sat huddled together. Sticks and pipes jutted out of their mouths which occasionally moved in unison. A sigh here and a look to the sky up here. Some sat with their chins in…
Fast Phrases
Sun bleached white door curtain invites rest, To the hours spent on my butt now numb. Ducks waddling defecating the backyard Us on a mat them centimeters apart Eight hands are expertly pinching extensions to my scalp A humble courtyard with five rooms A commotion of tenants and the landlord ‘Bibi Dina’ The entrance is…
An Aquafer
I’m a solid rusty ground My chest A magma kind of rock But deep underneath it I’m an aquifer That runs a thousand feet deep Roaring silently Swirling quietly Like a tornado Waiting to come to surface An endless sea that takes off the land To evacuate no more Link to the Italian translation
Acholi Chants
Alokolum yee!Where we sitKnit table clothesThese days we chant dirges in EnglishAcholi has become too difficultWe speak Acholi with a twang like we are speaking English The English do not chant dirges in AcholiThe English do not speak AcholiBut us, we speak English like we are eating sweet potatoes No one can defeat usWe defeat…
Alith Cyer Mayar
Alith Cyer Mayar is a writer, poem and activist. She was born in 1997 in Khartoum, Sudan, and grew up in different places as Uganda and South Sudan. She attendend the Sudan Academy for Medical and Technological Studies training as a nurse. During that time, she volunteered for different hospitals and clinics. In the meanwhile…