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Literature, PoetryMarch 28, 2016

Ethiopian famine poems

Photography by Chris Beckett

Ethiopian textile design. Image courtesy of Chris Beckett

1.
Agurt is here with wide open eyes,
with eyes that are awesome.
Oh, for a shrub to hide under!

2.
Agurt, that’s me, the brother of Shanqute.
You who have a guzzler wife,
divorce her and wait for me!

3.
I, Agurt, came from Wollo after thirteen years.
The worthies of Yefat shat in their pants!

4.
There we were, griping at the back-breaking weeding we had to do.
There we were, carping about being bone-tired carrying sheaves.
There we were, moaning when stacks fell onto the threshing floor.
There we were, complaining we were tired of winnowing the harvest.
Now even the husks would be a sight for sore eyes!
Worse still, the sowing sack, the layda and pitchfork are nowhere to be seen!

5.
Destitution is building a house.
Destitution is walling me in.
I’d better go up to the highlands
before it puts a roof on me!

6.
Here, take my clothes, roll them up and eat them!
I’m going where people have beans.

7.
My cantering mule stopped her canter,
when she saw my heart had stayed behind.

8.
Please don’t boast of being so-and-so’s son.
Please don’t boast of being the son of the brave.
You were seen in the highlands with your begging bag.

9.
Don’t call Mr Poor to Mr Rich’s funeral:
just open his Mr Rich’s store of grain
and let his grain wail for him!

10.
Having sold all my cattle, I was negotiating
the selling price of my children,
when the Red Cross arrived, rolling on huge tyres.

11.
I swapped my mother for a taba of beans,
I swapped my daughter for a taba of beans,
I swapped my wife for a taba of beans,
in order to fill my belly,
never thinking that a good day would come again!

12.
Sorghum is stretching his legs in the lowlands,
white teff is stretching his legs in the lowlands —
as if they had not murdered people,
as if they were clean of blood!

 

Editor’s note: These poems are a small selection of the amazing work gathered in Fekade Azeze’s ‘Unheard Voices: Drought, Famine and God in Ethiopian Oral Poetry’, Addis Ababa University Press, 1998)

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Fekade AzezepoetryThe secret world of Ethiopian poetrytranslations

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One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at [email protected].

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

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