Introducing Three Poets from Afro Women Poetry: Delphina Robert, Abigail George and Chioniso Tsikisayi

DELPHINA ROBERT

Peace Be Still

Keyword: Ignite
There are times when I could start a riot when I actually want peace

Peace be still

Peace be even more still for the day is coming
Where we shall not long to be united but be one
Or at the very least we can hope
And maybe this will be our dawn
At long last, peace be still
Have your way once again

Peace be still

For my heart cannot take this frustration any longer
My soul is eternal
I long for your company
In strife, I’m forced to co-exist

Peace be still

For I am looking for you once again
Truly, in the midst of my trials, I seek you
For my burdens are too great to bear
Peace, I know that you are my home

At the very least
In comfort, I can reside
Knowing that I am not seeking for you on my own
Oh how we long for you our peace
You’re at the centre of every conflict
And we are longing to take part in your majesty

Peace be still
For I know the day is coming
Where we will be together again
United like we have never been before
And it starts today
It starts with this conversation
With you and I working together
And having reverence for one another
Like a bride being adored by all on her wedding day
It is time that we adore one another
For it is in love

Which brings forth standards of respect and tolerance
That peace can be sustained
Peace be not in dismay
For we know that we are not searching for you in vain

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Link to the Italian version

Delphina Robert is a 24 year old Tanzanian poet, screenwriter, novelist and songwriter whose work focuses mainly on sexuality, mental health, culture and the arts. She is a part of the poetry groups Waka Poets and Kingdom Poetry which are both based in Tanzania. In 2022, she won 4th place in the first ever poetry writing competition for the International Women’s Poetry Group Tanzaniawith her composition titled ‘Peace Be Still’.

“Writing makes me hungry. The more I write, the more my hunger increases with regards to contributing to the creative space.”

Delphina hopes to do more with her art. As a freelance writer, her goal is to make art that impacts people’s lives in a unique way – and her journey is only beginning.

ABIGAIL GEORGE

Nusayaba Alareer

You were a witness to a heinous
atrocity of war, a crime against humanity
Wildflowers in open spaces
Wildflowers in closed spaces,
in spaces that have been tampered with
You lost a husband, your children
lost a father, the world lost a poet
I sit in my room and write this poem
I, too, am a witness of crimes against
humanity
You, Palestine, come to me in a dream
You, Gaza, come to me in a dream
You, Rafah, come to me in a dream
You, every slain poet, every dead child,
every monster in war, in life
You every martyr, come to me
You, Refaat Alareer, come to me in a dream
You, Omar Abu Shaweesh , come to me in a dream
You, Yousef Dawas, come to me in a dream
You all come to me
like Hemingway or church
like bananafish
like Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger
John Updike
M. Night Shyamalan’s
over productive imagination
Before I wake up completely
I find that I am losing my voice
That another Palestinian child
is dead, (the body found in a
ditch), that there are more martyrs
today than there were yesterday
Where are all the poets and writers
Ask Refaat Alareer, he knows
Ask, Omar Abu Shaweesh, he knows
Ask, Yousef Dawas, he knows
How painful it is to die young
Even more painful to live with no hope,
to live with no bread, to chase
famine, to survive on dust that’s
to be found in a refugee camp.

*****

[Courtesy of the author]

Link to the Italian translation

Abigail George is a South-African feminist, poet and writer based in Port Elizabeth. Born in 1979, she is a prolific writer: she has written a novella, several books of poetry and collections of short stories. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and the recipient of two South African National Arts Council Writing Grants and of one from the Centre for the Book and the Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council.

Describing her origins, her sense of identity and her writing, she told us: “I am told George is a well known surname on the island but thing is those George’s look is European. The texture of my hair gives me away. I could never pass for a European and neither do I pass for an African. It is as if the blood that is pumping through my veins is pretty much like the reality I have become so used to living in. Divided, crooked, disjointed. I mean what, who do I represent? The African continent or a much more European outlook on life with an American sensibility?”

Link to interview in AfroWomen Poetry https://afrowomenpoetry.net/en/2021/01/30/abigail-george/

CHONISO TSIKISAYI

A kind of Architectural Grief

In the place of slaughter
blood stains are not an anomaly.
Normally,
the stain of love begins
with a government’s betrayal,
a sacrilegious feast
on the battered dreams of
migrant workers
chimurenga wars
and forgotten anthems of freedom.

a salary and a salt
plea for sweeter waters
The pension drought that
plagues my grandfather’s existence
and that of his diaspora daughter.

We carry a nation’s carcass on behalf
of political vultures.

An underlying disease that sinks
into the very gums of our teeth.
Most nights I say a prayer for you,
wrapped in the silhouette of summer’s sparkling
thigh or her weepy sunset

And when winter arrives with her presidential
joys and residential sorrows
a catharsis of bleeding chimneys
on wealthy estates

I believe skyscrapers to be lovers, not
buildings
A kind of architectural grief
towering over the metropolis of one’s mind
I think of cities as ordinary people
rushing home in the rain
dancing over the potholes of
their past

I wonder,
Can you stitch a body like a warm coat or light
the invisible thread of desire or is it
better to just go out and buy another
pack of candles?

****

[Courtesy of the author]

Link to the Italian translation

Chioniso Tsikisayi is a spoken word poet, writer, singer, and filmmaker from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She is passionate about creative arts and conscious storytelling.

Her work has been published in Brittle Paper, Isele Magazine and Litro Magazine. Her first body of music titled Heaven Is Closer Than You Know was released in November 2020 in collaboration with award-winning media hub Cottage47. She performed at The PiChani (a Pan African lifestyle and networking event for young creatives) as well as at the opening ceremony of the European Film Festival in Bulawayo. She is a finalist for Grand Slam Africa 2021 hosted by Kenya Poetry Slam and Cre8ive Spills and placed third for the Intwasa Short Story Competition 2021. Brittle Paper named her their November Spotlight Artist.