Answer to a poem out of Africa ~ Chinua Achebe's "Butterfly"

Pic from ABC

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe won the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for fiction, beating such celebrated nominees as Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan. But he also writes poetry. Here is Butterfly, one of his poems from Matt's Poetry Pocketbook. Matthew John Williams (a poet in England) is one of many who run websites to maintain a list of African poetry.

~

BUTTERFLY

Speed is violence

Power is violence

Weight is violence

~

The butterfly seeks safety in lightness

In weightless, undulating flight

~

But at a crossroads where mottled light

From trees falls on a brash new highway

Our convergent territories meet

~

I come power-packed enough for two

And the gentle butterfly offers

Itself in bright yellow sacrifice

Upon my hard silicon shield.

~

~

AFRICAN SOUL

Africa is not speed
But African power is growing
Africa is growing literary weight
~
The African soul seeks safety in cultures
In mystic, undulating beliefs
~
But at a crossroads
Where harsh light
From other worlds
Falls on brash new voices
Convergent visions
Clash
~
You come
Power-packed
With stereotypes
While the confused
African soul
Offers itself
Composed?
Composing?
In colourful sacrifice
On your
Politically
Electrified
Wires
~