Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

The Ghost of Um Nyobe (Musings from the Other Side of the Bridge)

By Dibussi Tande

(Originally published in Joyce Ashuntantang and Dibussi Tande. (eds.). 2008. Their champagne party will end!: poems in honor of Bate Besong. Cameroon: Langaa Research & Publishing CIG.)

They say you died in enemy territory
They say you died on the wrong side of THE BRIDGE
But what better place to die
- On the other side of the bridge -
Than in the Sanaga Maritime -
The sacred land of the Ngog Lituba*
The springboard of Cameroun nationalism
The heartland of the Cameroun resistance;
Purified with the blood of thousands of patriots
Who said NO! to the imperialists and neo-colonialists?

Countdown to the Obama Inaugural: "On the Pulse of Morning" by Maya Angelou

Poem read by Maya Angelou at the Clinton Inaugural on January 20, 1993

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

Election Day

By Lloney Eyole Monono (Culled from Dance of the Scorpions, forthcoming, Fall 2007)

maudlin minions marching
drums throbbing
boobs bobbing
butts bucking
horny ululations uttered
seaming songs of no slander
by pale paid paupers

The Reception (Elections Cameroon Style)

By Fayeofori Teke Amabibi  (Buea - October 1992)

The Clamour, the howls
The fire, the smoke
Then the batons, the bullets
And the maiming
Run for cover! Run for cover!

And now the calm
Empty streets, markets and parks
No ruffles – very peaceful
Too peaceful