“Ethiopia has always gone its own proud way and this shows in the self-confidence of its poets, who draw on multiple traditions developed over centuries and from many ethnic groups.…” The Missing Slate’s March 2016 online poetry issue, edited by Chris Beckett.
A selection of poems from contemporary poets of the Ethiopian diaspora, including work by Alemayehu Gebrehiwot, Alemtsehay Wodajo, Alemu Tebeje Ayele, Amha Asfaw, Hama Tuma, and Lena Bezawork Grönlund.
A selection of poems from Ethiopia’s best-loved poets of the 20th century, including work by Kebede Mikael, Mengistu Lemma, Gebre Kristos Desta, Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, and Solomon Deressa.
“Yes, I have walked your streets, I have made no strides./ Your secrets are endless, Addis!” Poetry by Fekade Azeze, translated from Amharic by the author and Chris Beckett.
“Always in a flowered dress, always drenched in fate/ you sit, a lakeside lullaby/ a picture of youth then, and forever and forever/ I gnaw on whether you knew near the end…” Poetry by Liyou Libsekal.
“For him/ she is not just a woman:/ she holds the stars in her body, / the earth in her soul….”
Poetry by Bewketu Seyoum, in Amharic and English.
“We do not respect an angel for his wings/ or because he covers his face with his wings…” A selection of q’ene from Ethiopia, translated by Chris Beckett and Donald Levine.
“You lime of the forest, honey among the rocks,/ lemon of the cloister, grape in the savannah./ A hip to be enclosed by one hand;/ a thigh round like a piston…” A selection of six Ethiopian praise poems.
“Destitution is building a house./ Destitution is walling me in…” A selection of oral poems about famine, gathered by Fekade Azeze with the help of local schoolchildren in the highlands of Showa.
“a man gave twelve cows for a beautiful woman and seventeen days after the wedding/ I came to the bridegroom, armed with my spear…” Two ancient Afar war chants, as recorded by Georges C Savard.