WHO EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE?
AND OTHER POEMS
by
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IN THE EYE OF A STORM Did I hear right That you are rehearsing Songs of freedom Unity and justice? Did I dream That you are whetting your sword And putting it back In its sheath? Do you want to fight Those who taught you How to aim and shoot? Doesn’t a sharp sword Destroy its sheath Making itself homeless? Was I told That you are going to the woods? Have you forgotten That your brother’s grave Is not yet swallowed up by bush And our tears have not dried? Listen my son Show me on which side Of your silent brother You wish to recline When light turns into darkness Before your freedom song is complete; For you are right in the eye Of a raging storm! * * * * WHO EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE? Who extinguished the fire In our traditional homesteads? Did he consult the elders Or was it recommended By environmentalists? Was it because the fog Had receded to the valleys As hills became warmer? Was it because the smoke Made our eyes water And our noses run? Was it a strategy Of tactical retreat To deny mosquitoes Sumptuous evening meal As we imbibed the wise axioms Of our greying elders? Sound the drums For the elders to converge! Divulge the secret That their cultural code Has been adulterated! The ashes have been cleared And fortified prisons erected The new curriculum is foreign Irrelevant and obsolete! * * * * THE ATTENTIVE BRIDE The elegant clan leader Sporting a long grey beard Trod across the compound Rehearsing a long list Of nuptial admonitions: Respect your father-in- law And your mother-in- law They will shield you When a storm is brewing Around your homestead. The shortest route To a man’s heart Is through his stomach Fail to feed him And he will feed on you! When he talks twice At best keep mum Lest he dislocates your jaws And bursts your eardrums! If another daughter of Adam Besieges your fort Fight with all your energy You passed through the main gate While she is trying to enter By a private back door. * * * * THE HONOUR Peace! Where were you When my sister’s hymen Was ruptured With ravenous bayonets? Serenity! Were your ears plugged When the orphans Were howling and rolling Over their mutilated relatives? Freedom! Were your eyes drooping When my brothers Were herded and singed In void village pots Denying them the honour Of lying in a grave? Democracy! Were your hands in cuffs When you caressed the grass That jubilated through the sockets Of our beloved clansmen? Unity! Where were you When brothers ate each other’s heart And drank each other’s blood? Where shall we borrow the hearts If the bayonets are to be buried In the deep expectant graves? * * * * THE MAN I MARRIED I reminded him Of our marriage vows His answer was blunt: Those were not his words He just read them! I then discovered The man I married I had put the ring Around his finger But not around his heart! * * * * WAKE UP AFRICA! Wake up Africa! My beloved continent Is it conventional To soundly snore When you are wide awake? Why snooze in noisy slums With bullets ripping the air? Does the quietness beyond Make you nervous? Are you pathetically insane Or slightly demented Why court poverty By borrowing today To pay yesterday’s debts? Are repressive wars And wanton genocide A form of family planning? Should dictators overthrow dictators To entrench systematic dictatorships? Wake up Africa! You have slept long enough Such a deep slumber Is counter- productive In this prime millennium! * * * * THE AFRICAN CURSE! Find children With undue pregnancies And eyes overflowing With flies rather than tears. Meet more beggars and hawkers, Than investors and bureaucrats Sandwiched between individuals Richer than their countries. Experience more wars than weddings Hunger and starvation With a heavy debt burden And unprecedented brain drain. Dodge more potholes Than vehicles on the roads Face more yearning patients Than active doctors In filthy hospitals! * * * * THE GENOCIDE Thirsty? Don’t ask for a pint of milk But a pint of blood For milk is dearer Than human blood! Hungry? Spare the innocent pig And the elegant kob! We are joyous cannibals Preying on stupid man! Angry? Don’t cut the smiling tree Just rip that ugly head Off its obese trunk! Idle? Don’t be disorderly! Just unsheathe your machete Rape and hack to death Humans but not insects! Nervous? Just hold your peace! The more you kill The more you forget And the less nervous you become! No land for graves? Just pile the decomposing bodies On the jubilating rivers They will retrace their steps Back into exile! * * * * A REACTIONARY’S CREED Don’t go Papa, don’t go! Fool, you are a coward! Your comrades perished in the struggle! They are alive, their spirit lives on! We need peace not war! I am a warrior not a fishmonger! Cowards live longer. They die quietly like cockroaches! You are too few to wage a struggle! It’s determination not numbers! You won’t change much! There is always a first step! You will be detained! Only the body, not spirit! Is your spirit willing? Quite in harmony with the body! Don’t go Papa, don’t go! That’s a reactionary’s creed! * * * *
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About the Book
Who Extinguished the Fire And Other Poems is an up-to-date collection of Turyatemba’s verse. The new collection comprises fourteen groupings of poems on a variety of subjects. "The poet has penned poetry of the commonplace—retained the ordinary, local flavours that could be lost when trying to get sophisticated. Turyatemba defies the myth that poetry is complicated and cannot be understood. We can easily recognize both our private and public systems in this collection.” Dr. Mildred K. Barya. “In crafting his poems, Turyatemba makes idiom his mainstay and in so doing he breathes life into the most common sayings. His poems work like riddles throwing perplexing questions at the reader. He truly is in deep conversation with his audience. His wide exploration of the African condition makes an important contribution to both our literary and philosophical thinking.” - Dr. Susan Kiguli. “Coming from a literary student of Economics, these poems are very rich in one of the essential features of poetry – economy. Also rich in figurative or picture language, most of the poems are witty depictions of the nice and nasty contradictions in the physical environment as well as in the personal, cultural, social and political contexts explored by the poet.” - Professor Timothy Wangusa. Cover design by Grace Bithum and Robert Bigirwenkya.
About the Author
Born in Kabale District in 1963, James Turyatemba has since 1991 worked in the Directorate of Examinations Management of Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB). Previously, he taught in a number of Secondary Schools in Uganda. He graduated from Makerere University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education (Economics) in 1987 and a Master’s degree in Education in 1991. He obtained a diploma and a Master’s degree in Higher Education Leadership and Management at Uganda Management Institute in 2014 and 2016 respectively. He has been a fervent advocate for “a better environment for all, through sustainable development”. He is a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). He has attended several Environment Education courses and workshops in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Swaziland, Ethiopia, Botswana, Nigeria, South Africa, Jordan and The Netherlands. He is the Author of Ballads of Victors and Victims.