African Poetry Quotes

“Can you define the colour of my pigment? Can you write a story about yourself? Can you spell your mother’s name?
Do you know the skulls quiver?

Depth of colour”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche

“Cups and Rings and Drawings.

I stopped by a famed park,
Picked a blank sheet
And drew a cup.

For me, it represented me holding myself up in a storm,
It represented the start of life,
Something to pour out every lesson learnt
Out of every misfortune we’ve ever been.
The cup — the container to hold chocolate drink
Water. Wine and strawberries.

I drew a ring,
A marriage between blessing and joy
The bloom of flowers in spring
The sprouting of leaves in midsummer
And the smell of fresh grasses at night.

I drew Monalisa
I painted art
I became Michaelangelo
Da Vinci
I became the Renaissance
I healed through art

“Don’t you know that you are gods?”

So the first day,
I cleared the storms out of my life.
The second day,
I dried all my tears
The third day,
I reinvented myself.
The fourth day,
I finally remembered what it felt like to be happy
Like two children drawing arts on a canvass.
Delilah & Annabelle
Arts curled out of girls trying to reinvent the world
Or the colours of the rainbow.
The fifth day,
I opened the windows wide
To let the lights shine in.
“When I’m down on my knees you’re how I pray.”
The sixth day
I created my favourite masterpiece — Baroque.
The seventh day,
I admired myself in the mirror.

I missed me
I missed the time I had so much optimism
I miss you
And I miss writing so innocently.”
― J.Y. Frimpong

“A chief who visits the river at the kiss of the sun will be pleased by the songs of the bird.
A chief who visits the river at noon will marry many wives.
A chief who visits the river at night will hear the ancestors speaking and his skin tingling.”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche

“I’m black
that’s what runs deep inside my soul. I’m Nile
that what makes me perennial I’m Okavango
that’s what makes me mysterious I’m the lake Tanganyika
thus what bellows deep inside
I’m black,I’m deep jet
I’m Chinhoyi thus what makes me constant I’m Kalahari thus what makes me amazing I’m black as an onyx
I’m coal
that’s what makes me thermal”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche

“Are we above or is just another story?
Is it human nature?
Is it just a norm?
Is it segregation causing these deadly wars?
Is poverty leading us to the stagnant sea of prostitution?
Is the pauperism playing a role in tarnishing our image?
Is paucity injecting a lethal poison in our morals? Is penury eating civilization and destroying families?
Is the prison meant for classes in the society?
Is bribery a new Godly law?
Are drugs manufactured for us to numb the pain? Are we scared of reality?
Is it true that fathers are disappearing in the society podium?
Is it true that the lack of manhood is the root of all question marks?
Is it true that the adequate fathers in the society are destroying the sanity of children?
Is it true that our uncontrollable passions are born because we lack a muse”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche

“I’m living according to the law of hand outs, I’m living under the law of charity,
I’m living under the law of being used.”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche

“Hannah
do you even know the meaning of evening silences?
Watching the ebb, the halo hanging upon your eyes?
Hannah
do we even know the love we twined in those pines?
We walked with veils like of virgin shyness?
Those constellation, those stars that gleam and thrill,
those seamless touches, those eyes, shyness and sheen,
those Hannah,
those nights painted by Vincent Van Gogh, those nights I took you in my arms and held you like an eg”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche , Hannah Cherub: Hannah cherub

“My unshaded skin.
Snarled and marked of a scoundrel.
Scorned and conned.
Birds sing in a fair sun,
whistles of seas that used to be foreign.
My unshaven skin,
whispers of owls at night still sing old rivers.
Ribs rubbed and punched still sores.
Mistakes of songs and words that still linger over me.
Marred and murdered death still murmurs.”
― Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche

“I don't go outside anymore, I'm afraid I'll crumble if I see you again.”
― Elizabeth Awori, These Things

“I remember how your eyes tore through me like a knife, how I fell apart each time you smiled at me, how I crumbled when you touched me.”
― Elizabeth Awori, These Things

“Your love is the blanket to my shivering fears and insecurities.”
― Elizabeth Awori, These Things

“I wouldn’t tell you why I let you touch me the way you do
Or why I let you whisper forbidden thoughts into my ear
I couldn’t tell you why I cannot lay my head down without whispering your name to the gods
Or why a wave of emotion washes over me whenever you call my name..
All I know is
Your eyes glitter like diamonds in the desert sand
Your smile, a perfect crescent
Your face, like that of an ancient knight
Again..
Your voice fills my ear with pure bliss
Your lips taste of mature wine
Above all..
Your manly nature that makes a lady want to sin.”
― Shirleen Wangari

“In the blistering cold of the night
I felt a warm wave wash over me
In the loneliness of the mountain
I heard my name whispered in the dark
In the fear of the forbidden
I struggled with the building emotion
In a fateful moment
I was yours.
Yes
In the night
On the mountain
Of forbidden passions
I Lost my heart to you.”
― Shirleen Wangari

“Speak no word,
make no sound, sigh against my lips,
put your arms on my flesh,
will me to love you,
I swear I will.
I already do.”
― Shirleen Wangari