DESPAIR
you visited me that day
and the black night, without stars
without moonbeams
without fireflies without future
without anything
you could cut it with a machete
like the night when my feet
lost their way behind
the village hut
oh God in heaven
inky
darkness
beat down on me
and you oh earth
yes you oh earth
you had stopped
turning
by Enoh Meomesse -translated by Grace Hetherington.
WHY DO YOU TREAT ME LIKE THIS
Why do you treat me like this
simply because I don’t
see things your way
have you not freed words
have you not freed spirits
have you not freed souls
have you not freed tongues
oh leaders of this regime
custodians of my people’s destiny
why do you treat me like this
simply because I don’t
see things your way
by Enoh Meyomesse -translated by Dick Jones.
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Last week in the New Zealand Society of Authors, I saw this entry.
Pen Matters!
English PEN launches a print-on-demand version of Enoh Meyomesse’s poetry collection, Jail Verse: Poems from Kondengui Prison, to help raise much-needed funds for the imprisoned activist and poet.
I downloaded a copy. Reading this collection, I was reminded of how lucky we are in New Zealand and hopefully many other countries, to still have the right of free speech. Long may it last! I felt humbled and grateful in turn as I read Enoh’s poems. Poems of unimaginable despair which still contain threads of hope. Poems of the love he has for his country….I am not qualified to describe the feelings behind them. In his Introduction, to Enoh’s verses, Ollie Brock describes them as passionate and visceral, poems which often do not make for comfortable reading.
The download is free but all donations help. You can find out how to do both below.
‘ Cameroonian activist and poet Enoh Meyomesse’s most recent appeal hearing, scheduled for 16 January, was postponed. This is the seventh time that this has happened since his case was first referred to a civil court for appeal in April 2013. The next hearing has now been rescheduled for 20 February.
Arrested in November 2011, Enoh Meyomesse was detained for over a year before being sentenced to seven years in prison for supposed complicity in the theft and illegal sale of gold. These ongoing delays mean that Meyomesse has now been behind bars for more than two years on what are widely believed to be trumped-up charges. As a result of the numerous postponements and additional months in prison, funds to cover Meyomesse’s legal fees and daily needs – including food, medicine, family visits, and writing materials – are now dwindling.
In late 2013, English PEN launched a crowd-sourced translation of the volume of poetry Meyomesse has written in prison, in order to raise funds for him and his family, and greater awareness of his case. We’re pleased to announce that the full collection Jail Verse: Poems from Kondengui Prison is now available to print-on-demand. As with the ebook version, all proceeds will be used to support Enoh Meyomesse and our ongoing work on behalf of writers at risk around the world. Click here to order your copy.’ (NZSA E-ZINE Friday March 14th)
THE TWO POEMS ABOVE, ARE PUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION AND ROBERT SHARP (PEN, ENGLAND) HAS TOLD ME THAT THE COLLECTION HAS A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, AND DISSEMINATION OF THE POEMS IS ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED.
For more information about Pen International and Pen New Zealand, go here
To read a review of Jail Verse from The Huffington Post, go here
If you want to read about how it is in prison for Enoh now, or /and if you woud like to write a letter supporting his release, please go here
See also my next blog which features Enoh’s poem ‘ I have forgot you oh without’
And now I recommend you go to Tuesday Poem and read Michelle Elvy’s sparkling editorial before you delve into the riches in the sidebar … from those who are free to enjoy sharing their poems in safety.
gurglewords 