MY HUSBAND HAS GONE BY MUKOTANI
First of all, it is important to note that the woman who is speaking or singing in the poem is of the Bakiga
ethnic group who live in the mountains of Kigezi (now Kabale) in south-western Uganda. The Bakiga are
an intensely agricultural people, and since the woman in the poem talks of having heard the others
laughâ their laughter could sometimes be with their husbands as they work on the fields together, or it
could be by groups of women who normally gather to help one another in tilling the land.
The poem is about a woman whose husband has left her and to Bugandaâ, in the mine of money. These
are important leads to what has led this woman husband to go away. It is important to realize that the
marriage has not broken down. What the husband has done is to go to Buganda to mine money This
points to an important aspect of the historical experience of people from some particular regions of
Uganda (the Bakiga, the Banyoro, the Alur and the Lugbara being some of them) who were not allowed
to grow cash crops by the colonial authorities so that they could provide a labour reservoir for the
coffee, tea and sugarcane plantations in central Uganda.
Indeed, when many of us were growing up in the 1950s, it was common to see young men marry, stay
with their young wives for a few months and then go off to Buganda in the mine of money. Sometimes
the man would be away for over a year. While it was necessary for such husbands to leave their young
wives and go to work for money, it was also painful to them and the wives that they had to live apart for
long periods at such early stages in their youth. Yet they had to go because there was no economic
activity in their area to raise money more especially the colonial government taxes that they had to pay.
In My Husband Has Gone, therefore, a young wife is lamenting that her husband has left her and gone to
work for money. This has left her lonely and miserable. She is not able to laugh like the other women
because she is feeling the absence of her husband. At night she feels cold in bed because there is no one
to make her warm. She does not see any reason to go to the swamp where other women collect herbal
perfumes because she does not need to perfume her body for anyone.
The woman is yet worried about something else about her husband while he is away. Stories have been
told that in the towns where the husband may have gone to get employment, there are many
prostitutes who have no shame. The woman is, therefore, seriously worried that her husband can end
up getting caught up in a friendly relationship with such women.
Clearly, what the woman in the poem is missing is the company she would share with her husband if he
was around. But the company the husband would offer is in many forms. He would go with her to the
field to till. He would crack jokes and she would laugh. They would share meals together. And,
ultimately, he would keep her warm in bed at night.
It is only natural that she would imagine what happens between other women and their husbands who
have not gone away. This part of the poem (stanzas five and six) is intensely erotic. The husband has
gone away with
the reliever of her loneliness
That stick of manhood
Which drives the coldness.
In stanza six, in addition to the shimmering of the other women bodies as they have to look good to
their husbands, they also,
...spend the nights wriggling
And shaking their bottoms
While I have become a widow
I spend the nights trembling
Embracing the mats.
The poem tries to use the intensity of the loss and the discomfort it causes to bring out the predicament
the woman finds herself in.
It is not correct to see the woman as a real widow. Her husband is alive, and she has agreed with him
that he goes to work for money. But the fact is this makes her live a lonely life, and this is the effect the
expression of her feelings about her situation is supposed to have on us. We are expected to feel her
loneliness with her and wish with her that her husband had not gone away or that he returns soon.
She calls herself a widow to drive home the extent of her loss. In reality she does not believe she is a
widow. But the loneliness and emptiness she is forced to endure makes her picture herself as one. This
makes us sympathize and empathize with her even more.
SONG OF LAWINO BY OKOT p’BITOK
Song of Lawino is a poem about an African woman’s cry against her husband’s abandonment of
the past in favour of western traditions.
Lawino, a non-literate woman, says “Husband, now you despise me / Now you treat me with
spite / And say I have inherited the / stupidity of my aunt /”. Her university-educated husband
has adopted Western ways, rejected her, and taken another, Westernized woman.
In there is a mixture of the traditional Africa practice of polygamy that is prevalent of the
author’s Acholi’s culture however, instead the husband has chosen to favour the ‘new’ wife
instead of treating both wives equally as culture would dictate.
Lawino claims that her husband has lost his manhood by reading books: “Bile burns my inside! /
I feel like vomiting! / For all our young men / Were finished in the forest, / Their manhood was
finished / In the class-rooms, / Their testicles / Were smashed / With large books!” Lawino says
that Ocol has learned how to speak English, and no longer engages, or has any interest in,
African dance but prefers the ballroom dances introduced by Europeans, and this ‘loss of
culture’ on the part of Ocol is what disturbs Lawino the most. The poem is an extended appeal
from Lawino to Ocol to stay true to his own customs, and to abandon his ‘desire to be white.’
Song of Lawino was initially written in Acholi, one of the Luo dialects in northern Uganda in
1971 but later given an English translation by its author who according to his own words clipped
a bit of the eagle’s wings of the original Acholi poem “and rendered the sharp edges of the
warrior’s sword rusty and blunt, and also murdered rhythm and rhyme”.
Although the work was turned down by several British publishers, in 1966 it became a
bestseller. In 2001, Okot’s good friend made another translation of song of Lawino which he
claimed was closer to his old friend’s Acholi version called In Defence of Lawino.
The poem uses the literary device of a female character to address issues that were facing
Africa at the time. When Okot p’Bitek wrote this poem Africa had recently been liberated and
there was a question whether or not it should keep its African values or look to the West for
new idealsSong of Lawino after publication was quickly translated into other languages and has
become one of the most widely read literary works originating from Sub-Saharan Africa, and is
more known for its scathing display of how African society was being destroyed by the
colonization of Africa.
Song of Lawino was followed by Song of Ocol published in 1970, in which Lawino’s husband
responds to her. “Mother, mother, / Why, / Why was I born / Black?” p’Bitek introduced a style
that became known as “comic singing,” in his famous poem.
The poem itself echoes the author’s generation, that had absorbed early native culture during
the colonial period, but then had received a British education. P’Bitek’s own choice was to take
a stand against Western infiltration and defend Acholi traditions and customs.
Born in 1931, Okot p’Bitek passed away on July 20, 1982.
NO GRAVE, NO COFFIN BY JARED AUGIRA
The Kenyan poet Jared Angira was born in 1947 and studied commerce at the University of
Nairobi where he was also the editor of the journal Busara. He has spent much of his working
life in the Kenyan civil service, and published seven volumes of poetry, which include Juices
(1970), Silent Voices (1972), Soft Corals (1973), Cascades (1979), The Years Go By (1980), and
Tides of Time: Selected Poems (1996).
He was once hailed by Wole Soyinka and lauded by Ezenwa-Ohaeto as “one of the most exciting
poets in Africa.” As with many of his contemporary African poets, he has not received the
critical acclaim many think he deserves. Deeply meditative, Angira’s work is deceptively simple
and his choice of words may occasionally seem at odds with the gravity of his subject. As a
Marxist poet—he once proclaimed: “Karl Marx is my teacher; Pablo Neruda my class prefect
(when I am in the classroom) and my captain (when I am on the battlefield)”—his poetry
evinces a critical concern with social injustice in post-independence society. Like his fellow
Kenyan, Ngugi wa Thiongo, he is very critical of political and social developments in Kenya.
NO COFFIN, NO GRAVE
He was buried without a coffin
without a grave
the scavengers performed the post-mortem
in the open mortuary
without sterilized knives
in front of the night club
Stuttering rifles put up
the gun salute of the day
that was a state burial anyway
the car knelt
the red plate wept, wrapped itself in blood its master’s
the diary revealed to the sea
the rain anchored there at last
isn’t our flag red, black, and white?
so he wrapped himself well
who could signal yellow
when we had to leave politics to the experts
and brood on books
brood on hunger
and schoolgirls
grumble under the black pot
sleep under torn mosquito net
and let lice lick our intestines
the lord of the bar, money speaks madam
woman magnet, money speaks madam
we only cover the stinking darkness
of the cave of our mouths
and ask our father who is in hell to judge him
the quick and the good
Well, his dairy, submarine of the Third World War
showed he wished
to be buried in a gold-laden coffin
like a VIP
under the jacaranda tree beside his palace
a shelter for his grave
and much beer for the funeral party
Anyway one noisy pupil suggested we bring
tractors and plough the land.
This is a scornfully sarcastic poem by Angira and many reviewers claim that it also mirrors his
style. The poem is a chronicle of events that marked the death of a traitor-ruler who was
“buried without a coffin” (line 1) and whose post-mortem was carried out by scavengers,
vultures in the open, outside a place where people go to celebrate and have fun. A night club!
(line 6). This gives a sense that his death may have been wished and when it came, it was a
necessary party for his people.
Angira goes on to say that “stuttering rifles” (line 7) gave the salute when he died. The same
two quoted word are used in Wilfred Owen’s poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth” where he
discusses the scene before a war, intimating that the soldiers on the field are doomed to death
by the shots from their own stuttering rifles. As is signal of state burials, prominent people are
given a uniform salute by a regimental gunshot of a section of the army. But our politician only
received a stuttering rifle’s salute, to give us a hint that his gun salute was probably the bullets
that killed him; ununiformed. And confirmation reaches us, when we read that his car knelt –
came to its knees, literally – in a defeatist action and wrapped itself in its master’s blood (lines
10-11). He died in his car and the car came to a grinding halt.
Angira quotes the colours of the Kenyan flag (red, black and white- line 14) as testament to the
true nature of the politician whose deeds alone were correct. So since there wasn’t any yellow,
he asks “Who could signal yellow” or contradict the politicians? After all, politics was for the
“experts” while the common man was cursed to brood on books, think about schoolgirls and
hunger, sleeping under torn mosquito nets (lines 15-22). And if our politician should step into a
bar, he is the lord (line 24) and woman magnet (line 25) who speaks the language of money; the
people’s money. And what can the cursed common man say? He can only cover the darkness of
his mouth and tell his prayers to the devil for all the politician cares.
The succeeding verse tells of how our politician’s diary reveals that he wanted a stately VIP
burial, with a gold-laden coffin at his palace and with so much beer. Angira earlier in line 12
says that the diary revealed itself to the sea, to say that it was found there in the sea. And now,
in line 30, he calls the diary a submarine of the Third World War. This is interesting analogy. It
could mean that the diary was found in the sea as a submarine, it is content was a destructive
weapon as a submarine that brought the poverty and hunger of the people, or that it had
enough power in its recommendation to dump the world into a Third World War. This is
beautiful use of language.
So, it has come to pass that Angira’s politician has passed away, with much celebration from his
people. And with little dignity too, having been denied all the pleasantries that he wished to be
accorded his death. The people care less and in the last line, one boy Angira calls noisy, even
suggests that they bring tractors and plough the land, ostensibly to purge it of the desecration
that this our politician’s blood may have caused it. And why is the boy even called noisy unless
it means that other people have already said the same thing?
VULTURES BY CHINUA ACHEBE
Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian writer who would probably be familiar with the sight of vultures,
which are scavenging birds, feeding on the carcass of a dead animal. This is the image that he
explores in the first section of his poem entitled 'Vultures'. A miserable scene is set with grey
weather, and Achebe uses alliteration in the phrase 'drizzle of one despondent dawn' to
emphasise the depressing atmosphere. There is no sign of sun at the start of the day, as the
phrase 'unstirred by harbingers of sunbreak' tells us (harbinger meaning a sign or announcer).
A pair of vultures are sitting together on the branch of a tree. Achebe uses both alliteration and
metaphor in describing the branch as a 'broken bone', and the tree is dead. This reinforces the
bleakness of the scene and reminds us that vultures are in the habit of feeding on dead creatures.
The first suggestion of gentleness comes when Achebe tells us that the male vulture is 'nestled
close to his mate', conveying the feeling that they are fond of each other's company. The
description of the male vulture, however, is hardly flattering: 'his smooth / bashed-in head, a
pebble / on a stem rooted in / a dump of gross / feathers'. The metaphor of the pebble is
appropriate, as the vulture's head is indeed small in comparison to its body, and the adjectives
'dump' and 'gross' emphasise how ugly the bird is. Yet his head is 'inclined affectionately to hers',
so the attraction between the pair of vultures is clear to see.
In the next few lines Achebe gives an extremely distasteful description of how the vultures had,
the day before, fed on a dead animal. The phrases 'picked the eyes' and 'swollen corpse' are
nothing if not disgusting, and Achebe goes on to relate that the birds ate the contents of the
animals intestines too. They had then had their fill, or were 'full gorged' as the poet tells us, and
settled on a branch. What remained of the corpse is described as a 'hollow remnant' which the
vultures observed with 'cold telescopic eyes'. There is no inkling here, at the end of the first
section, of any gentleness at all.
In the second section of 'Vultures', Achebe comments on the nature of the love, using
personification. He begins with a single word, 'Strange', that attracts attention, appearing on its
own in line 22. What Achebe finds strange is that love is usually 'so particular', fussy about
appearances perhaps, but in this case exists in a 'charnel house', a building where bodies or bones
are stored. This idea marks a shift in the poem's focus, away from the vultures. Achebe observes
that love can be found in such a place, where she would tidy a little corner and 'perhaps even fall
asleep' there. The second section ends, however, with the remark that if this happened, love's
face would be 'turned to the wall', presumably to avoid the sight of skeletal remains.
In the third section of the poem, Achebe identifies the charnel house as Belsen Camp, which was
a German concentration camp where many people were gassed during the Second World War.
This section of the poem focusses on the Commandant of that camp as he leaves at the end of a
day. Achebe's description of him initially stresses the thoroughly unpleasant side: 'with fumes of
/ human roast clinging / rebelliously to his hairy / nostrils'. The phrase 'human roast' seems
particularly odious with its connotations of cooking, and the word 'rebelliously' suggests that the
smell refuses go away even after the Commandant has left the camp.
In line 35, Achebe shows a different side to the Commandant, just as he demonstrated the
affection between the pair of vultures. He describes how this seemingly repulsive man will stop
at a sweet-shop on his way home to buy some chocolate for his children. The children are
referred to as 'his tender offspring', and he is their 'Daddy'. Here, Achebe creates a feeling of a
loving family; the children are probably blissfully unaware of what their father's work involves.
They await his homecoming and he enjoys bringing them a treat at the end of the day.
In the fourth and final section of 'Vultures', Achebe presents us with two alternative conclusions
to draw from the behaviour of the vultures and the Commandant. He suggests that we might
'Praise bounteous providence', and the fact that he includes the phrase 'if you will' perhaps infers
that this is the alternative he would prefer us to choose. He is asking us to rejoice in the fact that
an 'ogre' has 'a tiny glow-worm tenderness', using a metaphor to describe the element of love
that lights up, like a glow worm, the Commandant's otherwise despicable life. This love is
'encapsulated / in icy caverns of a cruel / heart': Achebe uses metaphor once again, this time to
convey how cold the Commandant's heart is.
The second alternative that Achebe presents us with is one of 'despair'; that we might choose to
despair that within the tiny element of love or tenderness we find 'the perpetuity of evil'.
Even though we can see signs of affection and love, we fear that this might always be outweighed
by cruelty, hatred or wrongdoing. 'Evil' is the final word of the poem, but Achebe is nevertheless
giving us a choice. Do we look for the spark of goodness in a person no matter how repulsive
their actions are, or do we overlook the tenderness and focus on the dark, evil side that appears
to be dominant? Achebe has taken an example from the past in the Commandant of Belsen
Camp, but in describing the habits of the vultures he shows that the existence of love and evil
side by side is eternal.
The poem 'Vultures' is not divided into stanzas, but it is clear where one section ends and another
begins through the use of ellipsis and the indentation of the first line line of the second, third and
fourth stanzas. The poem is in free verse with lines of varying length that flow from one into the
next. Although there are fifty-one lines in all, there are only six sentences. Achebe skilfully
combines contrasting descriptions within one sentence to give a sense of love and evil existing
together rather than separately.
'Vultures' is perhaps not the easiest poem to fathom on first reading, but it is worth taking the
time to understand the examples and imagery that Achebe so skilfully presents here. It is up to
each one of us to decide whether we wish to recognize and appreciate love or tenderness where
it seems to be overshadowed by hatred, or whether we allow ourselves to be disheartened by
the evil that finds its way inside every grain of love.
Some of the contribution in reference to the above in the east African literature include;
Increasing our social consciousness, and raises awareness of social, political, and economic
crises that the African continent is facing.
It explains the mysteries, intricacies, ironies, and tragedies of life in a language we understand.
We learn the histories of our people; learn African proverbs; learn African values.
Has attracted numerous subscribers and reflect changing perspectives on African literature.
Offered an opportunity to hear the voices of African people rather than just stories about Africa as
written by visitors.
Aided our Understanding on geographical local and the culture and history of that area.
Hold the fabric of society together
Shows life experiences of the average African, from various angles and through different nuances which
can be as blunt as it can be.
It educates us on various aspect of our heritage and the state of affairs of our continent, pointing out
categorically to the everyday issues.
African literature essential to the pride and dignity of Africans.
Encourages both the established writers and the up-and-coming writers not to give up on their trade.
References;
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Print and Online Media Content in Kenya: A Case of ‘Daily Nation’ Newspaper (M.A.).
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Editorial Staff (10 June 2013). "Daily Nation Newspaper and facts about Nation Media
Group". BuzzKenya. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
T Wachira, Charles (1 July 2014). "Kenyan Media Company Linked to Kenyatta Offers Free
Daily Paper". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 21
November 2014.
Rhodes, Tom (2013). "Advertising and Censorship In East Africa's Press". Center for Public
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The new times, 22nd may
"Poetry - vultures/chinua achebe".
George, Joseph, "African Literature", in Gordon and Gordon, Understanding Contemporary
Africa (1996), ch. 14, p. 303.
Joseph (1996), p. 304.
"African literature" at info-please.
"La littérature africaine est en mouvement" (African literature is on the move):
Africultures.com
This article compares the "rebellious" style of a young author (Eric Mendi) with the more
classical style of Alain Mabanckou: Jeuneafrique.com
African Literature: Between Geniuses Affluence and Criticism Shortage: Camer.be
This prize receives books in three languages (Spanish, English and French), the books are
proposed to the Jury by literary associations: Bellanaija.com
Udenwe, Obinna (13 February 2018). "The Rise of Brittle Paper: The Village Square of
African Literature". The Village Square Journal. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
