SH1903

Poetry from Different Parts of the World: toward the northeast.

Africa Africa contains an enormous wealth of mineral
resources, including some of the world’s largest
I. The Continent of Africa reserves of fossil fuels, metallic ores, and gems and
precious metals. This richness is matched by a great
diversity of biological resources that includes the
intensely lush equatorial rainforests of Central Africa
and the world-famous populations of wildlife of the
eastern and southern portions of the continent.
Although agriculture (primarily subsistence) still
dominates the economies of many African countries,
the exploitation of these resources became the most
significant economic activity in Africa in the 20th
century.

B. Literary Themes in Africa

When Chinua Achebe, revered as the "Father of
African literature," died in 2013, Taylor (2013)
posited that the younger generation of African
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Africa_(orthographic_projection).svg
writers filled the majority of the gap that he left. As
A. Africa's Features a result, the younger generation characterizes what
Africa is the second-largest continent, covering African literature is today.
about one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth. Its From Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Chinua Achebe's
total land area is approximately 11,724,000 square themes about varied corruptions of postcolonial
miles or 30,365,000 square kilometers. state, the themes “sense of identity” and
In antiquity, the Greeks are said to have called “displacement” are seen in the works of Osman,
the continent Libya and the Romans to have called it Shire, and Mohamed (Taylor, 2013).
Africa, perhaps from the Latin aprica (“sunny”) or In terms of poetry, contemporary African
the Greek aphrike (“without cold”). literature addresses issues such as globalization,
The whole of Africa can be considered as a vast corruption, information and communications
plateau rising steeply from narrow coastal strips and technology, migration, and exile through its poems
consisting of ancient crystalline rocks. The plateau’s (Orhero, 2017).
surface is higher in the southeast and tilts downward

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 SH1903

C. Sample Poem "desire to address copious issues and struggles that

inhabit the world."
"In Another World" His work has appeared or is forthcoming in various
by Rasaq Malik journals, including Michigan Quarterly Review, Poet
Lore, Spillway, Rattle, Junked, Connotation Press,
In another world I want to be a father without HEArt Online, Grey Sparrow, Jalada, and
passing through the eternal insanity of mourning elsewhere. He is a two-time nominee for Best of the
my children, without experiencing the ritual Net. He has been nominated twice for the Pushcart
of watching my children return home as bodies Prize and was shortlisted for the Brunei International
folded like a prayer mat, without spending my African Poetry Prize in 2017.
nights telling them the stories of a hometown
where natives become aliens searching for References:
a shelter. I want my children to spread a mat Clarke, J., Dickson, K., Middleton, J., Gardiner, R., Kroner, A.,
outside my house and play without the walls Mabogunje, A. & Young, G. (2019, January 23). Africa. In
of houses ripped by rifles. I want to watch my Encyclopedia Britannica.
children https://www.britannica.com/place/Africa.
grow to recite the name of their homeland like Lord’s
Orhero, M. (2017). Trends in modern African poetic composition:
Prayer, to frolic in the streets without being hunted identifying the canons.
like https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321776494_Trends
animals in the bush, without being mobbed to death. _in_Modern_African_Poetic_Composition_Identifying_the_
In another world I want my children to tame Canons.
grasshoppers
Taylor, M. (2013, June 25). Where is African literature at today?
in the field, to play with their dolls in the living room, https://newint.org/blog/2013/06/25/africa-writes.
to inhale the fragrance of flowers waving as wind
blows, Three poems from new generation African poets. (2018, April 26).
to see the birds measure the sky with their wings. https://lithub.com/three-poems-from-new-generation-
african-poets.
D. About the Author

Rasaq Malik is a graduate of the University of

Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a cultural enthusiast and an
indescribable lover for Yoruba cosmology.
According to an interview by Yasmin El-Rufai
Foundation (2018), he writes poems because of his

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