A significant number of bloggers in Africa write poems to express their feelings of love, hurt, betrayal, regret, pain and joy.
The topic of love and relationships is one that evokes a lot of interest and expression from young people in all spheres regardless of race or social status.
This more often than not does border on sex, something that most African youth term a taboo to talk about but ironically are engaging in at an even younger age than ever seen before
One could attribute this to lack of sex education in almost all African institutions and a virtual no go zone as far as family discussions go. It is due to this that many young people are often misguided about the fine line between love and sex, their sexuality and how to handle relationships with the opposite sex.
Young people “out to punish their parents”
The previous lack of forums where young people could easily discuss their experiences, fears, desires and opinions openly has for a long time made it seem like the young people are out to punish their parents and just acting rebellious and engaging in relationships that lead to either pregnancy, HIV infection or abuse.
The internet has also gained a similar if not a slightly greater interest as Love and relationships to the youth everywhere. This has been proliferated greatly by the emergence of social networking sites with Face Book having the greatest impact on young people who can access the internet. This is because this particular social networking site has made it easier for young people to meet old friends, former high school mates and even peers that they had a crush on but barely had the guts the approach.
Those seeking to express their thoughts, feelings and opinions have turned to blogs- another type of social networking medium that is slightly different in that it allows one to share their experiences in a diary like format and can receive feedback in form of comments.
Blogging about love in Africa
According to Afrigator – a social media aggregator and directory built especially for Africans who publish and consume content online; there are currently 11,386 blogs in Africa with South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya respectively having the most number of blogs. The total might be higher than that as not all bloggers have registered with Afrigator.
Out of the total, there is a significant number of bloggers who have chosen to let their poems be the tools of expressing their feelings of love, hurt, betrayal, regret, pain and joy while some have also used poetry to speak out on the ills that are affecting many African Societies.
A plea for forgiveness
Thelma Migue Flinston is a mother and a fun loving person as she describes herself in her blog cizoepoetry.
She says this of her blog
THIS IS WHERE YOU GET POETRY AT IT’S BEST. THIS IS THE MIRROR TO MY SOUL.
Her poem Ashamed is a plea for forgiveness and feeling of deep guilt for something that has made the person she deeply cares about change.
One can easily tap into the emotional turmoil in the poem as she describes her futile attempt in seeking forgiveness
I am sorry for what I did,
I didn’t mean to embarrass you.
I saw the look in your eyes
I felt the pain
I am ashamed of what I did.I don’t know what I did wrong
But I can feel it all around
I can tell by the way
You look at me.
I miss the look
That said I was your only gal.
©thelma migue, 2009read the rest of the poem here
Her other poem Tragedy is also on love and a relationship that ensued after she met this person 2 years ago. The poem has an interesting twist to it and is proof of Thelma’s stretched imagination.
Tragedy
Two years ago,
We met at the mall,
Sized each other up
Neither of us was ready to approach the other.
Finally he gave in
Names and numbers were exchanged
Places of work and residences discussed
As we got to know each other better.
We sized each other upRead Full Poem
True to her blog’s description, hers is truly a place where she lets you look into the mirror that reflects her soul’s emotions.
But what about consequences?
Wayne Visser is an ardent poem contributor and the force behind Poets of Africa – A blog for all Poets of Africa to share their work with each other and the world. He is the Founder and CEO of CSR International and the author/editor of seven books on the role business in society. Wayne lives enjoys art, writing poetry, spending time outdoors and travelling in his home continent of Africa.
In his poem We Could he explores issues of consequences, responsibility, expectations and destiny
We could …
But what about consequences?
I’ve thought about it
And savoured the thought
Dreamed about it
And woke up still smiling
So, we could …
But what about responsibilities?
The thrill of beginnings
Leads to the ache of endings
Happy-go-lucky now
Means sad-and-lonely later
Yes, we could …
Love games
Wayne has written a large collection of poetry on various themes and on love he has written on themes like adultery, afterglow, cyber- chat, enchanted, love games and mystery among others.
Injete Chesoni’s poem Healing Rain is a poem of utter heart ache amidst fading hope of a love break up
I thought my tears would make you love me again,
I thought my tears would fall on the roots of our love
and nourish it like rain.
I thought my tears would pierce your heart,
and help us to make a brand new start.I thought my tears would make you feel my anguish and pain,
and draw you back into my arms again.
I thought my tears would flow with yours
and create for us a pool of love.
I thought my tears were heavenly showers
with magical healing powers.
A trickling sent from the heavens above,
That would fill our hearts with joy and love.From Healing Rain: Heartbreak Poems, Break-Up Poems and Sad Love Poems By Injete Chesoni.
Her’s is a BLOG that
FEATURES ARTWORK, METAL ART, POETRY AND SHORT STORIEs.
Time to take a bow
Glady’s is ‘A proud Kenyan Undergraduate’ whose blog The Undergraduate features her poetry on love and relationships. Her poem, time to take a bow is a her latest poem on a lover she has lost to someone else.
Her other poem Kisses is a piece on her love and vow of devotion.
Other poets that have written on love and relationships are The East African Poet in his poem Letter from a contract worker – Antonio Jacinto
RawPoet a blog by Eastlandah also features a poem by Laban Erapu called I beg you
It is interesting to see just how many have turned to blogs as tools to express their deep feelings and emotions through poetry and it is undoubtedly a new forum that young people in Africa can use to get their voices heard on a subject that still met with a lot guarded emotion. Of love and relationships.
About
I am a 28 year old Kenyan currently working for a publishing company as an IT specialist. I am also a performance poet, an arts blogger and a writer on art with Global Voices Online.
Artwork by Thelma and others is suffice for the African's Story of love, relationships, society and its values on the same.
Poetry is a very powerful art.As a lover of poetry I am delighted by these article.Thelma Keep it up
Thank you Nicholas Kandie and Peter. Thank you for reading and appreciating my art.........
It's good to see that someone is finally appreciating our efforts
Big up to all the other poets and those who encourage us to keep writing through their continued support and feedback
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Sunday 20th September, 2009, 10:05pm
So refreshing to hear from Njeri on the discourse that occurs online, and elsewhere amongst young Africans regarding love and relationships. A perspective not often included in our dialogue, and there is much insights we gain from these blogs and forums, a great wealth of information for us to benefit from in health and social development.