Fool’s Glitter

“ Like a baby still-born

Like a beast with its horn

I have torn everyone who reached out for me.”[1]

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Nestled in the pregnant ground

The ancestors tamed me.

Midwived by the Companies’ adventuresome greed

I mewled and seduced, fed fanciful needs

And then

Lionised, I nurtured organised terror

I roared out my unholy power

I took humanity

and shoved it down my hole.

Gold

Solhan’s choke hold

Diamonds

Kailahun violence

Cobalt

Goma’s child soldiers

I took insanity

Fed it gas so it would explode.

Like a bankrupt billionaire

Like a unicorn turned bear

I will tear all the values that came before me.

I take humanity

And shove

it down

my hole.

Dedicated to the victims of the June 2021 Solhan massacre.

[1] From Bird on the Wire by Leonard Cohen

About the poet: Yarri Kamara is a Sierra Leonean writer living in Burkina Faso.

Ten Long Years

For ten long years

we spared no one

on the theater of war,

where no glories were won,

only the wasted lives of our kinfolks

and the tired frame

of a battered nation,

where we were prey and predator.

From humble Bomaru,

agony rode through our veins

to the death of heroes and villains,

when blood relatives of this land

hunted one another

with apocalyptic grudge,

fighting to conquer themselves

in a land divided against itself.

We had forgotten the peace

once shared in the noise children made

when they played hide and seek

on nights illuminated by moonlight,

when adults sat around the fire

sharing legends of their land

and the illustrious heroes

whose bold steps cleared our path.

We had strayed too far

from the luminance of Naimbana

and the bravery of Sengbe and Nyangua

to where we became lab animals

in the murderous hands of intoxicated children

controlled by savage hands,

possessed by evil spirits

conjuring our bloody end.

When our neighbors

in green and blue helmets

arrived to keep the peace

our fire had burned too far.

Those with any life left

rose from cinder

like feverish zombies

groaning and trembling to life.

Now let our ruin be our rebirth

as life itself springs from death,

a new country consecrated with blood

germinates with zest and courage,

with a firm commitment

to never again

turn to violence

to settle scores.

-Joseph Kaifala.

Joseph Kaifala is a lawyer , scholar and human rights activist from Sierra Leone.

Mi at sidɔm saful

Mi at sidɔm saful by Anni Domingo

1. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

pan ɔl we di wɔl tɔnɔbɔ ɔlsay

sɔm pɔsin dɛn de we de wok

de ɛn nɛt fɔ ol wi ɔl tayt

so natin nɔ go ambɔg wi.

2. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

pan ɔl we wi de bay wisɛf,

ɛn wi nɔ de niya wi kɔmpin,

wi ɔl na wan ɛn de fil ɔl

wetin wi kɔmpin de fil.

3. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

pan ɔl we ɔlman lɔk insay os, in wan gren,

di wɔl dɔn big. Wi de tɔk naw sɔm kayn we

wi nɔ mɛmba se go apin wan de. Ɔlman na

wan, ɛn wi bisin bɔt wi kɔmpin dɛm.

4. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

dɛm wan dɛm we nɔbɔdi bin de braskitul sɛf,

na dɛm de bifo naw. Dɛn nɔ de na grɔn igen,

wi abop pan dɛm. Na so wi ɔl de klap fɔ dɛm.

5. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

wi kin manej naw witawt bɔku bɔku tin dɛm.

Na pɔsin, nɔto tin dɛm, go mek wi layf bɛtɛ,

Ɛn tɔn dawt ɛn tabitabi to op fɔ tumara.

6. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

Dis lɔkdɔng ya so, nɔ min se wi fasin insay.

I mek wi at swɛl big so te wi ebul fɔ

pre fɔ dɛn wan dɛm we dɔn lɔs dɛnsɛf

ɔ dɛm bɔdi dɔn brok wit tumɔs wahala.

7. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

ɔl dis bɔku plaba go tap wan de.

Ivin na dis kres kres tɛm ya so

Wi dɔn fɛn tru sori-at ɛn ajo,

ɛn wi at de sing wit jɔy.

8. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

tide na bunya, ɛn wi nɔ no wetin go kam

tumara bambay. We wi ɔl sidɔm na os

di grɔn dɔn gɛ tɛm fɔ de mɛn insɛf.

9. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

ɔltin we de insay wi at, na di sem tin

we bin de fɔstɛm, bikɔs ɔltin na wan

i sidɔm na wi at, ɛn fasin wi to aw

wi tan lɛk dip insay, to udat wi bi.

10. Mi at sidɔm saful bikɔs a no se

wi dɔn gɛt bɔku bɔku tɛm. so lɛ wi

tinap, lɛ wi lisin ɛn memba se,

wi tranga, ɛn bay ɛn bay, wi go ebul

fɔ blo kam dɔng igɛn .

Anni Domingo is a British-Sierra Leonean actress in Theatre, Television, Radio and in Films.

Note: Ms Domingo would like to acknowledge Amadu Bangura and Esme James  for helping with

official Krio orthography in this poem.

16 Years Later

16 years later

a mit dɛm na di sem ples we dɛm bi kam lɛf mi

Fritɔŋ Lunge Airport

as a kɔmɔt na di plen, e, a de fil ɔt

so a de drink bɔku wata, a nɔ de ask how much

ɔl mi anti ɛn ɔnkul dɛn se Abu na yu dɔn big so

bɔt dɛn ɔl stil luk di sem lɛk se na yɛstade a go

16 years later

ɔl dɛn pikin dɛn fes luk jɔs lɛk mi

sem nos ɛn chikbon with melanin slightly richer

dɛn nɔ wande si mi bifo bɔt dɛn ɔl de kɔl mi ɔnkul

16 years later

ɛvri mɔnin ɔf ɛvri de

ɔlman de grit ɔlman lɛk se wi na fambul

ivin we di san ɔt, a nɔ de si bɔku lɔng mɔt

‘padiman aw di bɔdi?’

a sam, tɛl gɔd tɛnki

16 years later

ɔl sɔm man dɛn gɛ fɔ it na bred ɛn bɔta

bɔt ɛvri salon man stil gɛt wetin i fasin

sɔm dɛn lɛk uman-lapa, sɔm dɛn lɛk bita-kola

sɔm man dɛn sabi sing we di ɔmɔle dɔn waka

LXG bin tɛl wi se, kaki nɔ to lɛda

bɔt stil dɛn bebi dɛn sabi chɛr am

16 years later

di slogan dɛn na di sem

tide fɔ yu, tumara fɔ mi

minɛŋ o, munɔŋ o, sabanɔ

Sierra Leone, na wi ɔl yon,

una mek wi ep wisɛf for improve Sierra Leone

mi fambul dɛm a no se, chariti bigins at om

so no mata usay a go, a nɔ go fɔgɛt mi salon

wɛlintin, kalba- tɔŋ, bay nyu rod ɔ ol rod

if wi de go wɛstɛnd, wi tek wilkinsin rod

Aberdeen, Lumley, wi kɔntri so lɔvli

16 years later

Taxi drayva stil wan olɔp mi chenj lɛk se a sabi dem

ɛn layt de stil kam ɛn go, lɛk dɛn JC dɛm.

Abu Yillah is a Sierra Leonean Filmmaker, Poet and Photographer based in London.

To Live

A twist

A knot tightened

And then, a gentle breeze

Hibiscus flowers and yellow Roses sway in the wind

The sky clears

A brilliant blue, reassuring, promising

Reminiscent of morning dew.

Colors dance in the sun

Orange, lilac, yellow, green

A soft stream sings ...foaming at the seam

Crabs crawl

A frog skips

Palm Trees gracefully lean towards the sparkling sea

The tides turn and the waves swish and swoosh, crashing into the pale yellow shore

A loosened cord, a lone mango tree

She walks away

Free.

Ngozi Cole is a writer , living in Freetown, Sierra Leone