African Women Writing Resistance: An Anthology of Contemporary Voices

A Poem Written in the Ink of the Blood Shed in Rwanda, with Poet’s Note

A man chops another man’s legs with a machete He has to exterminate the Inyenzi, the cockroaches . . . A Hutu is killed because he was hiding his Tutsi friends A Hutu woman buries the fruit of a forbidden love The child is still alive Fighting for his life He doesn’t understand He keeps saying: Mummy stop playing! I don’t want to play anymore Stop playing! He must die . . . His father was Tutsi . . . 223 A Poem Written in the Ink of the Blood Shed in Rwanda Nathalie Etoké Tutsi women are raped Murdered afterward Few have managed to survive Some of them are pregnant Some of them are HIV-positive Some of them are pregnant and HIV-positive How to raise a genocide baby? How to raise a genocide HIV-positive baby? What nursery rhymes will be sung? Nursery rhymes of horror What bedtime stories will be told? Stories of terror . . . People are killed The United Nations is not concerned The United States is not concerned The Organization of African Unity is not concerned You are not concerned I am not concerned Nobody is concerned How could we stand aside and look? Some Africans killing each other It happens all the time Who the hell cares? Symphony of screams Accompanied by Silent tears Nobody hears them Cacophony of machetes chopping up Legs Arms Skulls In the house of God. Where was God? Is there any God? Imana 224 Part Five. Taking a Stand Imana Imana Talk to me Imana Imana Imana Show me your face Harmony of pain . . . The Tutsis are dying Their bodies are flowing in the bloody river of genocide. 2004 Ten years later The international community is trying to make sense of the unthinkable People are talking about remembrance They are making apologies They are voicing their regrets They are shedding tears of shame The horror must be told to prevent another horror. Frankly I don’t give a damn about what they say . . . I keep on asking myself, how did it happen? Why did it happen? Is it going to happen again? How could human beings be so inhuman? How can one comprehend the incomprehensible? How does it feel today in Kigali to be Hutu or Tutsi? Is the ANGER gone? Is the RANCOR gone? Is there room for genuine LOVE? Genuine PEACE? Is there room for RECONCILIATION After such a display of HATRED? When I think about Rwanda I sometimes cry. Are the people of Rwanda still crying? Are they still mourning? A Poem Written in the Ink of the Blood Shed in Rwanda 225 Sometimes I feel So useless So hopeless In front of the world’s miseries I have nothing left except Sympathy Empathy Compassion The aching in my chest reminds me that I/We have A heart to feel the pain of the others A spirit in touch with the spirit of others Praying for Love Asking for Forgiveness Looking for Happiness. The beautiful smile of this newborn reminds me That there was a time Not so long ago When Hutu Tutsi Twa Used to live together and love each other. The beautiful smile of this newborn gives me Hope The beautiful smile of this newborn is the beginning of a New Era. Poet’s Note: On Writing Poetry: Resistance, Transcendence, and Survival In a collection of essays entitled Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde wrote: “For women, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change. . . . Poetry is the way we give help, give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems.” Following Lorde’s footsteps, I believe poetry allows one to express hope, fear, change, and a will to survive. I do not write poetry when I am happy. My desire to write poetry emerges from a feeling of sweet sadness, which is born from hopelessness, anger, disillusionment, and a strong will to go beyond the nightmarish depiction of Africa. Although disenchantment and melancholy are at the roots of my poetic adventures, they paradoxically help me to conceive of a promising future through an ambivalent gaze. As I write about the catastrophes and tragedies that plague the continent, I insist upon 226 Part Five. Taking a Stand [3.14.130.24] Project MUSE (2024-04-25...