 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Jun 2008 : 00:44:57
|
TEMPLE OF CLAY
Standing so high
Intended to impress
Promoting a solo interest
Citadel of hope
And of despair
Proud exhibit of a vane cult
Thinking you hide
I can see your fear
I can hear your smell
Palpating nausea
I puke ;disgusted
Thick beast that you are
Closing your eyes
Made you believe
You are invisible
Just like Kansoli
Who with head in the bush
Thought he was safe
Whilst his buttocks showed
A clear target for the hunt
Temple my boots!
You are just a boasting bust
Made to be shown fealty
Cultist more or less
Surely waiting to be pulled down
See the people getting hotter
When they boil
The overspill would scald
Burning your thickness to cinders
Leaving it to the wind to scatter
When the new ones come
They won't find any trace of you
Mighty Temple of yore
In the mean time
False winds blow
Giving you hope
Of no disruptive eruption
In your pride
You swagger
Babbling just like ancient Babel
Waiting you most wait
The bursting of the bubble
The tremors rippling
Underneath your clay feet
Assumed base of your lofty height
Then you shall come tumbling down
From nothing you emerged
To nothing you shall return
Even if you were of metal built
Time will see your end
On time.
glossary
Kansoli: guinea pig, famous bush meat in the Gambia.A very interesting animal which when scared rushes to hide and generally one finds it hiding the head in bushes leaving the bigger end of its body exposed.
|
|
|
kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jun 2008 : 08:28:02
|
This is a difficult poem, but by all indications it is a political poem addressed to a political person, a person of power who also represents a cult ( a vane cult). Vane here could make you think about a wind vane. Therefore, is there a changeability in this cult and this exercise of power? The presence of both hope and despair is quite a paradox, yet perfectly understandable for the despair of the people which will lead to their "boil...and overspill" will "scald burning... thickness to cinders" lies in the hope of change, as symbolized by the (weakness of) the proverbial 'kansoli'.
There is a personification here also, since a "temple of clay" has taken on human (and animal) qualities of fear, thinking, seeing, and talking (babling). So this temple is afterall representative of a person, perhaps no ordinary person though. But what is also interesting and abnormal here is that the speaker in the poem claims to "...see ...fear, and ...hear ... smell". Is the speaker in the poem so aware of the supernatual claims of the subject of the poem (who by now I tend to believe is Jammeh-I could be very wrong in this interpretation however) that he has to elevate himself to that extra-ordinary level in order to challenge him?
In essence, this poem is a disparaging of a political leader depicted as a tyrant. This is evident in the last stanza where the speaker in the poem attack with statements and words like "false winds blow giving you hope", "you swagger", "babbling, "you shall come tumbling down ... ,to nothing you shall return". |
Edited by - kayjatta on 12 Jun 2008 12:27:31 |
 |
|
|
kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jun 2008 : 13:50:43
|
| A very good review that Kayjatta.If I do settle down to writing an anthology You definitely would be the one I chose to edit my rambling write ups, to give them much needed spice.Thanks again. |
|
|
|
Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jun 2008 : 14:10:38
|
| kaanibaa, yeh kano kijele. this is perfecto. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
|
|
|
kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jun 2008 : 14:41:56
|
| Thanks Santa.blessings ! |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| Bantaba in Cyberspace |
© 2005-2024 Nijii |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
