The Ofi Press Magazine
International Poetry and Literature from Mexico City
Poems by Mildred K Barya (Uganda)
Published in The Ofi Press issue 46
Two poems first published in Give Me Room to Move My Feet, Amalion Publishing, 2009.
On this Mount Elgon
We could make every wish here
It would happen
In these high places near the sky
We are given wings
To be much more than we are
To be a future that we want
We could be anything here.
The moon hangs lazily
With her usual smile
Our heads are closer to the stars
The world can roll on
As we keep vigil with the stars.
We have flown and stroked mountain tops
We have embraced a vision of glory
Finally we know who we are
Responding to the wild
Drinking up the stream
The forests and the mountains
We are true.
Ears
Mother used to hush-hush us
‘Walls have ears,’
In this IDP camp
There are no walls
Mother says
Fences can hear.
We are displaced here
But I ask
How can we be displaced?
No, thank you very much
We are placed here
Where there is a large fence and no walls.
We dig bunkers to dive in
When bombs go off
Loud and shattering like death
We do not open our lips
Everything here has ears.
About the Poet
Mildred K Barya is a writer from Uganda. She has three poetry publications: Give Me Room to Move My Feet, 2009, The Price of Memory After the Tsunami, 2006, and Men Love Chocolates But They Don’t Say, 2002. Her short stories are published in anthologies and journals such as Northeast Review, Per Contra, African Love Stories Anthology, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, Dreams, Miracles & Jazz Anthology, and Words from A Granary: Uganda Women Writers Anthology, among others. In 2015 she edited a poetry anthology on Kampala City: Boda Boda Anthem and Other Poems. She has taught creative writing and literature at Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, Syracuse University (during her MFA studies), and currently University of Denver where she’s completing a PhD in Creative Writing. Beginning September 2015, she joined the editorial staff at New American Press and Mayday Magazine. She also serves on the board of African Writers Trust and blogs at: http://mildredbarya.com/
Image: "Lazy Moon" by Marco Genuzio.