Eclipses - Ribka Sibhatu

There are people who starve to death,
others who sleep rough in the winter

Asmeret - Asghedom W. Michael

You whose eyes are like stars
         You walk so beautifully
You're like the rays of the setting sun
         As night is about to fall
Your silken hair and golden neck
         I'm drowning in your love.

Daughter of Locusts - Ribka Sibhatu

Locusts, darkened sky,
flayed earth. A mother
panting in bed.

Her Picture - Reesom Haile

I wrote to Photo Studio
In The Hague,

Your Father - Saba Kidane

Propped on the sidewalk
with a few coins near her legs
and a child wrapped in the folds
of her scarf worn to shreds,
she holds out her hand in the cold.

My Standpoint - Tsegay Mehari

Obeying my conscience

Giving no ears to my flesh

Feeding my soul

Under the Sycamores - Zeineb Yassin

I’m burning

To boil you

Optic - Selam Kidane Woldu

I eye the eye

To observe the world that revolves around me

I eye the eye

Does it look out?

Remembering Sahel - Paulos Netabay

Who could forget the war?
The battles where we fell,
the awful sun, our wounds
glistening like jewels
in the hell we’ve never left…

War and a Woman - Saba Kidane

War and a woman I sing.
A country
needs a woman
to find peace.

My Donkey Says - Reesom Haile

I put on my pants
One leg at a time
And my shoes one after the other.
What's to understand?

Believe It or Not - Reesom Haile

Remember the Italians
Who invaded and said
Eat but don't speak?

Mother Africa - Ribka Sibhatu

Cradle of mankind
baobab of the soul,
in your savannahs
and sacred forests
death dances.

Grandmother Moon - Ribka Sibhatu

Like once upon a time
here comes grandmother moon
through the window
full of tales and memories.