Workshop Poems

These poems were produced collaboratively during Graham's two-day creative writing workshop in Kampala, when he visited for the week 4^th- 8^th July as Guest of Honour at the FEMRITE 'Reading Uganda' literature festival. 'The Tongue' was written by Margaret Ntakalimaze, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Lillian Tindyebwa, Laban Erapu, Albert Mukundane, Edna Namara, Lillian Aujo, John Nyamu, Emmanuel Ngabire and Hilary Kuteisa. 'The Book' was written byJustine Kirabo, Liz Namakulu, Alice Kyobutungi, Bonevanture Asiimwe, Dorothy Amusolo, Farida Bagalaaliwo and Isaac Ssettuba.

 

The Tongue

Majestically, it rests on the floor of the mouth
The teeth its shield
A well that never runs dry
A prisoner who only peeps
A gate that guards, selects, and rejects
A thermometer
Olulimi
Lewe

The highway to a great feast
Indiscriminate taster
Of sweet and bitter
A beehive of dripping honey
But bitter like lemon when it nags
Stinging like a bee when annoyed

Ururimi
Angajep

A communicator of thoughts and feelings
Spokesperson of the human heart
Soothes like balm
Therapy for the aggrieved
Snakelike glides in and out in action
A noisy substitute to my pen
A whip to lash at idiots
Orurimi
Olulimi

A king who rules with power of words
The entertainment master
Singing in tune and rhyme
A definer of who I am
The plate of life from which I dine
The me
Ulimi
orurimi

The Book

Leaves
Paragraphs
Words come to play
Party of pen and paper
A river flowing from covers to the mind
Alkitaab

A wide opening on earth’s crust
An escape
A mark of history
Covered judgment
Bound assembly of paper
Kitabu

Epitaph of a dead moment
Sachrist
Heartbeat of the writer
Ideas
A mirror
A test
Aitabo

Stories birthed in a vacuum
Words birthing sentences
A tide
Cobwebs
Secretes
The trees’ eternal sacrifice
Ekitabo

Kitabo
Aitabo
Alkitaab