To honour the spirit of the Olympics 204 poems from around
the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, have been collected from each of the 204 participating countries by the Scottish Poetry Library.
Here are the first ten from Africa. Enjoy!
- Algeria: At the water’s edge
- Angola: Build my house…
- Burkina Faso: Cattle Count
- Burundi: Come and live with me
- Cape Verde: Prelude
- Chad: from Yet the Infanta of Salamanca
- Comoros: My high powered sailing boat
- Congo: The Village
- Democratic Republic of Congo: A year of Grace
- Djibouti: Desire
The poems selected are often not by the most notable poet a country has produced. Some of them are funny or light-hearted. Often they are snapshots of lives rather than grand narratives. And some of the choices may be controversial. However, they all give a glimpse of lives in countries spanning the globe. Together these poems depict a world united not only by sport, but by emotions that are universal and need no translator other than the heart. Enjoy!
Hello, I'm Deborah Swallow and, for the last fifteen years, I've worked in over thirty countries addressing the complexities of people working internationally across multiple cultures, so individuals and organisations alike can gain an authentic competitive edge and win in international markets. 