Africa (Found Poetry)

(Historical event: Peace Prize of the German Book Trade Acceptance Speech by Chinua Achebe 2002)

I was lucky

For a man in his twenties

To ask difficult questions

About his unsatisfactory condition

Africa, accounted for

Barely recognizable as human

People I knew? No!

In my own story

Sharp contrast

Africans are not banished

To the margins of narrative

Movers of our story

Masters of original language

Not grunts and screeches

Truly humble