Echoes Across Continents: Comparing Different Types of Change Shown by Two Female Poets
Change doesn’t always come with noise. Sometimes it shows up in a new accent, a forgotten song, or as silence that sits in your chest like a weight. Today, I'll be looking at two different poems by two female – African, and Western – poets, that speak about this change, but not in the same way.
"No room for elders
No,
Not even on the edge of their minds
Their ears blocked to the old tongue
And ways of doing things"
~ Elizabeth L.A. Kamara
Sierra Leonean poet, Elizabeth L. A. Kamara, wrote a poem called New Tongue, which focuses on an outward change – culture, and the gradual, progressive fading of tradition.
She expresses brokenheartedness and an underlying worry at how culture is being mindlessly replaced by something "borrowed", something new.
The new is different and marvels the younger generation. They're all about that game now and they bear no interest in learning about their heritage. It's just not as interesting. At the onset, it seems rather harmless; starting out as speaking a different way, believing a different thing, cultivating new habits, mannerisms – but what happens when you forget who you are?
A Quiet Machine, by American poet Ada Limón, on the other hand, turns inward, examining what goes on internally as one sits still long enough in silence until it is forced to break. It shows that silence does more than heal, it perturbs also – as contradictory as that sounds.
Recently, I learned that self-reflection can be rather uncomfortable, and despite the very pressing, intuitive desire to run, you should stay. Sit with the voices, a very dear friend said to me. A direct result of understanding one's emotions is increased self-awareness.
Limón demonstrates rather simply in this piece, how a deliberate, repeated choice to sit with herself created an unplanned, unsettling uneasiness which erupted into something else that demanded expression.
"And then there’s the silence that comes back a million times bigger than me, sneaks into my bones and wails and wails and wails until I can’t be quiet anymore."
~ Ada Limón.
These poems – distinct in style, length, and issues addressed – show that change is not always dramatic. Both women describe it to be as slow as it can be detrimental, and as silent as it can be beneficial. Regardless, one thing remains: it is constant, progressive, and though not exactly demonstrated here, reversible.
What poems by female poets have stood out to you recently? Leave a recommendation or two, or make a post and tag us across any of our socials @Orcasbookpress on IG, TikTok, and Facebook.
