The Hug

By Asafa Tafarra Dibaba

In The Hug there can be a nasty side like anything else but that is not all the book brings to the table. Behind the poems is struggle. Struggle of the oppressed. Struggle of the poet with personal ayana (spirit). Pain, laughter. Success, failure. Much love, no much hate . Politics and poetics of exile, or raided humanity! And faith. (I said faith?) But what do we have faith in if one soul's god is anothers stone? It is just believe it and not. The meaning is in the "common ground".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465356437

Asafa Tafarra Dibaba

Asafa Tafarra Dibaba is the author of Decorous Decorum (2006), Beyond Adversities (2010), Anaan’yaa (1998) and five other books. Currently he is a student of Folklore at Indiana University, USA, and working on his PhD research, Salale Oromo Folklore and Resistance Culture.

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Copyright © 2011 by Asafa Tafarra Dibaba.

Indiana University

Department of Folklore & Ethnomusicology

504 N. Fess, Bloomington, IN 47408

USA.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4653-5642-0

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-5643-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

___________________

resistance poetry/poetry of resistance. folkloric/folk poems. creative resistance. poetic therapeutic mediation.

Cover design (front/back):   DOWN-AND-OUT

                                             AFRICA-ACHING

Courtesy: Cushitic Images

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104437

Contents

t h e  h u g

the hug #1

the hug #2

the hug #3

the hug #4

the hug #5

l i f e  i n  f r a g m e n t s

life in fragments #1

life in fragments #2

life in fragments #3

life in fragments #4

life in fragments #5

life in fragments #6

w o m a p h o b i a

Womaphobia #1

Womaphobia #2

s e a b e a n s

seabeans #1

seabeans #2

seabeans #3

seabeans #4

D e c o r o u s   D e c o r u m

Decorous  Decorum

o f  c o m m o n s e n s e

of common sense (a)

at the moment (b)

for resistance to happen (c)

a c h i n g  m e m o r i e s

at home we are already not at home (a)

our children are infinite (b)

totemic reflection (c)

aching memories (d)

For my wife, Jimmu,

and

my children:

Ebba, Doti, Hella, and Hene

All in Love

Acknowledgement

My deepest gratitude to:

The people who earned me courage,

understanding and friendship.

For you never failed to be there when I

and my family needed and to see me and my spirit held up.

I came to believe this world would be lonelier

and even a sadder place to be without such good souls.

Your self-effacing compassion means that

good deeds come in many forms.

It is difficult—it is not enough—

just to say thank you

but here is my sincere

warmest big HUG

to you all!

104437-DIBA-layout-low.pdf

1984. Laughed to the future

Then when there was/is no ‘why’ when there was/is no reason. Dispossessed the right to go to college by the district youth association, I came to the city, Naqamte, Wollega, from my home village, Gombo, Jarso, to find a decent job. But this same inner vision today took me back to school soon. See the poem 1984.

Courtesy: Photo Mars, Naqamte, Wollega / Oromia

salale

wallaalaan waan beeku dubbata

beekaan waan dubbatu beeka.

a foolish speak what s/he know

a wise know what s/he speak.

                   _____raggasa badhiye, ilu.

Only the person who has measured the dominion of force,

and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice!

                ______Simon Weil, The Iliad or The Poem of Force

t h e  h u g

the hug #1

Context: poetic (self-) resistance

In the beginning. These two dreams of mine that follow my other disposable dreams! Have I been a dream storer/storier? Yes & No. First, a folkloric interpretation of dream, as a psychic discharge of the mind. To see twice my five year old son Ebba running away from me in my dream was much exasperating for a father poet living alone on exile. Folkloric dream interpretations signify an aspect of oneself and childlike qualities of the primitive self. It also means that one’s sense of morality and character is in conflict. The metaphor of child in dream could also mean retreating back to a childlike state and longing for the past: trying to satisfy repressed desires and unfulfilled hopes. Perhaps there was something that I needed to see grow and nurture.

Second. I saw me and my younger son Doti fall to a bottomless pit only to overspill us soon like a child belch or like the overflow of some mystic emotion. Hence, I decided to take some time off to meditate and cater for this inner child impish.

Alternatively, the dream may be also alluding to innocence, purity, simplicity, and carefree attitudes impairing the developing self. To save a child in dream signifies attempts to save a part of oneself from being destroyed. To be separated from one’s children in a dream could also symbolize failure in some personal endeavor or a setback in