[DEHAI] A note of appreciation for Dr. Reesom Haile's poems...
tka kflu (KFLU@fredonia.edu)
Wed, 24 Sep 1997 12:04 am EDT (04:04:58 UT)
Dr. Reesom:
I like your poems. I don't know if any one can
describe the fabrics of our culture the way you do
it, with your simple, yet culturally enriching poetic
style.
I like the way you do them. You go arround and touch
almost every aspect of our culture and way of life that
you can put your hands on, and you give it the beauty and
luster that it deserves. IMO, Your poems are not sentimental or
whimsical so to say, but they are descriptive and straight
to the point. With some more work, your collected works can
be a biography of our cultural herritage.
Dr. Reesom, I don't know if you will like this, but every-
time I read your poetry, I think of Medeber (Asmera), where
they collect pieces of metal scraps, which no one
thought would be of any good, yet they hamer them, cut them, mould
& shape them into usefull house-hold items like fernelo (stove),
primus(gas cooker) and oil lamps. Just like none of what they
make in Medeber is 'to throw', all of your poems are worth the time
to read. Dr Reesom, were you wedi Medeber? If not, you are now? ....
moulder and shaper of a unique style of tigrigna poetry.
I am one of your admirers...and in an attempt to emulate
your style, I wrote one called aqaba-qab....Only Dr. Reesom can fill
Dr. Reesom's shoes, but I don't think it hurts to try :-)
aqaba-qab (bouncing foot ball over one's foot & counting..the more
times the ball bounces, the better)
aqaba-qab is was one of my favorite child hood games. It was good because
you can play it while in group (competetion) & you can play it alone. Compara-
tively speaking, swimming and aqaba-qab were the only ones I can say I was
better than average. The counting in aqaba-qab was always in Italian..uno, duwe,
tre, quatro etc. I remeber the day I hit oto cento+ (800)+.
aqaba-qab: ball-bouncing game:
ab gizie E'reftna during our break days
te'akibna kulatna we were a group of neighborhood kids
kab kulu Tsewetatat of all the games
aqaba-qab merits'na we chose aqa-baqab,
noog'ho z'Jermerna we started early in the morning
k'nqib-q'b k'nqos'r bouncing and counting,
m'saH keybelA'na we skipped lunch
ab golgol we'Alna & stayed out the whole day
tseHai Ariba the sun did set
tselmat m's shefena & darkness took over
qeyiH Hamed ab egr'na with red dust and soil on our feet
ked'na ge-gezana. we finally dispersed & went to our
homes.
Tesfai Kflu