Literature is a poem written by Euphrase Kezilahabi about the decline of Tanzanian culture. This poem focuses on the old ways and traditions of Tanzania and how they are seeming to disappear. Throughout this poem there seems to be a large amount of pent up anger or even contempt  for the fact that traditions and writers are being underappreciated. 

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        The author, Kezilahabi compares themselves to a gourd, “I am like a gourd, planted in the middle of a garden. And, like a gourd, I spread across the soil in all directions to climb the tree of wisdom…”. This is a metaphor for how writers create worlds and experiences that people can escape into. Authors also write down memories or histories for future generations to learn from. Kezilahabi’s character is angry that writers are no longer being appreciated like they should be. In the poem Kezilahabi writes “ Children will play with me- yet, even when they drop me and I split in half, the seeds will remain, the seeds will remain.” With the development of technology old fashioned writing has started to become obsolete to the average person. This means that authors are being pushed to the background, and the narrator does not agree with this. The narrator believes that writing is an extremely important field and that literature is a vital part of life.  Kezilahabi continues writing, “I know I’m not in danger, the right reader in town or country will rinse me clean again.” The author is hopeful that future generations will once again develop a love for reading, and facilitate a rise in writing. Almost like a phoenix out of the ashes the author is waiting for the day that people will yearn for writing again. 

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        While poems are not usually my favorite piece of literature to read, I think that this is a beautiful poem with a beautiful message. Even though it was a shorter poem, the author of this poem clearly feels very passionate about writing and how important it is to everyone. I read a translated version of the poem and you could almost feel the poem jumping off the page. The imagery made it really enjoyable to read, and as someone who is equally passionate about reading I appreciated the message the author was trying to convey in this poem. That being said I do think that the writing could have been more clear, it took me a couple of times reading through the poem to understand the story behind it.