Tuesday, August 25, 2009

THE REBEL FELL, THIRD WINNER IN BEVERLEY NAMBOZO POETRY AWARDS

THE REBEL FELL

Somewhere a bullet pierces a woman,
Beyond the reaped edges of her clan’s farmland.
She gets caught in a thicket whose thorns she does not feel,
Limp feet drag onto a tree whose name the woman does not know
With the sun at her back,
Here breaks the charm for luck.
Off her neck are the fetishes
From the sacrificial white hen, herb and hallowed water
To the bosom of the waiting earth.

The woman slumps, face down-
Watching her life drain away
Now the stained soil seeps from her lips;
Heavily the grain is still in the sack-
drawn to the feast a fly lands on her lips.
The light dips lower as the last sounds
Mute in the darkness, still she droops lower
into a night without mourning.

About her who fell unceremoniously
One day someday shall write;
No rock or wood marks the grave
Of these bleached broad bones
Save for a clump of wild sorghum
Hailing her lost name
By Sophie Brenda Alal
This poem won third prize in the first ever Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award in 2009, the first poetry award of its kind for Ugandan women. Sophia Brenda Alal won a cash prize of 100 USD. This award was proudly sponsored by Uganda Women Writers’ Association (FEMRITE), WordAlive Publishers and Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG).
Contact: ugpoetryaward@aol.com

BETTER AT DAWN, SECOND WINNER IN BEVERLEY NAMBOZO POETRY AWARDS

BETTER AT DAWN

If I am going home tomorrow
Let it be at dawn
Before I have heard the cock crow
Thrice at noon
But not at dusk
After I have seen lurking shadows on the walls
Neither in the night
When a knock on the door
Shall hang my soul over roasting fire
And set me on a precipice
Let it be at dawn
For then, I shall go fulfilled. 
Should I not at dawn
I shall have to return
To settle the score
For I never forgot an injury
Never forgave an insult.
To pay the debts I owe
For I was never dishonest
Then, I shall go in peace
At dawn I must depart
So let me go – at dawn
After I have traveled around this world
Eaten all the delicacies
Drank from the wells of  Love, Unity and Justice
And tasted all the sweet wine of forgiveness
When I have found my lost treasure
When I have cast all my miseries into the sea
It shall be utter dawn
And I shall be gone.

By Catherine Kemigisha


This poem won second prize in the first ever Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award in 2009, the first poetry award of its kind for Ugandan women. Catherine Kemigisha won a cash prize of 150 USD. This award was proudly sponsored by Uganda Women Writers’ Association (FEMRITE), WordAlive Publishers, Uganda clays Limited and Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG).


Contact: ugpoetryaward@aol.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

SOFT TONIGHT, WINNING POEM OF BEVERLEY NAMBOZO POETRY AWARD, 2009

I feel so...
... soft...
tonight...

I feel like...
...butter...
under the sun...

...on hot stone...
spreading out...
melting...

...flowing...
a yellow rivulet...
sliding down that slab...

...towards you...

I hope you catch every
t...r...i...c...k...l...e...of love
I hope you catch every
d.......r......o......p......of me
when I d...r...i...p...intoyourpalms

'cause I feel so...
...soft...
tonight.
By Lillian Akampurira Aujo

This poem was the winning poem of the first ever Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award in 2009, the first poetry award of its kind for Ugandan women. Lillian Aujo won a cash prize of 250 USD. This award was proudly sponsored by Uganda Women Writers’ Association (FEMRITE), WordAlive Publishers, Uganda Clays Limited and Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG).

Contact: ugpoetryaward@aol.com

Friday, August 21, 2009

BEVERLEY’S SPEECH DURING HER AWARD GIVING CEREMONY; 21ST AUGUST 2009 AT FANG FANG RESTAURANT.

BEVERLEY’S SPEECH DURING HER AWARD GIVING CEREMONY; 21ST AUGUST 2009 AT FANG FANG RESTAURANT.

In December of 2008, a poetic rumbling stirred inside of me and the rumbling has been growing louder and louder up to this point where poetic lava is about to explode on each one of us. Each of you here is a literary sojourner, and you belong to a large family who in one way or another wants poetry to be unearthed from the graves of misconception and skepticism. Each of you, in your own way, believes that female poets have a stage that for several years has been left empty to cake dust. Those that have made recognizable landmarks must be congratulated but right now we need to see that stage meant for women poets to be active once again. This is the stage, and you are the players.

Deep down inside of me that December in 2008 I knew that something had to happen and I was not sure what. Questions like, Will anyone believe me if I say I’m starting an award? When I send a call out for submissions for a poetry award, will anyone in their right mind respond? If I walk up to FEMRITE and tell them that I need 2 judges to look through the submissions, will they just dismiss me as someone with dead ambitions?

Well, seeing each of you here answers all those questions. The hard work I have put into the whole Beverley Nambozo Poetry award is immeasurable. I have climbed so many hills and waded through so many valleys to get to this point. I do not even have any poem at the moment to share the experience with you. When I see WordAlive Publishers sitting there giving me a nod of approval and pushing me forward, I get tears in my eyes. When the Right Honourable Rebecca Kadaga offers to grace this occasion as guest of honour, I am even too humbled to jump. Believing that UHMG and Uganda Clays Limited can stand by me and trust my effort to make an indelible mark on Uganda’s poetic scene, I feel a deeper sense of purpose and understand more than ever, my role on this earth.

I cannot thank each of the poets enough for submitting their poetry because it is those submissions that made me wake up and clean my literary lenses everyday so that this vision would reach its completion. While many women may shy away from this, I want to also thank Emmanuel my husband for always trusting that this day would finally come. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you here and thank you very much for coming.

The Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award will be an annual event and after this one, I will launch into an even more aggressive national campaign to even out the submissions. Every woman with a creative spirit, should have a chance at empowering themselves with the pen. I cannot do it on my own and so I request you, just as you have supported me this year, to support me again for the next event.

In my own unique way of saying thank you, I will give Rt. Hon Kadaga and each of the sponsors one of my own poems that was recently published by FEMRITE. The Chairperson of FEMRITE, Jocelyn Ekochu, will assist me.

May you enjoy the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

BEVERLEY NAMBOZO POETRY AWARD SHOW DOWN

Oh my goodness, it is here, the poetry award. You know I started it last year in December and after the submissions, i realized that it was actually getting bigger than me. So I got my judges together and they wound up with the winners. All the poems were judged anonymously and now it is time for the award giving ceremony.

It will be at Fang Fang Restaurant on Friday 21st and Hon Rebecca Kadaga the deputy speaker of Parliament has agreed to be guest of honour, how cool is that! Also, WordAlive Publishers and UHMG are main sponsors, i am excited about this. Can't wait for Friday.