SECTION B SENIOR THREE LITERATURE .

 POETRY S2 LITERATURE EXERCISE 1. DAVID RUBADIRI: 

SECTION B 

DAVID RUBADIRI

GROWING UP WITH POETRY 

The graceful giraffe cannot become a monkey 

My husband tells me

 I have no ideas

 Of modern beauty.

 He says I have stuck 

To old-fashioned hair styles.

 He says 

I am stupid and very backward, 

That my hair style

 Makes him sick 

Because I am dirty.

 It is true 

I cannot do my hair

 As white women do.

Listen,

 My father comes from Payira, 

My mother is a woman of Koc!

 I am a true Acoli

 I am not a half-caste

 I am not a slave-girl; 

My father was not brought home

 By the spear 2

 My mother was not exchanged 

For a basket of millet.

 Ask me what beauty is

 To the Acoli

 And I will tell you

 If you give me the chance!

 You once saw me,

 You saw my hairstyle 

And you admired it,

 And the boys loved it.

 At the arena 

Boys surrounded me

 And fought for me.

 My mother taught me

 Acoli hair fashions; 

Which fits the kind

 Of hair of the Acoli,

 And the occasion.

 Listen,

 Ostrich plumes differ

 From chicken fathers,

 A monkey’s tail

 Is different from that of a giraffe,

 The crocodile’s skin 

Is not like the guinea fowl’s, 

 And the hippo is naked, and hairless.

 The hair of the Acoli 

Is different from that of the Arab; 

The Indians’ hair

 Resembles the tail of the horse;

 It is like sisal strings

 And needs to be cut

 With scissors.

 It is black

, And is different from that of white women. 

A white woman’s hair

 Is soft like silk;

 It is light

 And brownish like 

That of the brown monkey,

 And is very different from mine.

 A black woman’s hair 

Is thick and curly;

 It is true 

Ring-worm sometimes eats up

 A little girl’s hair

 And terrible;

 But when hot porridge

 Is put on the head

 And the dance is held

 Under the sausage-fruit tree

 And the youths have sung 

 You, Ring-worm 

Who is eating Duka’s hair

 Here is your porridge, 

Then the girl’s hair

 Begins to grow again

 And the girl is pleased.

 Questions:

 a. With valid evidence from the poem, state who the speaker is.

 (2marks) b. What comparisons does the husband make between his wife and foreigners?(2marks) 

c. Explain your feelings towards the speaker.(4marks) 

d. Which lessons do you learn from the poem? (2marks) 

e. In not less than 10 lines, write your own poem about your identity. (10marks)