the ratatat and bomb booming .....calls for the lost
compliantly igniting troubles and provocation
my bull elephant
people sheltering .....engaged ever betrothed
to mucus and weakness .....of all diseases
malaria tuberculosis
they’re led astray by killing’s admirers son of Barre and his lot
in ignorance following .....the mistaken animal haired humans
for my people ... ..with wickedness poured into them
i pass you this message .....alliterating in ‘d’

Who was it that said “poetry is news that stays news”? [Rhetorical question alert.] Reading today’s NYTimes article “Somali Killings of Aid Workers Imperil Relief” I remembered Cabdulqaadir Xaaji Cali Axmed’s gabay, “Samadoon”, published several years ago in Modern Poetry in Translation.

Somewhat akin to Lucia’s posting of a poem from Jane Mead (and in the spirit of the Poetry Foundation’s “Make It News: A Symposium on Poetry and Journalism” event from last year), I’d like to post this as an open thread, encouraging readers to read both the recent coverage on Somalia from their favorite news source as well as Cabdulqaadir Xaaji Cali Axmed’s poem (translated by Martin Orwin; original here)—as well as other poems from this special section on Somali poetry.

In what ways is "Samadoon" news that stays news? And why?