Selected Poems & Readings
Each banner in our exhibition has a fragment of a poem from Efua T. Sutherland’s book, Playtime in Africa…
here is a selection of these poems in full.
Click on the play button under each title to hear the poem be read out loud.
Special thanks to Spokane Public Library for their expertise and use of their recording equipment.
My Kite Flies High
I thought my kite would never fly.
It flapped and wriggled
and fought the breeze.
But now at last it pulls away.
Fly up, right up to the high sky.
Up, up, fly high and higher.
Up, up until you touch the clouds.
Sails-in-the-Wind
Come and play Sails-in-the-Wind with me.
I’m like my father's fishing boat.
The wind fills my sail.
All the fishing boats are coming home from sea.
They are running in the wind, just like me.
I’m off to meet them at the harbor.
Sliding
The fastest way to get downstairs
is to slide of course.
One quick slide and you’re down,
like a spider from its web.
A Visit to Grass Town
We’ve never seen a caterpillar just like this.
It seems to have a horn on its hairy head.
Come for a walk with us.
The field where grass and bushes grow
is just like a town–a secret town.
Under the grass are streets
where busy ants scurry to work.
All over the field are houses
that police birds and mason wasps build.
Orange butterflies with long trailing wings
fly everywhere.
And Bireku, the time bird, calls the time.
Some days we also see the wind
running through the grass.
