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Today I speaklight because yesterdays I listened dark
In February 2024, Dr Yewande Okuleye read her poem 鈥楾oday I speaklight because yesterdays I listened dark鈥 at an event called 鈥楽hakespeare鈥檚 First Folio: Bringing the Book Alive.鈥
Bringing the Book Alive was hosted by the Friends of Senate House Library as part of the exhibition.
You can read the full poem below.
'Today I speaklight because yesterdays I listened dark' by Yewande Okuleye
After the night stars your day starts when your dawn breaks
- Yor霉b谩 Queen Mother speaks.
No body. 鈥淣o one placed a loving hand on my swollen belly. I felt a
warm blot. And that was my lot. It was too late.鈥 She speaks.
foolish young girl
turns wise woman today
unfurl red white
exquisite midwife
of lives lived through
lives lived by many lives
are these all lies?
pale ideas swarm
bloated clouds obnubilate
dainty spells unburrow
like earthworms mating in rain
earth breathe unease
million plus one eyes protrude to deliver us from sin
alas a slow row pricking of alabaster skin
I wishe thee ease of all thy paine
we breathe our last breath dead delirious
different times we meet again
two souls contort
monozygotic twins
conjoined memories expunged
when you feel the payne
of their burning flesh you impressed
smelt like the glow of their bellows
that howled at night in search of shade
will charred deeds revive?
atone the few by the many?
who waits for me to caress magnetic truths
across time I stand in front of?
I stand well
貌t铆t贸 behind me
贸 w脿 l鈥櫭┨ 猫蹋h矛n mi
assurance envelops me
today I speak
today I remember today I honour today I speakact I today without delay
Anne Hathaway
Translation
貌t铆t贸: Truth
贸 w脿 l鈥櫭┨ 猫蹋h矛n mi: Something exists behind me
Reprinted from Anne-thology: Poems Re-Presenting Anne Shakespeare, eds Paul Edmondson, Aaron Kent, Chris Laoutaris and Katherine Scheil, with permission from Broken Sleep Books (2023).
