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From: hbokure@aol.com
Date: Tue Aug 17 2010 - 21:14:21 EDT
Akberet is a new hearing-impaired poetess. In her two poems she shares her hope and frustration as well as her struggle to assure her identity amid a rigid societal perception toward fellow men and women who are the victims of acoustic deficit. She composed these convincing poems in response to my recent book advertisement whose income donated to the National Association of the Deaf based in Asmara, Eritrea. Until this point in time, Akberet was unknown to us all as she was confined her self in the lonely island of deafness. This is her debut to global Eritrean deaf and hearing communities dramatized by her simple poems that she inscribed from out flowing inspiration and concern upon knowing the presence of tiny deaf communities in the Diaspora. Now let us read her idyllic but full of pathos poems:-
LOSS
What is loss?
The sound
Of tree, wind, rain
What have I gain?
For having my ear
The sound
Of my baby's crying
For calling mommy
The wind blowing
The rain pouring
The tree hashing.
For I have got my ear
Not for second chance
But the third chance.
What am I supposed to do?
When I know there is a lot to loss
Really, what has the deaf lost?
Deafness is not the brain
But the heart
The loss of ear is not
The loss of identity
It is not been dummy
It doesn't define me
It strengthen me to who I become
And I am me, me, me, ........
TO ERITREAN PEOPLE
Are you my people?
The people I am from
How am I different
From you Eritreans
There is life that is missed
That is my friend....
The community of deaf
Who needs acknowledgment!
We are your family
We do want your acceptance
Not at the cost of our identity
But for the love of our country.
Remember there are more children
Who are waiting for you and I
To remember,help, donate...
For their education
For their ear at heart
For opportunity at life
For independence of communication
And that is
The first and only
Sign Language Dictionary.
By Akberet Habte