BY KFLEEYESUS ABEBE
Waiting for Ethiopia my bride,
Flowers bloom fade and fall
Shiverled up fruits and all;
My pen is rusting like sword without scabbard’
How long till I get to my homeland
Will I ever get to my homeland
This very deep and touchy poem was written by exiled poet Solomon Deressa twenty two years ago. Solomon like many of writers of the time had very patriotic feeling and regretted that his country was in a bad situation. Coming from a small village Chuta, near a town Gimbi in Wollega, Solomon used to describe his country in such beautiful way and was optimistic for a long time his country to be back on its deserving place. Solomon had to flee out of the country due to the tragedy fell on the country during the military junta Derg. Solomon had to go through such traumatic time. In an interview with ETV, he recalled that there was a time he quitted writing due to the horrible things he had witnessed.
“During the Mengistu era, I really went through an experience of a shutdown and decided that probably I was lucky to be alive and lucky not to be in a torture chamber and even luckier not to be doing that to my friends. You know to some other Ethiopians because it really devastated Ethiopia, devastated us as human beings not only the ones who died, not only the ones who were tortured, but the ones who tortured the ones who killed also. I think they died in their souls. I could have been one of those and here I was in a living in Minneapolis bringing up two kids and at one time four and I think something inside me died.”
Nevertheless, he was optimistic that Ethiopia would be back to glory and he would return to his home country one day. His regret of the situations isn’t limited to Ethiopia but he wasn’t happy of how the horn of Africa was going through in general. In his poem, Poem to the Matrix he insisted that the horn to be united and able to cherish its resources.
“The Seat of Power, ever present at the play of light and
shade, crumbles where table, picture, printer, petals, lips or cheeks intrude,
& lovely time rides in on a whiff of baking bread, the softness of skin
And the sweetness of breath. Ah! how separation harbours yearning…”
Solomon in the same poem asked, “how did this all begin?” He expressed the confusion and belwiderment of many people over Somalia’s disintegration, Ethiopia’s fate in hands of dictator at the time and the regions fate in general. The intertwinedness of the horn but their poor choices are described as such:
“ we, who have been fragmented by serif and sound-bite
who’ve covered our tracks back to the silence before the first scream
whose tongues can no more move the weight of jaded words
wait, though no one knows we are waiting (why?)
frittered sounds of Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali
and the fourty-four fourty-four other tongues…(wherefore?)
how long pretend that life and death did not trade places
& this, the redemptive crucible and not the crotch-point of choices?
Seeing this, Taddesse Adera in his critic said: “Solomon Deressa’s concern at this juncture of history is not to reclaim/espouse a specific heritage/source. On the contrary, he transcends ethnic, national, and geographic boundaries. His call goes beyond Ethiopia; his is a call for the collective harnessing of the Horn’s communal treasuries, including poetry.”
Solomon wasn’t just a poet. He was essayist, screenwriter, journalist but most of all a voice of reason for which many referred him as thinker. In fact, he studied philosophy and worked as an instructor of philosophy at Metropolitan State University and language instructor, language tape producer, translator at University of California. He made plea for unity, truthfulness and other simialr values through his poem, essays and speeches. Among these, the following speeches are worth to mention.
“ I lived my whole life until today thinking I will take shelter whereever my leg gets me. When I die I also will get laid in a place my leg I finally reach . So, I let my soul to go anywhere it wants. I don’t have a duty to protect neither my soul nor tomorrow. I am only morally responsible to live with you truthfully.”
“I have travelled many places like Africa, America and Europe. I don’t want this to look as racism. I am not racist but I haven’t met people with bright mind like Ethiopians. This came with a lot of sacrification . But I don’t know what to call it in Amharic but we lack imagination. ”
For imagination, someone could think that he is refering to Ethiopians division over ethnicity, religion or other diversity that is blocking them from seeing the great things they could do together. He wanted everyone to see the bigger picture, that is people who live harmonisously and tapping their resources to regain their civilization.
Lijinet or ‘Youth’ was his first book of poems published in 1971 and it was said to have been a turning point for modern Ethiopian poetry. The poem introduced new techniques of writing that is lyrical and used words from Oromo language as a flavor to his poem. He also published Zebet Ilfitu, Walotat in 1999. In his poems, he also tried to show the rich culture, langauge asset and tradition of his homeplace. Solomon’s poem [Walotat in Oromo language or ge’tem in Amharic ) who set in military junta times shows people’s pain particularly the youth. He yearned peace and togetherness that he believed Ethiopia as his description the “God’s gift of the universe” to be back on its feet.
His uncanny writing style however was first rebuked by some. But he was welcomed and considered him as influnetial poet who set Amharic poetry on an entirely new course. Amharic poetry as they say was never going to be the same again.
Africa: an Encyclopedia of Culture and Society (3 volumes) (2015), wrote that Solomon, though frugal in production, was highly philosophical because he was arguably the most well-read Ethiopian of his generation. “As seen in his collection of poems published under the name Lijinet (childhood) his poetry is characterized by the substitution of different measures to break up a rhythm. Solomon happens to be one of the very few poets recognized enough to have his poetry chosen among the best of Africa and published in the collection of works of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.”
Equal or more, Somolon is famous for being proud Ethiopian. He was very doubtful and disgusted by ethnic politics, Solomon Deressa on one occasion said: “What do I know as to who passed my grandma for me to claim that I am an Oromo.” But at the same time he was proud of his heriatge and has strong conviction exploitation of all traditions and languages help poems strong with emotions and depth. Talking about poem he says, “prose writings are written for someone to uderstanding something but poems are the reader to feel.”
Solomon Deressa has also worked in broadcasting, serving as director of programs at Radio Ethiopia from 1969 to 1971 and deputy general manager of the Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (radio and television) from 1971 to 72. During those years he wrote, produced, and directed, narrated, hosted radio and television programs on such topics as Ethiopian history, literature, art, American writers, and the fight for freedom in southern Africa.
Solomon is considered as one of the most excellent Ethiopian poets, along with Tsegaye GebreMedhin, Mengistu Lemma, Gebre Kristos Desta,and Debebe Seifu. What is unfortunate, he died like many of his friends in a foreign land homesick yearning the peace and renaissance of Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Herald June 22/2022
