Did you know that the Somali language wasn't written until about 1972? And setting it on paper was tied up with the dictator's efforts to control the flow of information and propaganda. Meanwhile, tape recorders were becoming affordable, so there was a big movement to circulate poetry on cassettes. Poetry was powerful and subversive. Check out this interview (To the Best of Our Knowledge, March 10, 2013).
A year ago I was tutoring a Somali girl who wrote poetry and I would have shared this with her, but she graduated and is away at college (hooray!).
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