Oracle of the povo



Her vision's scrubland
Of out-of-work does
Who yesterday a country won
And today poverty tasted

And some of the hills hurried their thirst
And others to arson and blasphemy
Waving down tourists and buses
Unleashing havoc no tongue can tell -
Her vision's Droughtstricken acres
Of lean harried squatters
And fat pompous armed overlords
Touching to torch the makeshift shelters
Heading to magistrate and village court
The most vulnerable and hungry of citizens
Her vision's Drought Relief graintrucks
Vanished into thin air between departure point
And expectant destination -
In despair she's found in beerhalls
And shebeens, by the roadside
And in brothels: selling the last
Bits and pieces of her soured vision

About this poem

"Oracle of the povo" reflects on the destruction of a society. The poem details how the hereos won freedom for a country but the citizens remain impoverished. The visions of the oracle are not positive - they are in despair at the souring of the vision.

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Submitted by thatobongiwe224 on September 05, 2024

35 sec read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCA AXBXDDXDAXBACBAAC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 712
Words 114
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 17

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    "Oracle of the povo" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/196292/oracle-of-the-povo>.

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    Who is the author of the poem "The Raven"?
    A Robert Frost
    B Emily Dickinson
    C Edgar Allan Poe
    D Langston Hughes