Poem commentary - Jack Mapanje, from "Of Chameleons and God".

There is a sort of pattern in these three stanzas that shows us how they are different. The first stanza consists of descriptive lines, explaining how this dance used to be. In the

second stanza, there are also some descriptive lines, showing the reader what it was that he used to do during these dances. However, in the third stanza, he begins to ask questions instead of continuing to describe things. He asks “why don’t I stand up”. This shows us that something has changed, and that he wants to make a stand and do something about it, but unfortunately he cannot seem to figure out why he is unable to do anything about it.  

In this poem, there is a very minimal amount of rhyming. There are, in one or two cases, some rhymes, but they are not continuous. For example, “amulets” and “anklets” are used in the first stanza. There is not much rhyming because this poem was written in a spoken rhythm. The author of this poem chose not to use rhyming words, most probably because he had specific words that he wanted to mention in the poem, and it might have turned out that most of these words did not rhyme.

The person who is speaking in this poem introduces the word “we” in the last stanza. This shows the beginning of a lack of confidence that he is having. As he goes along telling this story, it seems as if he needs to reassure himself that he is still the big dancer he once used to be.

We can build up a certain image of this poem by looking at some of the lines, such as the first three. We can imagine that this was a rain dance which caused the dirt and dust on the ground to “soar high above”. We can also build up an idea of what the sound was like, thanks to such words as “rattled”, “mystic drums”, “songs of praise”, “ululate” and “father drum”.

The third stanza mainly introduces what the dance is like in the eighty’s. We learn that everything is different, the dance is not the same, the people who are doing the dance are not wearing the same things and the music is artificial (cheating abstract voices of slack

drums). Also, we realize that this dance is no longer done in the traditional way. It used to be done as a rain dance, in which tribesmen would wear specific items which could possibly correspond to their way of life. But now, in the eighty’s, this dance has changed, and is done solely for pleasure reasons, not for religious or traditional tribal reasons.

As the tribe’s man finished off the last stanza, he begins to understand that things are just not like they used to be. He questions “why does my speech choke”, realizing that he is not one of the mighty tribe’s men (possibly Chief) that he once used to be. He does not accept this, and continues, even at the very end, to ask himself the same question, “Haven’t I”.