ODE OF AUTOCRATES BY LAURENT BWESIGYE

GENRE: POETRY TITLE: ODE OF AUTOCRATES WRITER: LAURENT BWESIGYE, UGANDA REVIEWER: ODIRILE ODIRILE, BOTSWANA
 
Many times, there comes a time when someone stands up. Rising out of the confines of oppression by the people who have before vowed to be their hope. The poem "Ode of Autocrates" brings before us such an individual. One who has for many times felt the oppression from the people who are in positions of authority and leadership.

The speaker stands before a group of people who are in the same situation as him and puts a pledge to them. A pledge to them to be different from the rest. A pledge to change the situation that they are in.

The poem captures the theme of POWER. It tells the reader of the strength of people if and when they are fed up with being ignored, left out, marginalised and taken for granted. It is one of the poems that directly references political power and this comes by as a single spark from one who is the persona of the poem, inciting all that is before him to rally behind him in an uprising that will cause a shift and a change in their current predicaments. A great poetic piece indeed.