The oldest form of written poetry in Kenya is from the coast. Swahili poetry reads beautifully even if you don't understand the words. Written for at least 300 years, and sung for a good deal longer, it's one of Kenya's most enduring art forms. An Anthology of Swahili Poetry has been compiled and rather woodenly translated by Ali A Jahadmy (o/p), but some of Swahili's best-known classical compositions from the Lamu archipelago are included, with pertinent background. There's a more enjoyable anthology of romantic and erotic verse, A Choice of Flowers , with Jan Knappert 's idiosyncratic translations and interpretations (o/p), and the same linguist's Four Centuries of Swahili Verse (Darf, UK & US), which expounds and creatively interprets at much greater length.

 

Up-country poetry in the sense of written verse is a recent form. But oral folk literature was often relayed in the context of music, rhythm and dance.

Wole Soyinka (editor) Poems of Black Africa (Heinemann, UK). A hefty and catholic selection. Its Kenyan component includes the work of Abangira, Jared Angira, Jonathan Kariara and Amin Kassam.

Heinemann Book of African Poetry (Heinemann, UK/US). Includes the work of Kenyan poet Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye.