Yonas Admassu, who died February 11 at age 71, was a writer who made lasting contributions to Ethiopian literature as a poet, essayist, literary critic, and editor. Dr. Yonas, who was an Associate Professor in the Department of Ethiopian Languages and Literature at Addis Ababa University, wrote poems both in Amharic and English. Issues of a significant era in his country’s history, particularly the hardships that consumed the country after the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie and the rise to power of the communist junta, in whose terror thousands died, find expression in his work. While a university student, Yonas actively participated in the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party’s armed rebellion against the Derg, before fleeing his country for the United States where he had stayed for about two decades. While there, he earned his master’s degree in African studies and his doctorate in Comparative literature at the University of California (UCLA). The following untitled poem was published in 1994 in UFAHAMU, Journal of the African Activist Association, a publication of UCLA in which he served as a member of the editorial board.

UFAHAMU, Journal of the African Activist Association, University of California, Volume XXII 1994