# Elmi Boodhari (Cilmi Boodhari)

> Elmi Boodhari (1908–1941): Berbera baker-poet, the 'King of Romance', first Somali poet to write only about love.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/elmi-boodhari/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who was he?

Elmi Boodhari was a Somali poet and a pioneer of the Somali love poem ([Wikipedia, Elmi Boodhari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmi_Boodhari)). Somalis call him Boqorkii Jacaylka, the King of Romance (same source). A 2014 doctoral thesis calls him "the first Somali poet to compose poems exclusively about the theme of love" ([Jamal Abdi Gabobe, University of Washington, 2014](https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/items/4077c7bb-5961-4d77-a4ea-a2ca6c330bec)).

## Early life

His full name was Cilmi Ismaaciil Liibaan ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmi_Boodhari)). He was born in 1908 near the border between Ethiopia and [British Somaliland](/en/history/british-somaliland-1884-1960/) (same source). His family is Eidagale (Isaaq) (same source).

## The baker of Berbera

He worked in a bakery in the port town of Berbera ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmi_Boodhari)). There he fell in love with a young woman named Hodan Abdi (same source). He wrote all his poems for her (same source). Hodan married another man, and it is said that he died of heartbreak (same source). Scholars note the romantic story should be treated with care, since parts may have grown in the telling ([Gabobe 2014](https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/items/4077c7bb-5961-4d77-a4ea-a2ca6c330bec)).

## A new kind of poem

Many poets of his time wrote about feuds and revenge. He chose love alone ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmi_Boodhari)). In his day, naming the person you loved in public was frowned upon. He was mocked for it, even by his own kin (same source, quoting Mohamed Diiriye Abdullahi, *[Culture and Customs of Somalia](/en/books/culture-and-customs-of-somalia-abdullahi/)*). Mohamed Diiriye writes that he has "gained the hearts of all Somalis in every district" (same source). See [Somali poetry](/en/society/somali-poetry/).

## Why scholars value him

Gabobe's thesis argues his change went further than his life story. It says he replaced "the traditional warrior hero" with "the lover as a hero" in modern Somali poetry ([Gabobe 2014](https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/items/4077c7bb-5961-4d77-a4ea-a2ca6c330bec)). It finds "inwardness and constant self-examination" at the heart of his work (same source). The thesis reads him beside Majnun Layla, the lover of Arabic and Persian legend (same source).

## Death

He died in 1941 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmi_Boodhari)). Some accounts give a later year.

## In short

A poet of the 1930s and 1940s known for love poems.

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