xenophobia my son
i hear a murmur in the streets
a babble of adjoining markets
your cosnscience itching with guiltness like
genital leprosy
your wide eyes are cups where tears
never fall
when they fall the storm wash down bullet drains
and garbage cities
come nomzano with your whisper to drown,
blood scent stinking the rainbow altar
darfur ,petals of blood spreading ,
perfume of death choking slum nostrils
slums laden with acrid smell of mud and
debri smelling like fresh dung heaps
fear scrwaling like lizards on darfur skin
kibera ,i see you scratching your mind like ragged linen
smelling the breath of slums and diesel fumes
the smoke puffing out through ghetto ruins is the fire dousing the
emblem of the state
belly of zambezi ache with crocodile and fish
villages piled like heaps of potatoes aganst the flank
of eastern hills
farmlands dripping golden dripping dew
sunshine choking with vulgur mornings
dawns yawning with vendetta filled redemption songs
drums of freedom sounding fainter and fainter , blowing away in the wind
when streets rub their sleep out of their eyes
villagers scratch painful living from the
infertile patches of sand on this earth whose lungs
heave with copper and veins bleeding gold
ghetto buttocks sit over poverty,kalinga-linga
corruption eating breakfast with ministers,kabulonga
with shrill cries of children breaking against city walls
shire river tonight your voice rustled dry , like the scratching of old silk
politicians grow everywhere like weeds
land of ngwazi,yesterday crocodiles breakfasted on flesh
owls and birds sang with disginated protocol
ngwazi your cough drowned laughters and prayers
your breath silenced rivers and jungles
mozambique
the belief and gift of my poetry
sweat wine poured to absent , long forgotten gods and godesses
soft kiss spent on golden virgins before they aged into toothless grannies
the rhythm of samora
heartbeat of chimurenga
drumbeat of chissano
today mornings blight in corruption
a social aneroxia
abuja guns eat you more than disease
iloved you before you absorbed poverty as sponge
soaking out water
before rats chewed your roof
before you concieved men with borrowed names and totems
ghost of abacha guzzilling drums of blood and galons of oil
wiwa chasing shadows of babangida past delta of treasures
bugand cruelty is a natural weapon of a dictator
poor lives buried under rubbles of autocracy
pregnant mothers with eyes gouged out by bullets , pushing their guts
back into their bellies
luanda
a roar of old trucks
a whine of motor cycles
arumble of dead engines
america frying its fingers in oil pans of your kitchen
where europe fry , america roast
angola , if you cough , america catch a fever
angola quench my parched lungs with a spoon of oil
i see the naked thighs of your desert hills
barosteland sestwana
a servant positioned with trust
american green bloomed your desert shrubs
your loyalty is sold to she who offers the next meal
barotseland of seretse
somalia
yourlips burnt brown with exposure of rough diet
you are muffled voice , cursed and drowned into deep silence
the smell of aged incesnse and stale coffee
a tune piped by the sheperd on moutainside,only
to be half heard by and quickly forgooten by villagers
ghana
the anthill of black seed
coast blessed with gold
once a tyoung girl full of sap and strength
once perfumed with richmess and sacredness
you shared your salt and sweat fro freedom
today you a like a woman who sleep with a pillow
between her legs anticipating a miracle of man
coast of ivory
i see faces tight as skin of drum in moonlight
ivory coast, once the smoke and smell of human excitement
tonight bullet burrow into your belly like rats into sacks
of thai rice
you are the broken pot we patch to put on shelf again.
flesh of children roasting in your belly , darfur
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
MBIZO PRODUCED AFRICAN DRUMS POETRY FESTIVAL
Art & Advocacy in Zimbabwe
Mbizo Chirasha has expressed satisfaction with the recent Zimbabwe poetry festival. In an email, Chirasha shared information about future plans for similar events, one of which can happen as soon February 2008. What was obvious at the December 10-12 festival, he added, was the hunger for the arts that the participants showed. He also expressed his gratitude for the participation of distinguished speakers. One in particular, the Australia-born Celia Winter Irving, presented a paper entitled “The Arts As a Tool for Advocacy in Zimbabwe”.
In this paper Irving argues that artists in Zimbabwe “have a strong relationship with society, taking their bearings from their local community.” So, it seems, talk of an artist being a loner and not caring so much about what the society thinks would not stand a chance here. The issue of social responsibility appears in different art forms.
In a bold statement, Winter Irving states, “Today because of the situation (in Zimbabwe), artists have no time for dreams and schemes; they want results.” Irving works with artists as a consultant at the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, a position which often involves travelling to all provinces of Zimbabwe to work with artists ranging from poets, sculptors, actors, singers and others. Her essay catalogues these experiences and makes a case about how art is a form of advocacy.
The full text of the paper may appear under the Essays section of Munyori Poetry Journal
Update: Festival Attracts 60 Poets
The Herald of Zimbabwe has given the following report about the Zimbabwe Poetry Festival:
THE African Drums Poetry Book Tour – a poetry gala attracting some regional artists – was on Monday inaugurated at Alliance Francaise in Harare ending this evening.
More than 60 poets are taking part in the festival that is running under the theme: Celebrating the Energy and Culture of Words.
A brainchild of poet Mbizo Chirasha, the festival which seeks to promote collaborative efforts among Sadc artists, has also attracted some big names in Zimbabwean literature as guest speakers.
“This programme is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe by young poets who want to see the culture of appreciation and growth of poetry in Africa.
“This is the time for poets and writers to be innovative, progressive, idealistic, creative, ” said Chirasha.
Susan Haimbala, a performance poet from Namibia, said the festival was instrumental in integrating regional poets.
“I am very excited to be taking part in this festival that helps in building relationships among regional artists. I have learnt at this festival many things that I did not know,” said Haimbala who doubles as a musician.
Haimbala, who performs in Oshiwambo, said she hoped to persuade some Namibian artists to come to Zimbabwe using her own initiatives in order to collaborate with some locals when she returns home.
Simon Longwe, a University of Zambia student, who hailed performance poetry as an expressive genre of art, echoed similar sentiments.
“Performance poetry is one genre of art that helps in educating and informing people about what is happening in their societies,” he said.
He praised the state of poetry in Zimbabwe saying in Zambia, it was beginning to take shape.
Longwe also described Zimbabwe as peaceful despite negative media reports meant to tarnish the image of the country.
Some of the guest speakers who deliberated at the festival since Monday include Musaemura Zimunya who spoke about the response Zimbabwean literature and his poetry has garnered abroad.
Dub-poet Albert Nyathi tackled the issue of originality in relation to performance poetry and how it has developed in Zimbabwe.
He also handled the issue of choreography as a necessity in performance poetry.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer and social commentator Dr Vimbai Chivaura deliberated on a broad spectrum of issues that include the relevance of culture in poetry.
Tonight, more than 35 artists will perform under one roof at Alliance Francaise as the curtain comes down at 10pm.
Mbizo Chirasha has expressed satisfaction with the recent Zimbabwe poetry festival. In an email, Chirasha shared information about future plans for similar events, one of which can happen as soon February 2008. What was obvious at the December 10-12 festival, he added, was the hunger for the arts that the participants showed. He also expressed his gratitude for the participation of distinguished speakers. One in particular, the Australia-born Celia Winter Irving, presented a paper entitled “The Arts As a Tool for Advocacy in Zimbabwe”.
In this paper Irving argues that artists in Zimbabwe “have a strong relationship with society, taking their bearings from their local community.” So, it seems, talk of an artist being a loner and not caring so much about what the society thinks would not stand a chance here. The issue of social responsibility appears in different art forms.
In a bold statement, Winter Irving states, “Today because of the situation (in Zimbabwe), artists have no time for dreams and schemes; they want results.” Irving works with artists as a consultant at the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, a position which often involves travelling to all provinces of Zimbabwe to work with artists ranging from poets, sculptors, actors, singers and others. Her essay catalogues these experiences and makes a case about how art is a form of advocacy.
The full text of the paper may appear under the Essays section of Munyori Poetry Journal
Update: Festival Attracts 60 Poets
The Herald of Zimbabwe has given the following report about the Zimbabwe Poetry Festival:
THE African Drums Poetry Book Tour – a poetry gala attracting some regional artists – was on Monday inaugurated at Alliance Francaise in Harare ending this evening.
More than 60 poets are taking part in the festival that is running under the theme: Celebrating the Energy and Culture of Words.
A brainchild of poet Mbizo Chirasha, the festival which seeks to promote collaborative efforts among Sadc artists, has also attracted some big names in Zimbabwean literature as guest speakers.
“This programme is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe by young poets who want to see the culture of appreciation and growth of poetry in Africa.
“This is the time for poets and writers to be innovative, progressive, idealistic, creative, ” said Chirasha.
Susan Haimbala, a performance poet from Namibia, said the festival was instrumental in integrating regional poets.
“I am very excited to be taking part in this festival that helps in building relationships among regional artists. I have learnt at this festival many things that I did not know,” said Haimbala who doubles as a musician.
Haimbala, who performs in Oshiwambo, said she hoped to persuade some Namibian artists to come to Zimbabwe using her own initiatives in order to collaborate with some locals when she returns home.
Simon Longwe, a University of Zambia student, who hailed performance poetry as an expressive genre of art, echoed similar sentiments.
“Performance poetry is one genre of art that helps in educating and informing people about what is happening in their societies,” he said.
He praised the state of poetry in Zimbabwe saying in Zambia, it was beginning to take shape.
Longwe also described Zimbabwe as peaceful despite negative media reports meant to tarnish the image of the country.
Some of the guest speakers who deliberated at the festival since Monday include Musaemura Zimunya who spoke about the response Zimbabwean literature and his poetry has garnered abroad.
Dub-poet Albert Nyathi tackled the issue of originality in relation to performance poetry and how it has developed in Zimbabwe.
He also handled the issue of choreography as a necessity in performance poetry.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer and social commentator Dr Vimbai Chivaura deliberated on a broad spectrum of issues that include the relevance of culture in poetry.
Tonight, more than 35 artists will perform under one roof at Alliance Francaise as the curtain comes down at 10pm.
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