Poetry & Literature

A group of poets, pupils and booksellers recently convened at Timbila Writers' House for a discussion on patriotism and activism as part of the role of a poet in the modern South Africa.

An internationally acclaimed poet, Don Mattera, led the conversation and gave an in-depth narrative on his life as a poet, starting from the apartheid era until now. He told the guests, who comprised pupils from Mbilwi High School and people from the Elim area, that he had been detained many times because of his protest poetry during that time.

"Today, writers have a functional poetic licence to write without fear of being arrested and prosecuted because they are speaking against a government," he said. He told the pupils to maintain respect at all times.

He told the guests to have love for people at all times. "Love your parents; love your siblings and all your fellow human beings," Mattera said. "We are all human beings. And you are a person first, and not black or white.”

The bookseller of Guyo Buguni in Makhado, Mr Maano Tuwani, read some poems which he had selected from his favourite African poets and spoke on patriotism. He urged pupils to read widely. “There are good books which grasp a reader's attention from page one to the last page,” he said. He then encouraged people to form readers' clubs as a way of cultivating a culture of reading.

David wa Maahlamela, who was part of the dialogue panel, recited his classical SePedi poems. There were also some youths who recited poetry to the delight of all guests and poets in the dialogue panel. They included Hlengiwe Bila, Gaddafi the Poet and Vinny Black. Gaddafi the Poet recited his poem, Matters of the Heart, which tackled stereotypical issues about albinism.

The host and publisher at Timbila Publishing, Vonani Bila, thanked all the people who attended the event and stated that Timbila Writers' House would still host more events of this nature in the near future. “We want more and more pupils and people here in our rural areas to develop a stronger love for the arts,” he said. “To achieve that, we need to make books available to the people and to host events like this one oftentimes, where readers and writers get time to interact.”