Youths express themselves during Poetic Expressions

     Literature

Youths in the Makhado municipal area were treated to the original poetry of award-winning performance poet Sello Chokoe a fortnight ago.

Chokoe was hosted by Zoe Life Holdings, a community-building entity, which aims to empower youths by keeping them active through different artistic disciplines and performances.

He recited masterpieces from his excellent début poetry album, Home - The heart of my expressions, and left youths and guardians begging for more.

“Poetry is a platform that allows artists and poets to express themselves fully without fear or favour,” he said. “It allows us to speak about our experiences - joys, happinesses and sadnesses. It is a medium of communication. One can write and publish tone's poetry in hard-copy form or online and share it with the world. So, poetry is freedom.”

Before Chokoe could ascend the stage, local youths who came from Ozias Davhana Secondary School, Tshikota and Madombidzha rendered their poems.

“I am particularly moved by your performances," Chokoe said. “You wrote and recited the poems from the heart. I felt the strength and frankness of your pieces.”

Zoe Life Holdings' manager, Ms Tendani Tshivhula, said that she appreciated the fact that the youths loved poetry and that the parents and guardians had allowed the children to attend the session. “We need to revolutionise poetry by making it popular like people have made soccer and hip-hop music popular,” she said.

A representative of the youths from Ozias Davhana Secondary School, Oda Mukhuba (15), said that the session had been inspiring in many respects. “The fact that it was live poetry made the art form more real and accessible,” she said. “It was also good sharing the stage with the highly talented Sello Chokoe.”

The teacher and guardian of pupils from Ozias Davhana Secondary School, Ms Muthelo Khakhu, said that pupils needed these kinds of educational activities and that the poetry session was such an activity.

Entertainment - Date: 13 May 2017

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]