Botsotso: The Poetry We Must All Read

 Imagine a buffet with over twenty types of the finest meats and salads and you can only pick one item!

That was my experience at the second African Women Writers' Symposium held in Johannesburg in 2011. There were so many books to pick from and yet I only had enough money to purchase a handful. Amongst those that I selected, was Botsotso, an anthology of contemporary South African poetry.

Edited by Allan Kolski Horwitz and Ken Edwards, over a decade later, I still firmly believe that my purchase was timelessly perfect.

Published in 2009, with versions of some poems previously published elsewhere, it was just this month of November 2024, after meeting Allan in Durban, that I picked up the book again and began 

're-devouring' the poems.

What a passionate and deeply moving anthology, with so many ideas, unapologetic imagery and well woven social commentary. Ike Mboneni Muila's MUYAHAVHO, a poem whose focus is on a child amidst the ravages of poetry and despair, still expected to continue living and hoping as a child would, as each day's hope keeps dwindling. There is so much helplessness and yet the phrasing almost spares us of total loss, with the momentum of waking up day after day. It creates a sordid picture against a meaningless reality for the child, in a stoic and creative way.

Allan Horwitz' 'Photograph of a Man in Baghdad,' is difficult to read, with its graphic and deeply tragic. With a deep sense of irony, using the innocent and beautiful things like sweets, to entice a child to their death. The death of a child is already incredibly sad. To manipulate a starving child by using sweets and other attractive edibles in the midst of a horrific war, is diabolical. Creating a temporary forgetfulness that will not only increase the hunger pangs but gives false hope.  More frustrating is the knowledge that while there is capacity to alleviate the children from this situation, it is preferred to dance around the gravity of their peril and provide temporary and purposeless tidbits.

Sumeera Dawood, like the other poets in the anthology, is one whose poetry I need to read over and over again because of the way it resonates. Her poem 'Red Brick,' sits like a wheel tuning and turning in my head. Many of us have so much fatigue because we have been depleted of our resources, endlessly giving of our time, our talent, and our energy too. In addition, is the abuse that we face, which often goes unchecked and unreported. Red Brick is such a powerful metaphor because bricks are strong, used to make permanent structures, while they bear the harshness of all the elements. The line at the end of the poem gives it an emotional and redemptive ending.

Vonani Bila's on the march for Dennis Brutus is an homage to a true revolutionary whom so many have deep respect for. The irony of what patriotism actually entails, against what the media portray it to be. Dennis Brutus embodied truth and was relentless and brave, in this regard. Vonani's lines,

    unscathed by genocides

    & tornadoes

    warrior spirit

    you traverse...

..

it is a well-deserved homage.

Botsotso continues to promote African writing and to learn more about them, follow this link. BOTSOTSO

Book review by Beverley N Nsengiyunva