The latest issue of literary journal New Contrast (vol. 52, issue 207) has a wonderful and insightful review of Kobus Moolman's He Said/ /She Said by Marike Beyers.
Just got the news that Pravasan Pillay's short story 'Girls', from his much-acclaimed debut collection Chatsworth, is to be used in a course called 'Reading and Writing about Language and Literatures' at the University of British Columbia!
Kobus Moolman's He Said/ /She Said is still available at Clarke's Bookshop in Cape Town. You can order a copy here. Or, if you are in the area, why not pop into the store at 199 Long Street
Remember that this is a limited numbered edition of 120 copies, which is selling out fast!
The previous year I had published Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African Beat poet, through my publishing press, Dye Hard Press, and was trying to get it stocked at bookstores overseas. One bookstore I had approached was City Lights in San Francisco. I had thought City Lights would be an obvious choice, since it had both stocked and published many of the Beat poets. I was astonished, therefore, to receive a response from City Lights stating that it did not stock ‘self-published’ books – which I thought odd, considering the first City Lights Books title was a collection of poems by its owner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
I told this news to the Greek poet Yannis Livadas, with whom I had become friends on Facebook. Yannis immediately posted something to the effect of ‘City Lights rejects Who was Sinclair Beiles?’, to which someone named Subhankar Das responded: ‘The old man [Ferlinghetti] is really getting old!’ I then sent Sub a friend request, which he accepted.
It was about this time that Graffiti had published the international anthology of indie art and writing, the stark electric space. I was intrigued by the title, since it clearly looked back at the Hungryalist poem ‘Stark Electric Jesus’ by Malay Roychoudhury, and decided I wanted to buy a copy. I messaged Sub via Facebook, and he said, sure, it costs whatever, just send a cheque in US dollars. I explained that as I was in South Africa, I could not write out a cheque in US dollars. So he said: ‘No problem, give me your address and I will send you a copy for free.’
But Sub was always busy with projects: I never knew him not to be busy writing, translating, publishing or organising events. Always creating – and always generous.
At the same time as I became friends with Sub, I also became friends with a US poet named Erik Vatne, and together with Yannis, I regarded us as the four musketeers of poetry on Facebook – Sub in India, Yannis in Greece, Erik in the US, and me in South Africa – we were certainly well spread, like an international network – an interconnected electric space of poetry.
It was also about this time, early 2011, that I interviewed Sub for my Dye Hard Interviews blog, and I have always regarded my interview with Sub as having been one of the most enjoyable and enriching. In the interview he said: ‘For us Graffiti is a movement … Graffiti is a lifestyle … it’s a pathway of our dream … it’s a protest against the consumerism of thought … and now we have friends worldwide who also believe in this independence of thought and creation.’ Sub and I lived so far apart, and yet I felt we were so close in spirit.
But the most wonderful surprise came when, after Sub had published poetry chapbooks by Erik and Yannis, he approached me, wanting to publish a chapbook of mine too. And so Sky Dreaming was published by Graffiti towards the end of 2011. Sub had asked me to provide my own cover for the book, and so my friend Pravasan Pillay’s wife Jenny designed the cover. I can’t recall why, but Sub wanted to receive the cover printed out rather than emailed to him, and as luck would have it, Sub was on a trip to Europe at the time, and doing a poetry reading in Stockholm, where Pravasan and his wife lived – and so Pravasan was able to deliver the cover in person. Sky Dreaming sold extremely well in India and went into at least two printings. I have never understood why my poetry appealed so much to Indian readers – that’s a question I kept meaning to ask Sub but never got around to.
It was an exciting time for the ‘four musketeers’ and we were determined that one day we all should meet, at the same time at the same spot. We decided that same spot would be India, but could not decide on a time. As it turned out, the only one of our group that I’d meet was Yannis, in Paris in 2016.
In fact by early 2014 our group started to loosen: Yannis had moved to Paris and spent less time on Facebook and Erik left social media altogether. I started a new job that was very demanding plus I was appointed as guest editor of New Coin, one of South Africa’s most prestigious poetry journals, and during the three years that I was editor I had little time for Dye Hard Press or my own writing. I did, however, publish some of Sub’s poems in New Coin.
In late 2019 I received the devastating news of Erik’s death. Sub also took it hard, and I remember him posting a lighted candle in Erik’s memory.
And then there was the Covid-19 pandemic, with its lockdowns and victims, including the great Hungryalist poet Pradip Choudhuri.
But like some survivor emerging from the ruins, Sub entered a new period of creativity – a furious burst of writing and publishing. He published his selected poems, and used an artwork by the French artist Pascal Ulrich on the cover and was corresponding with Ulrich’s friend Robert Roman in France about publishing translations of Ulrich’s poems into Bengali.
Sub also restarted Graffiti magazine around this time and had used some black-and-white drawings of mine for the covers. Then when he published an A4-sized edition of Graffiti with a full-colour cover, he used a collage of mine. Sub was overjoyed with the cover art and said all copies sold out at the Kolkata small magazine book fair.
I held off for a full year before I was ready to send the collection to him, and so my second chapbook to be published by Graffiti, Somewhere else, was published in March 2024. About the same time Sub interviewed me for a Bengali literary magazine, Boier Duniya, about my poetry and Dye Hard Press, as well as my views on the Hungryalists, the Beats and others. It reminded me of my interview with Sub that we had done 13 years before. It was like a return to the early days. At the time he was also working on a book about his trip to Europe in 2011.
The last photo I saw of Sub was of him smilingly holding up a small artwork by Pascal Ulrich. And his widow Sabina has told me that the last song he listened to on his computer was Nina Simone’s Feelin’ good. That is so ironic and sad, but at the same time it makes me smile.
As we say in South Africa, Hambe kahle (farewell) my friend. But the spirit of your creativity and generosity lives on. Graffiti will continue, and new voices will emerge.
Gary Cummiskey
This tribute was published in Graffiti, Kolkata, December 2024.
The cover collage is by UK artist Paul Warren, who is also designed the cover.
Animal eyeball is a free e-chapbook of seven cut-up prose poems accompanied by collages by UK artist Paul Warren, published by Dye Hard Press.
Special thanks go to Jenny Kellerman Pillay, who designed the book and made it a reality!
Over the past 17 years Dye Hard Press has published three titles by renowned South African poet Kobus Moolman: the play Full Circle (2007), and the poetry collections Left Over (2012) and He Said/ /She Said (2024).
He Said/ /She Said was printed in a limited, numbered edition of 120 copies. You can order the book from Clarke's Bookshop here.
Roy Blumenthal and I collaborated on this wee chapbook of poems back in 1998. The cover (in fact, the entire chapbook) was designed by Roy. It was also for this publication that Roy created the Dye Hard Press colophon.
Gone Fishing is a collage by UK artist Paul Warren, inspired by my prose poem 'Gone Fishing' from my latest collection, Somewhere else, published by Graffiti in Kolkata.
The poem is as follows:
The fish with the face of a judge moves slowly as always, just breaking the surface. There is no sound as you trace your fingers down the length of my spine. The fan in the restaurant turns noiselessly round and round. The waiters stand in the doorway, casting over our table. Hooks lodge in our lips, so we dare not move.
You can order Somewhere else from Clarke's Bookshop in Cape Town here.
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Pravasan Pillay's much-acclaimed debut short story collection Chatsworth will be available for sale at the Micromega stand at the Durban International Book Book at Eduvos Umhlanga Campus from 27 November to 1 December.
Chatsworth has gone into four printings and is published by Dye Hard Press.
The poems read are from my selected poems volume Outside the cave, but also from Thunder on the highway, Animal eyeball (a collaboration with UK artist Paul Warren), and my latest collection Somewhere else.
The cover shows three collages by French poet and collagist Bruno Sourdin.
To order, please visit Sloow Tapes.
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It’s Yeoville in the mid-1990s. Enter Fig, a copywriter with a penchant for living on the edge – staying up all night, having casual sex and snorting cocaine. Drifting from seedy clubs to grotty flats, Fig continues his aimless odyssey … until the day he falls asleep in a client presentation and is fired.
We are offering the book at a reduced price of R60 per copy. Courier to your door is R100, so R160 altogether.
Email cummiskeyg@gmail.com to order.
Kobus Moolman's He Said/ /She Said is now available at Clarke's in Cape Town. You can order a copy here.
Remember that this is a limited numbered edition of 120 copies, which is selling out fast!
Chatsworth has gone into four printings and is published by Dye Hard Press.
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Chatsworth has gone into four printings and is published by Dye Hard Press.
Dye Hard Press still has copies of Gary Cummiskey's Off-ramp in stock.
Animal eyeball is a free e-chapbook of seven cut-up prose poems accompanied by collages by UK artist Paul Warren.
It won't cost you anything to read, but it may take your mind to where it has never been before!
To access the book on Issuu click here.
Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about South African beat poet Sinclair Beiles, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is still available from Clarkes.
Alternatively, you can order a copy directly from the publisher at cummiskeyg@gmail.com
Originally published in 2010, this is a revised and expanded edition that was published in 2014.
Selected and introduced by Kobus Moolman. 162 pages. Selected poems from 1990 to 2020.
He Said/ /She Said is also available from Dye Hard Press and will soon be available from Clarke's in Cape Town.
It is limited to 120 numbered copies, which are selling fast!
Arja Salafranca's poetry collection Beyond Touch, published in 2015 by Modjaji Books and Dye Hard Press, has been listed a pick of the week for Pride Month!
Congratulations, Arja!
Pravasan Pillay's Aiyo! is still available at Clarke's in Cape Town - either order online or if you are in the area, pop into the shop in Long Street.
Copies are also available at The Commune bookstore in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Please remember this is an edition limited to 100 numbered copies!
Outside the cave: selected poems, by Gary Cummiskey, is still available at Clarke's Bookshop in Cape Town. You can either pop into the shop in person in Long Street, or order online.
Selected by renowned South African poet Kobus Moolman, Outside the cave brings together work by Gary Cummiskey from 1990 to 2020.
Outside the cave is published by Dye Hard Press.
Annoucement by The Red Wheelbarrow:
Kobus Moolman will be reading at 6 Spin Street Restaurant on Wednesday, 30 October at 7pm.
Copies of He Said/ /She Said will be available for sale.
Kobus Moolman's latest poetry collection, He Said/ /She Said, will soon be available at Clarke's Bookshop in Cape Town - watch this space!
As a bonus post, I have included two photos of Kobus reading at the Melville Poetry Festival, Johannesburg, in 2012.
44 pages.
Kobus Moolman's latest poetry collection, He Said// She Said, is published by Dye Hard Press.
44 pages.
Wonderful to see Pravasan Pillay has received his copy of Somewhere else (published by Graffiti Kolkata), I telephoned God (cassette produced by Sloow Tapes in Belgium) and of course Kobus Moolman's He Said// She Said, published by Dye Hard Press and beautifully laid out and designed by Jenny Kellerman Pillay.
( Nope ... the SA Post Office still ain't working -- I posted these from London.)
HE PLEADED IGNORANCE
He did not know what the sky was made of.
He did not know what fire tasted like.
He did not know how far away from earth the truth was.
He did not know how long a man could survive without any covering over his body. Such as skin.
He did not know the current market value of love.
He did not know the lengths a man would go in order to find deception.
He did not know where it all came from.
Then he came up out of the water.
Then he found that he could still breathe.
Even though it was air.
- Kobus Moolman
