Review of New Country, Mxolisi Nyezwa, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press and Tongues of their Mothers, Makhosazana Xaba, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
New Country is the second collection of poems by Mxolisi Nyezwa, and continues with the sensitive lyrical voice of his debut collection, song trials, published in 2000. Nyezwa’s work is characterised by intensely personal meditations, expressions of sadness and loneliness, often set against a semi-rural landscape.
The opening poem, for days i looked for my poems, sets the tone of the book:”for days i looked for my poems in the streets,/and since i could not find them,/light fell like a flower on the lonely square./...beauty came grovelling forward/begging,/and children went for days/without food.”
Nyezwa’s poetry generally focuses on the mystery and beauty of the commonplace, as he states in i have a strong fascination: “i have a strong fascination/with simple things./the woman in the waves/bending forward. the human disease./the lasting ember.’’
There are also poems which touch on physical intimacy, such as woman and the simply titled a poem, which reads: “here she comes/today much nicer/today beneath my roof/her house my shelter/talking of chaucer/and french caviar.” But still the overall sense of the collection is that of longing, as in the beautiful poem sana: “the earth is grey and warm in places./the wind blows./far away in Soweto, someone is singing./a heart is dancing./i sing quietly of the woman i love.”
Many of the poems are brief, although there are a few longer poems, such as new partner and like the sea on black stones. The strongest long poem is sky, which contains with the despairing vision of a sky that “lives to reach mankind/with a sad tale/to tell.” Later in the poem, the sky is called “a vast creature/which fumes at night/as men walk/unaccompanied and sad,/ in the streets,/ or toward the blinding alley./like hobos/or gypsies without food./at dawn/with no clear destinations./no homes./no fires.”
But Nyezwa’s poetry of loneliness does not exclude the outer world of social problems and political events. There are references to Steve Biko and Luthuli, to imprisonment and torture. Two poems deal with Zimbabwe and one with the Rwandan genocide: “at each place i meet my black sorrow,/and from my pocket retrieve my smile./i have free-fallen, buried my head beneath the sand,/ i have seen the earth tumble,/the heavens tripping and fall.”
Nyezwa’s subjective lyricism is strongly influenced by the Spanish modernist poets, which sets him apart from most other contemporary black South African poets.
Another second collection from University of KwaZulu-Natal Press is Makhosazana Xaba’s Tongues of their Mothers. While also lyrical and personal, Xaba’s work is far warmer and lighter, as she invites the reader to share her intimate space, as in the opening poem Wishing, which starts: “To my right, a wine glass and a heater./To my left, a peeled naartjie on a saucer./Between my legs, a packet of macadamia nuts./ In front, a TV screen...”
Xaba is however not unaware of the dangers of “exposing” herself to readers; the second poem in the collection deals with the fear of publication, which she describes as “more like the fear/of having your faecal tube/turned inside out into the light/of the midday sun...”
Xaba sometimes takes us into the intimacy of her relationships, as in Your Clarinet, At the Longtable Restaurant, Cotton Socks, or Come, which opens with the startlingly physical: “I want to sit on your lap/ with my legs around your waist.” There is also the poem Locked, which economically portrays the tension in a relationship: “They sit in the kitchen/a small mosaic table between them./Two blue serviettes,/two silver forks, two plates,/hot chicken curry, untouched.”
Her delight in words is evident in the poem To my Librarian, which consists mainly of a list of authors’ names and book titles, and the witty My Book, which begins:’ My book has never been too tired to go to bed with me./It never has a headache or needs down-time to discuss the day.’
But Xaba’s collection also contains some sharp social, political and feminist commentary, such as March 2006 (the date of the Jacob Zuma rape trial), For Fanny Ann Eddy (a lesbian activist murdered in Sierra Leone) , Tongues of their Mothers, and Call me Not , a Woman of Colour.
Xaba’s work may be sensitive and measured, but she can also hit hard and does not draw back from unpleasantries, as in Hills of Montrose, which begins: “The stench of these toilets no longer makes me vomit; looking through the window curbs the urge.” There are also the two somewhat uncharacteristic Farting Knees poems, the first of which begins: “When I vomit/it will be through my forehead/because my ears oscillate...”, and the second Farting Knees poem, which opens with: “When I vomit/it will be through my forehead./ Be warned, stand far off/because the vomit will not spare you.”
What more can I say?
(Published in The Weekender, February 7 2009)
Showing posts with label New country. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New country. Show all posts
Friday, 06 February 2009
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Coming to the party on poetry
Towards the end of September, The Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal organised the 12th Poetry Africa International Festival in Durban. About 26 poets and performers were invited from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Mayotte, the Netherlands and the US to provide a showcase of poetic and cultural diversity, with approaches and styles ranging from written-word poetry to rap and hip-hop.
The main venue for the festival was the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, which has 400 seats, which for most of the five nights there were well filled. However, when taking into account the overall activities of the festival – which included visits to university campuses, schools and performances in public places – the organisers estimate the audience to have been about 4 000.
These numbers seem to go against the claim by many publishers and booksellers that there is no market for poetry in South Africa, but I say “seem” because there are those critics who feel that what is being showcased at Poetry Africa these days “isn’t really poetry”. In the past few years Poetry Africa has shifted its emphasis from written-word poetry to spoken word, and two of the performers this year – hip-hop trio Godessa and Jitsvinger – were definitely more singers/musicians than poets. And besides, detractors may ask, what effect does all this have on poetry readership?
For most of the festival there was a bookstall in the theatre foyer run by independent bookstore Adams Campus Bookshop, and for manager Cedric Sissing the effect of the festival was clear: for the five nights that the stall was open, he sold more poetry collections than the store would normally do in a year.
Revenue for units (books, CDs and DVDs) sold at the festival for the past three years was R24 288 in 2006, R27 366 in 2007 (a 12, 67% increase) and this year R21 013 (a 21,23% decrease).
Sissing says that while this year’s decrease can be directly attributed the sharp rise in the cost of living in South Africa, the increase in last year’s revenue is attributed to sales of books and DVDs by the Hindi Kenyan poet Shailja Patel. About 50 units of her work sold over the period.
This year the top book sellers were Megan Hall’s Fourth Child – winner of this year’s Ingrid Jonker poetry prize and published by independent Modjaji Books – which sold 19 copies, followed by Mxolisi Nyezwa’s New Country, published by University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, which sold 16 copies. Both of the books were launched at the festival. In third place were various titles by US rap poet Carlos Gomez, who sold 14 books and five CDs.
Of the total 108 South African units sold this year, 86 were books, with the remaining 22 being CDs.
Granted, these figures aren’t exactly earth-shattering, and Gomez told me that in the US, where he often gives performances at schools and colleges, he usually sells about 20-30 units a night.
But for Sissing the figures are a clear indication that in South Africa the sale of poetry collections has to be event- rather than retail-driven.
“Take, for example, the work of Patel,” he says. “She sold 50 units last year when she was a featured poet, but sold no copies during the year at the shop. Three copies of her work were sold at the festival this year, even though she was not featured.”
And on the subject of whether the shift in emphasis to spoken word is having any kind of effect on poetry readership, Sissing says, “It’s difficult to prove this on paper, but in the past five years, since the rise of spoken-word poetry, there’s no doubt that the spoken- word poets lift the patrons’ passion, thereby influencing them to buy more poetry. Not just spoken word, but also written word.”
And, as the figures show, book sales are still far ahead of CDs, so it is clear that written-word poetry is not in any immediate danger of extinction.
But in a nutshell what South African poets and publishers need to do is to organise more events. We need more readings, more launches, more workshops and definitely more festivals such as Poetry Africa.
The main venue for the festival was the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, which has 400 seats, which for most of the five nights there were well filled. However, when taking into account the overall activities of the festival – which included visits to university campuses, schools and performances in public places – the organisers estimate the audience to have been about 4 000.
These numbers seem to go against the claim by many publishers and booksellers that there is no market for poetry in South Africa, but I say “seem” because there are those critics who feel that what is being showcased at Poetry Africa these days “isn’t really poetry”. In the past few years Poetry Africa has shifted its emphasis from written-word poetry to spoken word, and two of the performers this year – hip-hop trio Godessa and Jitsvinger – were definitely more singers/musicians than poets. And besides, detractors may ask, what effect does all this have on poetry readership?
For most of the festival there was a bookstall in the theatre foyer run by independent bookstore Adams Campus Bookshop, and for manager Cedric Sissing the effect of the festival was clear: for the five nights that the stall was open, he sold more poetry collections than the store would normally do in a year.
Revenue for units (books, CDs and DVDs) sold at the festival for the past three years was R24 288 in 2006, R27 366 in 2007 (a 12, 67% increase) and this year R21 013 (a 21,23% decrease).
Sissing says that while this year’s decrease can be directly attributed the sharp rise in the cost of living in South Africa, the increase in last year’s revenue is attributed to sales of books and DVDs by the Hindi Kenyan poet Shailja Patel. About 50 units of her work sold over the period.
This year the top book sellers were Megan Hall’s Fourth Child – winner of this year’s Ingrid Jonker poetry prize and published by independent Modjaji Books – which sold 19 copies, followed by Mxolisi Nyezwa’s New Country, published by University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, which sold 16 copies. Both of the books were launched at the festival. In third place were various titles by US rap poet Carlos Gomez, who sold 14 books and five CDs.
Of the total 108 South African units sold this year, 86 were books, with the remaining 22 being CDs.
Granted, these figures aren’t exactly earth-shattering, and Gomez told me that in the US, where he often gives performances at schools and colleges, he usually sells about 20-30 units a night.
But for Sissing the figures are a clear indication that in South Africa the sale of poetry collections has to be event- rather than retail-driven.
“Take, for example, the work of Patel,” he says. “She sold 50 units last year when she was a featured poet, but sold no copies during the year at the shop. Three copies of her work were sold at the festival this year, even though she was not featured.”
And on the subject of whether the shift in emphasis to spoken word is having any kind of effect on poetry readership, Sissing says, “It’s difficult to prove this on paper, but in the past five years, since the rise of spoken-word poetry, there’s no doubt that the spoken- word poets lift the patrons’ passion, thereby influencing them to buy more poetry. Not just spoken word, but also written word.”
And, as the figures show, book sales are still far ahead of CDs, so it is clear that written-word poetry is not in any immediate danger of extinction.
But in a nutshell what South African poets and publishers need to do is to organise more events. We need more readings, more launches, more workshops and definitely more festivals such as Poetry Africa.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
New country - Mxolisi Nyezwa
This is a second collection from the excellent Eastern Cape poet Mxolisi Nyezwa. As the blurb says, Nyezwa's work is lyrical and deeply expressionistis, and register the intuitiveness of Nyezwa's vision of his land and his life. Nyezwa has carved for himself a voice and a style that is entirely his own and unlike any other South African poet before him.
One of the poems reads:
this little girl
this little girl
outside kfc
in njoli road
asking me for food
could not tell me
why the moon
tore her heart
and wrung her body
like a spell.
New country is published by University of KwaZulu-Natal Press and is available in bookstores countrywide.
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