by Phillippa Yaa on Feb 22nd, 2012
I take the right to make various days meaningful for such and similar reasons so today I’m devoted to Roger Bonair-Agard, because my friend Lesley Perkes bought the spoken word redux book and cd about 7 years ago, and we listened to it and fell in love with this poem How to spell freedom and so when he came to perform at Urban Voices my friend Myesha and I girlishly went backstage and gushed and then we took him to Constitution Hill the next day and listened to the guard tell how the prison was in the bad old days and we watched his face and he said he was moved, then he left to be invisible to us and to be who he is to all his other audiences and I thought that is time, that is how time tears us out and sticks us on another page that will turn, or burn, depending on our destinies. Either way, it will end.
In the fire of remembering I went to Youtube and downloaded steaming minutes of his words and I envied his delivery that certainty that absolute truth that was so carefully constructed there, and I wished that I could also be true and strong and sensitive and loud and long and I will, but not like him, and then I listened to his poem Atonement and it starts as a tribute to Shaun Thomas Dougherty who is another US poet although Agard is not really US but Trinidad-Tobago-an but he’s been there such a long time and his accent remains, his words were cast in the Trini furnace so they will be thus forever branded because this is our nature, we are things of clay, the hands that shape us compose our voices too, and I thought about Seitlhamo Motsapi and how this continent was once the crucible of humanity, and it took millions of years to create a viable population, and these poems that fall on this naked, howling earth, may never be remembered, even today so many people have no idea, they’re all at sea, so perhaps we should write poems in response to poems, in order to create a paper trail, so that the truth may be discovered, and then lead on to another, and hand over hand we carefully guide ourselves back to land.
by Phillippa Yaa on Feb 21st, 2012
Quaz Roodt
visiting from Zimbabwe: Dikson Slamajamjar
Jozi House of Poetry’s February session will be exploring the love poetry of slam legends Quaz and Dikson Slamajamjar (Zimbabwe) as well as the three editors of South Africa’s latest erotic anthology, Myesha Jenkins, Natalia Molebatsi and Raphael D’Abdon. In a discussion moderated by Gillian Schutte and myself, we will be exploring the meaning of the erotic in our context and listening to a range of responses to it. The Jozi House of Poetry is a poetry recital/reading followed by a discussion and an open mic session. It’s a perfect way to get practice reading to an appreciative audience. In partnership with Pledge-a-pad, Jozi House of Poetry is collecting sanitary pads to distribute to indigent young girls who are unable to attend school because they can’t afford the necessaries. Tickets for the session are R50, R40 with a packet of pads. You will be able to buy books courtesy of Rose Francis and African Perspectives and subscribe to the ever-popular literary magazine, Words, etc, and you’ll also be able to buy a glass of wine, juice or soda pop or sample the coffee shops and restaurants around the PopArt Theatre. Main Street Life is buzzing!
Raphael D’Abdon
Natalia Molebatsi
Myesha Jenkins
by Phillippa Yaa on Feb 13th, 2012
Jozi House of Poetry presents a monthly platform of featured poets, a themed discussion/debate and an open mic. All writers are connected and involved with their contemporaries and influenced by the current social and political situation as well as trends in the literary world. The format of JHP sessions is geared towards exposing this commonality and the monthly themed discussion is a way of giving it a voice.
February’s discussion, Love, Romance and Erotica is led by Gillian Schutte and will include readings from Audre Lorde and Helene Cixous as well as poetry read by Myesha Jenkins, Natalia Molebatsi and Raphael D’Abdon – joint editors of an upcoming anthology of erotic poetry – and performances by slam legends Quaz and Dikson Slamajamjar (Zimbabwe).
Some of the themes explored later in the year are Freedom: dream or daily bread?, Writing the other and Poetry: hidden music. The discussions will give writers to talk about their influences and process and give members of the public and aspirant writers a sense of the shifting space of the writer’s life. For all concerned we hope to create a space where people feel free to share their perspective on writing, ideas, how they engage with society as a whole as well as what they have discovered.
January’s session featured Allan Kolski Horwitz, Napo Masheane and brilliant young slam poet Lebohang Nova Masango, with a discussion around the role of the poet in contemporary society. Horwitz, a literary activist, publisher and writer made a strong argument for writers to be organised, while the younger Masheane and Masango felt that the best form of activism was to create prolifically and to continue to write and perform work that is relevant to our society. The debate was never fully resolved, and when Thabiso Afurakan Mohare rode the open mic with a short and powerful poem that spoke of reading and scholarship as an essential component of writing and ‘putting your work out there’.
Rose Francis of African Perspectives and Phakama Mbonambi of Words Etc bring books and the literary journal, creating a convivial market vibe to accompany the words and to give the audience a chance to take home some contemporary South African literature.
Jozi House of Poetry welcomes men and women, and is child- and baby-friendly. Jozi House of Poetry has partnered with Pledge-a-Pad to provide sanitary towels to indigent and orphaned girls, who miss up to a week of school every month because they cannot afford toiletries. If you bring a packet of pads to the session, you get a R10 discount on your R50 ticket. The sessions are on the last Sunday of every month at 2pm at Popart Theatre, Main Street Life, Fox Street, Doornfontein.
by Phillippa Yaa on Jan 31st, 2012
As long as I have been submitting my poetry to journals and competitions, and reading and performing it at slams and sessions, I have always wondered what makes the poem work? Why it’s well received and why it’s rejected? Having no clear answers, I am embarking on a two-year long study that I want to incorporate into my Masters Thesis.
When Myesha Jenkins, former grande dame of Jozi House of Poetry announced to me that she’d like to revive the project, I wanted to be part of it for my own reasons. I wanted to immerse myself in the process of presenting and interrogating poetry, and with an audience exploring the various choices made by the particular poets. I wanted to engage with younger and older poets, and find out what they love and what their references are. I wanted to explore the performing and literary styles, themes and musicality, and the politics of a platform, spoken word versus literary poetry, and how this all feeds into growing South African culture.
I guess it’s important to state my assumptions and underlying tastes before I even begin. The poetry must meet our basic criteria:
1) craft – not simply expressions of emotion or belief, the writing must reflect a creativity with language that does not short-change the emotional resonance of the poem;
2) references – we must be able to hear the poet’s references through the poetry
3) language – we like to hear poets who respect language – all language
4) ripples and resonances – how does the poem relate to the world around it, how is it a slice of a particular life?
Jozi House of Poetry is a space started by women and women-friendly, babies are allowed and we have a partnership with Pledge-a-Pad: we offer a small discount on tickets (R10) for people who bring a packet of sanitary pads to the session, which we then give to Pledge-A-Pad. We wanted to make the session as representational as possible, with elder poets, prize-winners and younger slam poets engaging in our themes.
Although poetry as an art form is particularly centred around all aspects of the human condition, we wanted to tease out particular themes for discussion. Our first session on the 29th January was themed: the role of the poet, and featured Allan Kolski Horwitz, Napo Masheane and Lebohang Nova Masango.
After each poet delivered 10 minutes of luminous poetry, we took a break to absorb what we had just heard. Many people were moved – some to tears – it was a truly explosive beginning to the year. Then the discussion, during which we gently explored the difference between poetry and preaching, (more will definitely follow), the resources available to poets in South Africa, the Department of Arts and Culture’s policy of funding indigenous languages, and what we’re to do about this.
We listened to Napo Masheane (who believes that the poetry movement will continue as long as people like herself continue to make new work) and Allan Kolski Horwitz (who believes that starting an organization is the only way to get taken seriously and really push for change) and Nova (who, as a 21-year old, wants nothing more than to be true to her art). I realized that perhaps that poetry can’t be organized. Poetry is a movement, a hugely popular art form ( the theatre was packed) that, at the moment, is mobilized to create and recreate itself in the thousands of poems that fall onto pages via the sensitive souls who channel those words and make poetry live every single day, every single hour. Long live….
The second Jozi House of Poetry Session is Love and the Erotic and features the editors of the new erotic anthology to be released in 2012, Myesha Jenkins, Natalia Molebatsi and Raphael d’Abdon, and Makhosazana Xaba. The session will take place on 26 February at 2pm at PopArt Theatre, Main Street Life, Fox Street, Doornfontein.
(see original post on www.de-Scribe.posterous.com with photos)
by Phillippa Yaa on Nov 3rd, 2011
What a cheap trick. There is no nudity in the launch of No serenity here, but with no funding, no local publisher, no interest from the media I was considering drastic measures to get the book launched in South Africa. Fortunately for the public I didn’t have to take my clothes off to book venues, air flights and catering – thanks to a few kind souls who believed that the book was worthwhile:
- Chris Mann of Wordfest, who invited me to Grahamstown to launch the book (airticket and accommodation for two days)
- Leonard Gentle of Ilrig (airticket to Cape Town and breakfast in Obs one day)
- Peter Rorvik of Poetry Africa who invited me to launch the book in Durban (accommodation at Royal Hotel along with the real participants)
- Pam Nichols of the Wits Writing Centre who fed us and housed us
- Kays Mnguni of !Xarra Books who even agreed to embark on this harebrained scheme to distribute the book in Southern Africa, and flew me to Durban.
- Hwang Liang Shuang and Liang Tingting who read our poems in Mandarin for us
I know, it’s a bit silly to do the credits before showing the film, but if it wasn’t for these people you wouldn’t be able to open this lime green, handsome hardback and sniff its pages and wonder at the squiggles of Mandarin opposite the English, Portuguese, French, Arabic and Amharic poems lying on the pages, innocent, waiting to be discovered. The anthology was commissioned by artist, philanthropist and businessman Hu Xiancheng of the Moonchu Foundation, who approached Xiao Kaiyu to compile an anthology of African poetry to massage the minds of Chinese businesspeople coming to make hay where the sun shines: Africa, the continent of orality, the diametric opposite of China, the land of a thousand characters, calligraphy and a three thousand year old written poetry tradition.
In the spirit of Mr Hu’s endeavour, when I was invited to assist Kaiyu and German poetry fundi and organiser Isabelle Ferrin-Aguirre in gathering the voices for this book – quickly – we had a month – we decided to structure the book like a contemporary poetry session with themes that would explode the preconceptions associated with Africa: the Dark Continent, and wind around the hearts of the readers like a sinuous snake, then bite them where they thought they were hardest. It was such fun reading all the anthologies we could find, sending each other the poems, holding them up to the light like pretty pebbles on the beach. Thanks to Robin Malan, who’s rich anthologies yielded many of our poets and Monica Rorvik, who gave us their e-mail addresses, and Keorapetse Kgositsile, our beloved Poet Laureate, who came to China with me to launch it there last October, leaping onto an adventure that none of us would ever be able to quantify or describe.
China changed me. Not only did I become more aware of how small our world is, but how enormous its possibilities. Despite the repression, I loved the energy and the yes we can vibe of Chinese people, who were so numerous wherever we went; people like a mountain, like a sea as the oldest Chinese poem sings.
Now, a year later, I was introducing our love child to South Africa with no budget and a people who are deeply suspicious of the motives of the Chinese on our soil. Before Grahamstown I published many of the poems and their Mandarin translations on my blog. So if you go there, you’ll see them, and photographs.
I have no words for this experience, but don’t get me started, I’ll flow like a river. The photographs are on my posterous blog: I’ve changed to Windows 7 and I can’t get the picture thingie to work. I know, I was like you, I also thought there’s no such thing as a free launch. But I was proved wrong by the people who have opened their hearts and their wallets to welcome the book. There are more of you than there were before….and that’s all we poets can be grateful for.
by Phillippa Yaa on Oct 17th, 2011
Is Pretoria ready…? The response is a heady YES!!!! We’ve been doing it, from Uhuru wa maisha to Street Poets, Unisa, Writers Forum and Penseed.
And this time Spoken Mind will get down with our first lady of spoken word, Lebo Mashile…
Spoken word is our most vibrant and popular literary form – the above initiatives are just a handful of the many groups and creative gatherings attracting lovers of the word. Spoken Mind brings together several strands of a movement that combines music and poetry to create extraordinary events, talks and competitions which are a way to share understanding of what poetry is, to explore the nuts and bolts of a poet’s daily journey through the world.
“Spoken Mind uses spoken word/poetry and the arts as a medium to facilitate social change.” Don’t forget that you can pledge (not in money) to one of our projects, Pledge-a-Pad.. check it out on www.spokenmind.net under our projects,” says Matthew Mokoena, poet and organizer of the Spoken Mind events.
“I hope that the project fuels curiosity about writing, and brings a new layer of readers into the bookstores and libraries, eager to find their world reflected in print, eager to learn more about the craft of writing,” says de Villiers. “Young people are hungry for experienced artists to share their journey with them. We want to give them exactly what we seek when we listen to artists who have already traveled further down the path to discover their voices and their main influences.”
This is not a poetry session, it is a celebration of our local artists… an intimate look into who they are and what inspires their work. Hosted by Phillippa Yaa de Villiers…the first episode of the series will bring Lebo Mashile right to your very doorstep.
The show features local band Quest and the Intervarsity Spoken Mind Competition winners, Phomolo “Flex” Sekamotho and Given “Illustrative” Masilela. It runs from 3pm until 7pm at the Mushroom Lounge, Cnr Schoeman and Nelson Mandela Streets. Tickets are R120 each at the door and R200 per couple. Order your tickets at tickets@spokenmind.net or contact matthew@spokenmind.net
by Phillippa Yaa on Oct 17th, 2011
And if you don’t know their surnames you should google them quickly
they’re the continent’s hottest exponents of the art form of POETRY.
I love the word launch as it is almost a raunch over lunch,
a festival of flirting, of preening and skirting
the salient topic: wanna come home with me?
This innocence piques the lover, as it hints at delights
under covers and we can’t wait to get home
and be alone with the book that we have chosen.
NO SERENITY HERE LAUNCH AT POETRY AFRICA
ELIZABETH SNEDDON THEATRE
6PM WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER
by Phillippa Yaa on Oct 11th, 2011
Programme for the Jozi launch of No serenity here, 12 October, Wits Writing Centre, 5-7pm
Welcome and introduction to the launch (Dr Pamela Nichols, head of the
Wits Writing Centre)
Introduction of the book, Prof Andries Oliphant, the poets Veronique
Tadjo and Makhosazana Xaba and Mr Hwang Liang Shuang
No Serenity Here – a literary context – Prof Oliphant
Readings:
Veronique Tadjo
Makhosazana Xaba
Phillippa Yaa reads No Serenity Here (by Keorapetse Kgositsile who can’t be there unfortunately)
Selected poems read in Mandarin by Mr Hwang
questions and comments
by Phillippa Yaa on Oct 10th, 2011
Representing Cote d’Ivoire in the poetry anthology No Serenity Here, Véronique Tadjo (Côte d’Ivoire) was born in Paris, France, but was brought up in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. She has a doctorate in African American Literature and Civilization from the Sorbonne. She has travelled extensively in Africa, Europe and the United States. Tadjo has conducted writing workshops in several countries. She has published two collections of poems. Her novel Reine Pokou [Queen Pokou] was awarded the prestigious literary Prize
“Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noire” in 2005. After spending a few years in Kenya and in England, she nowlives in South Africa where she is Head of French Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
An excerpt from A mi-chemin:
On ne part pas sans perdre du sang. Tu
reviens, le coeur plein de boones intentions.
Mais tes yeux parcourent la ville et tu tombes
de haut. Il faut tout reprendre à zero.
Tu veux toucher les autres, ceux à qui tu
pensais, là-bas, dans ton exil souterrain. Leur
peau est flétrie. Leurs visages se creusent de
rides assombries et la solitude se lit dans le
fond de leurs yeux.
Le retour, ah oui, le retour! Pour apprendre
que la mort était là avant toi et que les
oiseaux sont parties avec les dernières pluies.
En vérité, la solitude n’a pas de nom,
puisque’elle se cache dans les recoins de ton
corps. Elle se cache en suivant le chemin de
tes veines, la ligne de ta colonne vertébrale et
le marécage dense de ton esprit en éveil. ….
Makhosazana Xaba is a South African poet who has published two books of poetry: these hands (Timbila, 2005)
and Tongues of their Mothers (UKZN Press, 2008). Her short stories, essays and poetry have appeared in many
anthologies. She regularly writes profiles of women artists, poets, playwrights, film makers and writers for the South African Labour Bulletin and is writing a biography of Noni Jabavu. Her four children’s books were published by Nutrend Publishers. In 2005 she won the Deon Hofmeyr Award for Creative Writing for her then unpublished short story, Running. She holds a Diploma in Journalism with distinction) from the Werner Lamberz International Institute of Journalism and an MA in Writing (with distinction) from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has a long history for feminist activism, specialized in women’s health.
Speaking of hearts
It is hard to drag a painful heart everywhere she goes.
So, she packs it in a drawer where she keeps her underwear
to comfort it with the warmth of intimacy. Then
goes out with a friend; watch a movie, have dinner.
When her friend asks: how is your heart?
She answers: resting, awash with memories.
——————————————————————————————————
* The Launch of No Serenity Here takes place at Wits Writing School on Wednesday 12 October at 5 – 7pm. Please RSVP to Phillippa Yaa de Villiers phillippayaa@gmail.com
by Phillippa Yaa on Oct 10th, 2011
Poetry provides the opportunity for writers to explore a range of
subject matter in a relatively short space. We decided to divide No
serenity here into five areas of exploration:
1) landscapes and change
2) identity, history and language;
3) oppression and resistance
4)love
5) hope and the future
The most enjoyable aspect of putting this book together was the
conversations with the poets and translators, which went on over
months. Translation issues are never resolved; yet I don’t regret that
I took up this opportunity to engage with Mandarin poets over arguably
the most personal and emotional literary form. The time that we spent
with these scholars of literature, although short and hampered by severe language
challenges, was invaluable.
The book was commissioned by Xiancheng Hu, a visual artist and
philanthropist and patron of the Moonchu Foundation which was
responsible for restoring the historic Jianxhu Writers Retreat (a
17th century writer’s retreat some 120km from Shanghai and I really
hope that I spelled it right). As guests of Mr Hu and the Foundation,
the entire team that put the book together was invited to spend two
days at this historic site, resting, conversing and reflecting on what
we had done. It was overwhelming. It has really taken me a year to
process the experience -
Perhaps the pictures will say more about the place, and give an idea
of how it was. It was – ancient, revered, ongoing, quotidian,
intimidating, beautiful. The translators are ordinary Chinese people
with extraordinary sensitivity and skill with the Mandarin language as
well as the various languages that our selected African poets use:
English, French, Arabic, Amharic and Portuguese. Besides the alarm
bells of China ‘taking over’ Africa, this was a once in a lifetime to
interact with an ancient culture of poetry, and to share what I love
about African poetry with a different audience.
In http://paper-republic.org/news/newsitems/106/?utm_c, Bruce Hume
asks about the publication of African literature in China. Owner of
one of the major publishers which has produced Chinese translations of
some African works, Zhou Xuan says “Africa is a magical land and its
nature and peoples seem to be beckoning to us from afar,” continues
Zhou. “But as far as we can see, the themes in current African writing are rather
narrow, such as the relationship between whites and people of color in the post-apartheid period,
recollections of that era, and so forth.
“This isn’t to say that Chinese readers aren’t interested in such
themes, but the key is whether these narratives possess depth, or are particularly moving or
infused with new significance. Of course, everyone looks forward to new books that
revolve around Africa’s own homegrown motifs.”
When I came home I started attending Chinese lessons. In the eight
months that I’ve been busy with this project, I have learnt that I
know nothing and will have to start again. My teacher Mr Hwang Liang
Shuang will be reading the Mandarin on Wednesday when we launch No
Serenity Here at the Wits Writing Centre.
Come visit my blog www.de-Scribe.posterous.com for more photos
Launch: No Serenity Here
Venue: Wits Writing Centre
Date: 2011 October 12
Time: 5pm
