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    South African Treasury of Poems & Prose
    South African Treasury of Poems & Prose
    South African Treasury of Poems & Prose
    Ebook158 pages1 hour

    South African Treasury of Poems & Prose

    By Moitsadi MoetiPh.D.

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    About this ebook

    The ethnographic material in this book derives from a concern with a contemporary south African literary works and Poems, it delves in to the corrective history of the region because otherwise it will be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the post-apartheid South Africa. Thus the material aims to represent the historical events that shaped South African Poetry written in English.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateMar 16, 2012
    ISBN9781468549010
    South African Treasury of Poems & Prose

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      Book preview

      South African Treasury of Poems & Prose - Moitsadi MoetiPh.D.

      Contents

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      SPEECH AND HURTFUL WORDS

      MANDELA: BORN TO LEAD

      SON OF BROTHER KUSH

      PROTEST AGAINST POLL TAX (1906-1907): THE EVIL THAT WAS

      PEACE IS BUT A PRAYER

      MANDELA

      UTATA MANDELA

      RESPONSE

      NELSON MANDELA, OCTOBER 22,1962

      RESPONSE

      FROM MOITSADI

      THE BEST PART OF THE NATURE

      OF HUMAN NATURE

      FRIENDS IN NEED,

      FRIENDS INDEED

      THEIR MYTH:

      AFRICAN DILEMMA

      A RAINBOW NATION

      I SPEAK OF MAPUNGUBWE

      TASTE OF SUGAR

      TOBACCO—KILLED MY SIBLINGS

      TO ALL THE COMRADES

      IZWE LETHU

      IZINKOMO ZETHU

      O BLOEMFONTEIN,

      BAMBATHA O BAMBATHA

      TORRENT OF WORDS!

      MOONLIGHT NIGHT

      SOUND THE DRUM!

      THE HARLOT

      FIRED

      ON MUNRO RIDGE

      DROUGHT

      THE GIRL WHO KILLED

      TO SAVE

      UNKULUNKULU—HIS WISDOM

      LIFE IN THE MINES:

      GOLI, IN THE LAND OF OPHIR

      MY CHILDREN: YOUR REMEMBRANCE OF ME

      (I’LL BE GONE SOMEDAY)

      IN MEMORY OF NICODEMUS

      CHILDREN’S FLYING DOVES

      BEFORE THE

      ADVENT OF WESTERNERS

      TO SOUTH AFRICA

      MAPUNGUBWE

      THE COLOR OF MY SKIN

      FOR THE LOVE OF MY COUNTRY

      APOLOGIA (NKOMATI*)

      WAITING

      OGUN ABIHIMAN

      FROM OGUN ABIBIMAN I INDUCTION

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      The author would like to thank the following for their permission to use copyright material: Wole Soyinka for Ogun Abibiman 1. Induction, After the Deluge, Apologia (Nkomati), and ‘No!’ He Said; President Mandela’s office for Letters written by Mandela during his Incarceration on Robben Island Tim Couzens for Dhlomo The New African: A study of the life and work of H.I.E.

      The University of South Africa for Arthur Nortje: Waiting The author has made every effort to trace copyright holders, but in some cases without success. We shall be very glad to hear from anyone who has been inadvertently overlooked or incorrectly cited and make the necessary changes at the first opportunity.

      INTRODUCTION

      In the presentation of my work I opted to use the term Bantu to signify indigenous aborigines of the country of South Africa. That is, Bantu people are those not introduced from other countries but are native to South Africa. The Wananji of South Africa’s ancestral abode since time immemorial.

      This material (Prose and Poems) presented by the author derives from a concern with the paucity of contemporary South African literary works and poems by Bantu scholars. It delves into the narrative experiential history of the region because otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the post-Apartheid South Africa. Thus, the material aims to also present the historical events that shaped South African literary works and poetry written in English. Unlike previous anthologies, my poems do not include translations from other languages, nor does the writing pretend to be comprehensive either in terms of one particular ethnic group within South Africa or of the continent as a whole. To bring back the memory of the indigenous aborigines of South Africa and their lost pride is the task of my poems. I have attempted to do this by including the work of the first major indigenous Bantu poet and playwright, Herbert Dhlomo. As a consequence of my interest in corrective literary works, I focused on presenting my work written in the perspective of South African experiences and unique in style but, there is also an attempt to achieve a trend common to African writers responding to their immediate environment. That is why some historical events, especially written by President Nelson Mandela have been given more space than others, and why entire works north of South Africa have been omitted altogether. President Mandela’s work is presented in order to give the reader a sense of understanding the development of his magnificent oratory, and literary talent; more especially of presenting such literature under the most oppressive conditions of the Apartheid regime. Indeed, President Mandela’s work and letters are capable of educating and influencing the minds of those familiar and unfamiliar with South African history.

      My poems are intended to reveal Apartheid’s most notorious strategy of dehumanizing the indigenous Bantu population. Nevertheless, the political presentation, devoted to my poems and collection is a reflection of the excellent hope for political positivism, which was found within a tradition of resistance towards the violent nature and the dehumanization of mainly Bantu by the concurrent events under the Apartheid regime. Even a cursory reading of my poems, reveals that now is the most opportune time to respond to the conditions that prevailed in South Africa over several decades.

      Implicit in my material is the assumption that the reader will explore the integral of bitter memories depicted by the indigenous Bantu. I do so because I believe that this sets my own exposition and conclusions within their proper perspective. Thus, my poems attempt to break the vicious circle of the lack of knowledge about South Africa and brings forward an attempt to reveal the historical events of the region using the literary language and words.

      SPEECH AND HURTFUL WORDS

      By Moitsadi

      A Speech can articulate hurtful words

      Which like daggers, pierce my heart

      and sing the melody in my pierced muscle and soul

      In unison, speech and hurtful words long to devastate

      and make me emit red fluid that my heart circulates

      Hurtful sharp words with quick strides pierce like daggers

      that aim for my hollow heart, their function to dislodge

      Shoots to kill, brandishing daggers that cause extreme pain

      Leaving my life to languish under words’ debilitating harm

      Brandishing daggers and hurtful words make me cower

      when I remember that these devastating words can

      transform even the most stately human being

      into a hanging, beaten, destitute spider-cocoon

      Barely clinging to the last shreds of sanity

      Of precious sanity, seeking but a simple morpheme

      that would temporarily refrain from speech

      Words of a speech are deft and dexterous yet can

      fall trippingly off the tongue with a combination

      of sounds that can symbolize the meaning of pain

      A speech with supple words and remarks

      sometimes made to ease my hurt bounce against

      my aching hollow heart causing more pain

      But a speech is never satisfied in precise form

      until it runs rampant in screams of silent’s demise

      After the daggers of a speech reach death’s final pain

      its words brace my soul’s core with sworn intentions:

      to find that pinnacle of pain immersed in verbiage

      Yet words of a speech are my only weapons

      And I could use them to tear my foes apart

      ’cause it sickens me to remember that for centuries

      my oppressors used their speech to dehumanize me

      Leave me stricken, terrified, desolate, bewildered, broken

      I turned out weaker and emptier than I could ever be

      when I realized that the sum total of my stability and

      humanity was destroyed by my oppressors’ curse-words

      This exacerbated the pain in my heart and flesh

      Shyly my expectant eyes gaze up to heaven

      for the confirmation of my hope that these words

      could come to an end or put heaven in their tone

      My faith in the heaven’s judgment and absolute trust

      that this peculiar bond between speech and words

      will finally heal my bleeding soul to rehumanize me and

      shed all evil words to heal the pulse in my heart

      Have power to stop the daggers from piercing my heart and soul

      For I do need a complete obstruction of the pain in my heart

      Born%20To%20Lead.jpg

      Born to lead. Mandela addressing the United Nations in 1990.

      MANDELA: BORN TO LEAD

      By Moitsadi

      Four score and a dozen years of life

      Seared Bantu blood-stains on your soul’s doorsteps

      Seared red scarlet pangs of sacrifice; recollections

      Waiting, anticipating to be a century old

      Oppressors tried to drain you until they capitulated

      Even in grief they failed to bow you down

      Stubborn, you stood where no soul hoped to live

      Because you are the one—born to

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