VOICES
Aura Mlilo
GM.: Tell us a little bit
about Aura.
Aura: I am a poet. First and
foremost I am mother, a wife,
a daughter. And I happen to
do other things on the side
that include singing, acting, I
host a web show called the
Nafuna show. I am also a
radio personality at Star FM;
I co-host the drive show
called the 263 Drive with
Leekay and Phathisani. I
make jewelry. I’m a jewelry
designer. That’s pretty much.
Oh, I’m a nerd in the making.
GM.: and when did you get
into poetry?
The name Aura is synonymous with
“urban” poetry in Zimbabwe. Aura
Mlilo, a.k.a Aura the poet, has a very
calm yet loveable personality which
exudes a lot of positive energy. We
kind of invaded her home space and sat
down with Aura, as she shared with us
her journey so far, future projects and
maybe catch on a bit of her aura…
Aura: I started poetry when I
was twelve. And it started
because I did a lot of allied
arts, public speaking and I
was always reciting other
people’s poetry. And I loved
poetry. So my teacher said
that you can also do it. So he
was always making us write
poetry, so from that point on
it stopped being a thing
about school and it became
more about if I wanted to
write poetry. I could write
poetry.
GM.: So how has your
journey been?
Aura: (With excitement) It’s
Groove Magazine Zimbabwe
fun. It’s been incredible
because it started off
structured, with really big
words you know, to then
becoming this artist, to
poems then becoming so
deep that it really don’t
make sense. And now I’m
finding my poetry
becoming basic. At some
point I threw away the
rules, but I find that I have
readopted some of the
rules. My poems are now
about one topic. I don’t
write as much as I used to.
Now I find that I write, if
there is something to
actually write about.
GM.: How has the
response been to your
poetry?
Aura: The response has
been really good. People
have been really supportive
of the poetry. I didn’t think
that it would be something
that people would really
enjoy but I was pleasantly
surprised.
GM.: What do you think
about poetry in
Zimbabwe?
Aura: You know what, I
think that it’s still not
taken seriously . You know
it’s viewed as a hobby and
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