The poet's voice was, indeed, always able
to come out strongest when things seemed
to go wrong. At this age whereby poetry in
most parts of the world is under pressure of
justifying its importance and relevance, in
South Africa it is clear that poetry has been,
and continues to be the soul of the nation.
Needless to say, poetry ignorant of its
reality is not only corruption of feelings, but
an indecent assault of the craft itself. No
matter how much duende one's poetry has,
if its conviction fails to convince us that it
belongs to our time even though what it
tells is really old, such can be deemed a
blatant waste of trees and ink.
are, or should be purely perceptible forms
that embody some sort of feeling. Poetry,
at its best, proves that if a picture tells a
million words, then a poem portrays a
million pictures. A rounded poet treats
words like they were melody, colour,
shape and movement, which they are, if
you think poetically. Poetry can be about
anything and everything, including sociopolitical aspects of life. Poetry does not
even have to be an intellectual pursuit,
albeit it shapes intellectuality. Sometimes
good poetry can be a masterpiece of
nonsense, such that in its topsy-turvy
world the craziest things might seem
ordinary, and the most common thing
might seem out of place.
No theme is unpoetic. Furthermore, there
are times when one cannot afford to be
apolitical. In spite of the self-appointed
poetry gurus' rigid and crude monolithic
views, poetry remains the uncontainable,
the untameable, and the ungovernable at
its best. Poetry rationalises the irrational,
proving that scientists and philosophers
have their own limitations. And that
language is technically incapable to break
down abstract emotions to explain how, for
instance, one joy differs from the other.
Most importantly, it publicly strips rules,
exposes their incapability to rule
themselves.
When Ezra Pound referred to poetry as
“news that stays news”, he surely did not
mean sheer reporting. A poet's main
obligation, if I may call it, is to write. Write
poetry which will, without any form of
censorship or favour, look at the storm of
our time straight in the eye and say: I too
can, with my soulful tunes, command
clouds to gather, agitate the Atlantic with
wind of conviction to whirl and swirl you
apart. Poetry of engagement does not
have to disengage itself from artistic
beauty.
Judging a poem on the basis of its
message or theme perfectly exposes the
judge's lack of poetic backbone. Poetry is
not limited to words or message. At his best
the poet is a jazzman, he makes wordless
sound carry and convey dense feelings no
raw language could. But still, not all poems
Writing poetry on socio-political issues
does not necessarily suggest that one
should surrender to the entanglement of
the political octopus. Party politics can,
and has tamed many poets with the red
tape of “political correctness”. Many poets
were forced by party affiliation to trade-in
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Aug-Sep 2015
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