their conviction for a slice of bread, encaging their lips to speak only in parables, ululating and exulting when kings and queens fart in the face of the nation.
Government should know that the censoring of the outspoken and radical does not only paints the wrong picture about the state of poetry in the country, but it idolises the mediocre with monopoly ofimbongisand ungrounded poets who in turn become models to unexposed aspiring poets. Promotion of arts, culture and heritage, as Eduardo Galeano puts it, should not take place in a limbo of pretentiousness, peripheral to the real social and political problems. Truth hurts. But truth heals. A true leader will have courage to face it still.
Conservativeness of a poet is tantamount to silence. As I page through one of the most radical and poetic holy books, I noticed that albeit poetry is not religion but it shapes it too. What would the world be if all poets were to decide to keep quiet? Luke( 19: 40) swiftly responds: If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. The South African poet, in conclusion, should reassert his position within the society, pay urgent attention to the new and drastic reality of the country ' s sociopolitical milieu and other realities of our times. Poetry is an all-weapons-in-one. compatriots are not privileged with such a weapon
At this age whereby the worst are full of passionate intensity, it would be detrimental for the best to lack all conviction. The South African poet needs to whisper in Nelson Mandela ' s ear that: 20 years into the democratic republic, apartheid continues to live with us in the leaking roofs and corrugated walls of shacks, in the bulging stomachs of hungry children, in the darkness of homes without electricity and in the heavy pails of dirty water that rural women carry for long distances to cook and quench their thirst.
Ketlhabathedithobela. Mošate!
David waMaahlamela is a poet, writer and literary scholar. He is a council member of the National English Literary Museum and a literary adviser to the National Arts Council. He is currently a PhD candidate at Rhodes University ' s School of Languages. This article is written in his personal capacity.
Whether the poet choses to use it as a rubber bullet or as a missile, he has to bear in mind that the majority of his
www. megaartists. co. za Aug-Sep 2015 Page 31