Posts

What's in a name

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The poem "The Baptism" by Ijeoma Umebinyo explores one of the persistent "leftovers" from colonialism: changing given, traditional black names to Europian names. This is and was done for various reasons. In order to be baptized a name must sound "holy" (read "white") in the eyes of the colonizers. The white colonizers and those who constructed benefited from apartheid must be able to pronounce it and they have the power to change it. A poem I found on The Kiffness' Facebook page explores this change of name from the perspective of a white person. The speaker in this poem is speaking to the woman who has worked in their home for 29 years. It seems that the speaker has finally been disillusioned to the fact that "Jane" is a false identity. "Jane" is a name that was given to Kgagamatso perhaps so that her employers would be able to communicate with her without having to make too much effort to pronounce her name. It is ...

Exploring Nayyirah Waheed

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I came across Nayyirah Waheed perhaps a year ago while scrolling through the explore page on Instagram. Her work immediately spoke to me. Something about her short poignant poems and how she is able to capture the essence of anything in but a few lines captured my soul and I've been intrigued ever since. The first poem I am looking at today is perhaps one of my favorite works. Ever. The poem speaks of the natural fear anxiety womxn experience when encountering men because of the violences practiced upon our bodies. When that "feminine presence" is in his eyes it is perhaps an indication that that he has unlearned (or is in the process of unlearning) toxic masculinity. It is also a relief (as the next few lines indicate) because it means that the womxn does not have to perform undue emotional and intellectual labor to make him understand but a fraction of her experience. For Waheed of course this sexism practiced upon her body is often racialized as well and the fear ...

Getting creative with "Resurrection"

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Koleka Putuma, whose poems I have been engaging with over the last series of posts, came to visit our class today and facilitated a lesson where we had to creatively engage with one of her poems. Our group chose her poem "Resurrection", especially the lines "There is enough blood lost for us to die  There is enough blood left for us to live"  Here are some of the responses we had: This photo features my reflection in the glass of a framed photo of a floating person clothed in red and white flowing material. The red reminded me of the blood spoken of in the poem and the water the person is floating in reminded me of the water used to wash this blood off of the victims body. In this photo the lines from the poem is written on a torn piece of paper that has soap and water splashed on it. Once again the photo refers to the "washing" of (off) the blood that Putuma refers to. This video clip perhaps represents the two lines most....

Oh dear God, please! Not another rapist

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To the men who raped my sister and left her body in rags next to the highway To the uncle who molested my best friend and still came to family holidays To the ex-lover who assaulted me one drunken night and defended himself by stating where he had previously been allowed to touch To the man who sodomized an 8-year-old boy and left his broken body next to the footpath for the other children to find on their way to school To  all South African sex offenders  and those not even on this list We fight so that one day protecting your identity will be less important than protecting your victims.

Graduation

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"Graduation" is another poem by Koleka Putuma from her anthology Collective Amnesia . This poem deals with growing up and "graduating" from life as a black, queer womxn. Putuma describes this "graduation" leaving your parents' nest. It is a statement, something that WILL happen at one point or another. Because this is framed as a factual statement, the rest can also be interpreted as stated facts. These facts of "graduating" includes realizing that traditions from the speaker's childhood do not fit her own, personal narrative, the speaker is expected to support her family financially, but it is not always possible as she is trying to build her own life. This act of contributing financially will earn her the title of "adult" in the family. But this title is false. The speaker "slips into old roles". She hides things she does not want them to see or know, perhaps her sexuality as they may not be accepting of it. Wh...

The sea and her memories

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how does the sea remember me. every time. - Nayyirah Waheed The sea... The word conjures up images of relaxation and cleansing. Nayyirah Waheed's poem seems little more than the perfect Instagram photo caption. But after reading and analysing "Water" by Koleka Putuma your viewpoint of those words might change. Waheed's poem can thus be read in conversation with that of Putuma's and considering they are both womxn of colour the themes and what the poems speak to, overlap. In her poem "Water" Putuma relates what the sea means to her as a queer womxn of colour. The speaker in the poem starts by telling how fun it was to go to the sea when she was a child "to giggle, to splash in our black tights/ and Shoprite plastic bags wrapped around our new weaves". The speaker continues to tell how black people are often mocked for the way they wipe the water from their face when they exit the water. This is indicative of the young child in the f...

19 July 2017

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I must revel in this loneliness for I have forgotten who I           singularly am - to become me