April 2016
Harriet Tubman in the news, twice
Posted on Monday, April 25th, 2016
FOR STERLING PLUMPP When Harriet Tubman heard the thunder of the guns and saw their terrible lightning and the blood and the dead bodies your voice was there Your voice was born and borne in the muddy waters of the delta way before a brother had been through enough to ...
Read More
Read More
Posted on Monday, April 18th, 2016
The late Léopold Sédar Senghor was a renowned writer but only recently has a significant volume of his work been translated from French to Serer, reported Ndéla Faye from the village of Fadial, Senegal, to the UK's The Guardian newspaper in March this year. Senghor co-founded, with Aimé Cés ...
Read More
Read More
Al-Massri: The Genesis of a Poem
Posted on Monday, April 18th, 2016
The Genesis of a Poem (The foreword to Barefoot Souls, Tr. Theo Dorgan, Arc Publications, 2015) It is always difficult to recognize the moment that gives birth to a poem, and even more difficult to grasp all the circumstances that surround and accompany the moment. Even if one knows th ...
Read More
Read More
Deguy’s Prose/Prosa
Posted on Monday, April 18th, 2016
Prose / Prosa Michel Deguy, France Tu me manques mais maintenant Pas plus que ceux que je ne connais pas Je les invente criblant de tes faces La terre qui fut riche en mondes (Quand chaque roi guidait une île à l’estime de ses biens (cendre d’ Oiseaux, manganèse et ...
Read More
Read More
use words to shape a new imaginary
Posted on Friday, April 15th, 2016
My conviction is that every writer should be an activist and every activist a poet, someone who tries to use words to shape a new imaginary. Excerpts from an article by Mark Heywood, titled Democracy and the writer, as published by the Daily Maverick, Opinionistas, on 30 March. The article is ba ...
Read More
Read More
Fernão the Gardener has Premonitions
Posted on Monday, April 11th, 2016
By Yvette Christiansë There is a stain on the horizon. It leaks into the world, covers the linens, covers the faces and turns this ocean, shuddering, from its course. I speak two tongues – one dressed in syllables of government, shielded by amen and hallelujah, the ...
Read More
Read More
Ko Un en vriend by Kersefontein
Posted on Friday, April 8th, 2016
Ko Un en vriend by Kersefontein Breyten Breytenbach op Kersefontein se werf hurk die ou digter langs die vaal hond met die deursigtige oë en die twee praat land en sand aanmekaar in ‘n ewigheid van stilte ...
Read More
Read More
From Dakar, Senegal
Posted on Thursday, April 7th, 2016
From slam poet Diamil, Moustapha Ciss, who alongside Vendredi Slam partner, Jabir, participated in dancing in other words 2014, this contribution to diow 2016: VICTIMES Cent cinquante millions de la population mondiale Cinquante mille dans les rues du Sénégal Nous avons tous la même mère ...
Read More
Read More
Honorary doctorate for James Matthews
Posted on Monday, April 4th, 2016
Rhodes University in Grahamstown has recently awarded poet James Matthews an honorary doctorate. Yazeed Kamaldien writes... In an interview with Weekend Argus, Matthews, said he was not “flippant” about his awards from universities, governments and others. But he wanted to see anti-aparth ...
Read More
Read More
Efe Paul Azino
Posted on Monday, April 4th, 2016
Lost by Efe Paul Azino ...
Read More
Read More
flags
Posted on Saturday, April 2nd, 2016
from Bill, a poem and a smile
Posted on Friday, April 1st, 2016
Your smile your smile could get a job in a circus as an acrobat Dear Dominique, Breyten, Marí wishing you an even more wonderful DIOW this May. I'll be eagerly observing your word-dancing, wine-drinking and travels from up here in the other hemisphere, with much nostalgia. With fondest w ...
Read More
Read More
