south african poetry Archivi - One Global Voice

Abigail George, when the word confronts the darkness of paranoia

4 Gennaio 202115 Settembre 2022"Please help revise the jalapenos and Theodore Roethke", Abigail George, feminism, mental illness, South Africa, south african poetry, women poets

“Please help revise the jalapeños and Theodore Roethke” is the title of this poem that introduces us into an unusual yet familiar world. It is a wild territory where reality and dreams meet, where everyday elements remind us of their symbolic dimension and where the voices in our heads start a dialogue with the voices of authors whose books we have read or composers whose music we have listened to. Far from being a mere juxtaposition of images and sounds, Abigail George’s is an accurately structured poem that reveals the struggle for mental well-being and for becoming an independent, emotionally stable woman.

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“Like a candle in the wind”, so we blow out the flame of our life

27 Novembre 202027 Novembre 2020Like a candle in the wind, mental illness, South Africa, south african poetry, suicide, vangile gantsho, women poets

“It’s so difficult, this living thing / two decades sometimes / are more than one can bear”, this is the beginning of this moving poem composed about the sudden death of a very young and talented poet. It is the author herself to explain it, vangile gantsho, South African poet and healer who started to write and create at a young age and developed an interest into confessional and political writing. Although “some scars are too deep / even for poetry”, this poem enlightens the darkest emotions of the human soul that can lead to suicide, a choice no one should quickly label as coward and selfish, the author says.

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