{"id":48286,"date":"2023-03-22T16:53:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T14:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/bloemnuus\/poetry-speaks-to-life-preserving-water-20230322\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T04:29:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T02:29:41","slug":"poetry-speaks-to-life-preserving-water-20230322","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/bloemnewsexpress\/poetry-speaks-to-life-preserving-water-20230322\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry speaks to life-preserving water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"\"

<\/p>\n

The winner, Sithembele Xhegwana. <\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"

<\/p>\n

Jeannie McKeown<\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"

<\/p>\n

Antreka Tladi<\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Today (22\/03) is World Water Day and AVBOB celebrated the occasion with a mini poetry competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AVBOB Poetry Project invited poets to submit poems for the latest mini-competition on the theme \u2018Water is life\u2019. The competition, which ran in February, invited South African poets to share their personal experiences and reflections. The winners were announced today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first-prize winner was Sithembele Xhegwana, second was Jeannie McKeown, and third was Antreka Tladi. They received cash prizes of R1 000, R700, and R300 respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water is so closely linked to our daily lives that it is impossible to imagine life on earth without it. Even our bodies are mostly made up of it. And yet, water resources are under threat throughout the world. The distribution of water has become a pressing concern in recent years \u2013 not only in South Africa but throughout the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis competition has exceeded all our expectations,\u201d said Johann de Lange, the competition\u2019s chief judge. \u201cThe standard of submissions was very high, and interest in our competition is clearly growing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued: \u201cPoets shared their everyday experiences, but they also clearly tapped into what is sacred for them. As we face increasing challenges because of climate change and the maintenance of infrastructure, the language of poetry is able to express sorrow and concern but also to summon courage and joy. As poets, we are always looking for an image that will touch a nerve and maybe change someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-place winner Xhegwana lives in Makhanda, where he works as a research curator at the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature. He is registered for a PhD in sociology at the Rhodes University. His debut novel, The Faint-Hearted Man<\/em> (Buchu Books, 1991), was longlisted for the Noma Award for publishing in Africa. Besides poetry collections, his work has been featured in anthologies like the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology<\/span>, the Best \u201cNew\u201d African Poets Anthology<\/span>, and Fixing Earth: Africa, UK and Ireland Writers Anthology, Vol. 2<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work is named \u201cOstrich Egg Carrier of the Kalahari\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ostrich Egg Carrier of the Kalahari<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woman<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty ostrich eggs hang from your neck<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinew net tied around your torso<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressing you against yourself<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weighing you down.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threads that run parallel <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to your back<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patterned from dried-up leaves <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the African spear plant<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symbol of yoke and bondage <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From your many life manifestations.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many children<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinging to your back<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perforated ostrich eggs<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Off-spring of the hot Kalahari sands<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epicentre of an eclipsed civilisation.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty ostrich eggs<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full of reed-syphoned water<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vegetal twine plug sealing them off<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calabashes that you never drink from<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Springs that never quench your thirst.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their placentas dried up<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Displaced embryos<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That could never see their infancy<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broken pieces pierced together.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ornamental ostrich egg shell beads<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metamorphosing into dance rattles <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reserved for esoteric activities<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culminating into curative shaman songs <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tantalising rain dances and trances<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second-place winner McKeown is a South African poet, writer and editor living in Makhanda. A collection of her work, Fall Awake<\/span>, was published by Modjaji Books (Cape Town). She has published widely in journals including New Coin, New Contrast, Stanzas and Poetry Potion as well as on The AVBOB Poetry Project\u2019s website, and her work has been featured in several anthologies. She is working on a PhD in Anthropocene studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeveral of my poems have been published on The AVBOB Poetry Project\u2019s website, and I have always been impressed by the excellent feedback I received. As I live in a water scarce area, located in the poorest province of South Africa, this topic is very close to my heart. One night, I was taking a flimsy yellow bucket to fetch water from the tank in my back yard, and it struck me how lucky I am to have such a short way to walk while so many have no running water or water tanks. The poem grew out of this recognition of privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water Crisis<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My bucket is flimsy,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

no good for heavy lifting<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

although water is heavy \u2013 <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ask the women who walk kilometres<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to brown rivers, or township taps,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 litre containers carried<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

on their heads.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Privilege works in strange ways.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I walk only to my back garden, <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to the green tank on its plinth.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bend to half-fill my bucket,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

carry it through the back door.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This first ten litres is for <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the paper-clogged toilet bowl.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another half-bucket drawn,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tipped into the sink <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to soak supper dishes.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am grateful beyond similes<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

for last week\u2019s rain;<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

not enough, never enough,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but the tanks are full. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No amount of rain <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

will solve the water crisis.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The treatment plant fails, <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

pump hydraulics grinding to a halt;<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

machinery rusts unrepaired.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the roads, water pipes split their seams.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raw sewage gathers in dips and streams.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each evening a wave of humanity<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

heads home, west to east,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

carrying a river\u2019s worth of water,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

captured and bottled<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in cheap 5 litre plastic, <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

transported to homes <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

with dry taps <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and no backyard tanks.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third-place winner Tladi, was born in Jane Furse and grew up in Phokwane, where he received his primary and secondary education and currently lives. His poems have been published in local and international journals and anthologies, as well as in The AVBOB Poetry Project library. His poem \u201cThe First Raindrop\u201d was published in the Earth Poetree Collection 2022, and he recently received an African Honoree Authors\u2019 Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith so many people in South Africa and the world struggling to access clean drinking water, I thought I might as well add to the voices highlighting clean water shortages and daily struggles to get water. \u2018Fetching for Water\u2019 was motivated by my personal experiences, growing up in a community that lacked access to safe drinking water. We relied on rain water, rivers and springs for our household water, and I found myself reflecting back to those times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fetching for water <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyday after school I would come home<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drained, dirty and dusty.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother would scold me<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And send me down the spring<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fetch for water.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shove and push the old rusty wheelbarrow<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And race it through the dry Savanna<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fetch for mama\u2019s water.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The empty canisters jump and bounce<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wheelbarrow, sounding like a coming thunder<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a country ravaged by droughts<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where thunderstorms are hard to come by.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then kneeling down besides the spring<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like an alchemist to the sacredness of water;<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patiently with steady a hand<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I scoop the water in a gourd<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And filled the plastic canisters.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filled them with water for mama\u2019s cooking,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filled them with water for mama\u2019s washing,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filled them with water for mama\u2019s cleaning,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filled them with water for our drinking,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For water, is life.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry is one of the most reliable tools we have to forge a deeper connection with the world around us. It challenges us to engage with the parts of our lives we take for granted, and to see them with new eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever challenges are in store for us, one thing is certain: the writing of poems is closely linked to our longing for a better world, and our stubborn faith that it is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AVBOB Poetry Project\u2019s second mini-competition for 2023 was announced on World Poetry Day on Wednesday (21\/03) under the theme \u2018Why poetry means the world to me\u2019. For details on how to enter, visit the AVBOB Poetry Project\u2019s social media channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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