INDABA Book Café in Bulawayo is set to host a poetry session for women on Thursday as part of celebrations of World Poetry Day that was marked on March 21.
OWN CORRESPONDENT
The café hosted two of the country’s leading poets John Eppel and Togara Muzanenhamo for the launch of Textures by the two on World Happiness Day last Friday.
Poetry lovers enjoyed poems from Eppel and Muzanenhamo as they chanted their works capturing the attention of the audience.
Eppel, who mixes South African and Zimbabwean experiences, is both a poet and prose writer boasting up to five novels and two poetry collections as well as two verse collaborations.
His poetry is uniquely personal, short and provocative, harping on the subconscious and striking the reader with depth and consideration.
Muzanenhamo writes longer poems with a world outlook. He has a keen interest in what happens to people and what they do. He writes about a wrenched World Cup soccer game as much as he would about the local rural landscape.
Both poets read a selection of four poems each. Muzanenhamo displayed a rather sad and pensive poetic persona that cultured a deep look into his poetic mind from the audience. His voice was a little subdued forcing the audience to pay close attention to the reading.
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Eppel preferred a more boisterous and loud presentation punctuated by jokes and smiles. He had a lighthearted approach to his poetry.
The Indaba Café is an equally unique intimate place. The launch room was a small rectangular hall with deep orange and pinkish walls.
It is a narrow room creating closeness in the audience making it easier to communicate and exchange ideas.
One cannot escape the elitist feel exuded by the place with selective audience and pensive academic and erudite atmosphere. The administration is a very serious lot starting the launch right on time and running the entire show on clockwork efficiency.
Interludes and breaks were musical from mbira and the mbira keys seemed to blend well creating that additional spiritual lift needed to underline poetry presentations.
There was that finger tart, biscuit, little scone and something in a tray that the audience picked and chewed while serious poetry reading went on.
Much as white audiences are getting rare, the Eppel-Muzanenhamo launch had a bumper white presence although they are hardly seen on the streets of Bulawayo.
