PLUMTREE-BASED poet Kwanele Khumalo (28) last month released his debut poetry collection, Stolen Village Drum.
With a unique voice that weaves together themes of love, cultural loss, poverty and social justice, Khumalo’s poetry is a powerful reflection of his experiences and observations.
Stolen Village Drum is a metaphor that symbolises lost love, cultural and power loss to the cunning.
Khumalo (pictured), of Tshankwa in Plumtree, explains that drums are an important part of village life, used to communicate important messages and summon people to traditional courts.
The stolen drum represents the loss of cultural heritage and the power dynamics that favour those who are cunning and opportunistic.
One of the dominant themes in the book is love.
Khumalo shares his personal experiences of heartbreak and longing, particularly in his poems about Monica and Nezipho.
“Many poems in the book speak about love, which is my experience with a girl called Monica that I loved so much and she just woke up and said she no longer loved me,” he said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
However, Khumalo’s poetry goes beyond personal experiences to tackle broader social issues such as poverty, drug addiction and political violence.
His poem about street kids highlights the struggles they face, while the one on political violence revisits the massacres that happened in Matabeleland in the 1980s.
“As a poet, I advocate for the violence to be addressed as a genocide, which government does not want,” he said.
Khumalo said his poetry was not just about highlighting problems, but also about offering solutions and wisdom.
