WEALTH OF IDEAS

Sometime in 1986 Dambudzo Marechera wrote a series of poems entitled "There's a Dissident in the Election Soup". These poems make up Chapter 11 of the post-humously published Cemetry of Mind , compiled and edited by Flora Veit-Wild. Since Zimbabweans are voting on Saturday, March 29, it is important to ponder upon what Marechera had to say about the voting process, that is, if the poems are even about elections. In "A Strong Case for Crap Artists by One Againsts Them", Marechera writes: The soil we cherish as country or continent Is but humanity turned to dust, to grass, to tree And many a tear shed for fallen friend returns next As admired landscape wrenching a dewy drop in the cause of Art. Was he talking about the underdevelopment of Africa that makes the continent appear like it's regressing while others are progressing? That we cherish being African is indeed true and sound, a valid assertion. "Humanity turned to dust" alludes to death, ...

In his Poetry Home Repair Manual , Ted Kooser advises poets to remember that poetry uses language, which is meant to enable communication with other people. He aptly describes the poet's job as not involving writing works only the poet can understand, but ones that make sense to the reader. On the same day I read this advice, I also chanced upon Charles Simic's Sixty Poems . I think when one becomes a US Poet Laureate, there is really nothing stopping him or her from using titles like Poems, Forty Poems, My Poems , etc. I bought Simic's book (I have read many good reviews about him and his current title is something to make a reader curious). So far I have read the first three poems of Sixty Poems . I fell in love with the first two, "Toward Nightfall" and "Against Whatever It is That's Encroaching". The third one, "St. Thomas Acquinas" started off strong, immediately arresting me with its first line: "I left parts of myself everywhere...

"A combi belched down, birds flapping away from billowing exhaust fumes. Up it hurtled past the speed limit towards us from the rank after engorging a load of workers. We all swept back, afraid for indispensable body parts, if not life itself. Next the driver applied the brakes which wailed more acutely than a bereaved family, and even though the vehicle had only slowed without coming to a stop, at that small concession, everybody heaved forward, like starving people toward a sack of grain, so eager were we to get where we were going." Source: Per Contra Magazine. Comment: Handled by Tsitsi Dangarembga, words wail.

So I hear some former and current graduate students of the Iowa Writers' Workshop are mad about the university's plan to digitalize MFA theses. These texts, improperly named "theses" since they are creative works like novels and poetry collections, would be force-published on the university library's website; they would then become available to all of us through Google and other search engines. The writers, now up in arms, argue this is unfair and should not be implemented since it will lower the commercial value of their creative writing. Really, is there anything wrong with having one novel (thesis) posted online by an institution like the Iowa Worshop? Isn't it a way of credibly displaying one's work? Oh, but the writers are saying the work might be embarrassing, and others think that's publication without consent.

It must feel good to be one of the premier authors of Zimbabwe, basking in the sunshine of fame and credibility; it must feel great to sit there and watch new talent cropping up and standing firm amidst hardhships; it must feel good to be Charles Mungoshi, who has just given his stamp of approval to Memory Chirere's Tudikidiki , a collection of Shona short stories. In his recent review of the collection in the Sunday Mail , Mungoshi writes: "These stories don’t fail to tickle your rib, if not riddle your mind. These are serious adult stories (despite appearances to the contrary) written with a poet’s sensibilities." Update : "It must feel good to be one of the premier authors of Zimbabwe, basking in the sunshine of fame and credibility." Perhaps, this is not an appropriate description of a writer's life in present-day Zimbabwe. In fact, I wish writers like Mungoshi, Hove, and others were in a situation where they continued to enjoy the proceeds from books t...

I have been taking all kinds of photos to find the best for the cover of my up-coming poetry collection entitled Forever Let Me Go. If you are looking at this picture, check the others below it and tell me which would make for a book cover.

There is a gap in the study of African literature, and African scholars or scholars of African literature need to step up to the demands of this literary niche: Literary Biography. There was once a time when Eurocentric critics like Adrian Roscoe and Charles Larson charged African literature of being the product of short-distance runners; the novels were always too short to command serious attention, these critics argued, and they thus relegated the literature only to journalistic, and anthoropological documents about a continent beleagured by many problems. Well, they were writing in the 70s and 80s, and now things have changed. The literature has matured; Africa is now celebrating 50 years of one of its landmark novels, Things Fall Apart . This novel, together with many others written in English, French, Portugueese, Gikuyu, Shona, and dozens of other languages, have produced proteges that have elevated the literature to widespread attention. As the literature has explanded, so too ...

"Zimbabwe is a very complex issue. I think one of the most common misconceptions is that everything would work out in my country if President Mugabe were removed from office. This is a frighteningly simplistic and reductionist way of looking at a problem that has historical antecedents stretching back over a century. It is very unfortunate that some of our major opposition parties take this position because I think that such an over-simplification prevents the level of analysis we require to come up with solutions" .-- Tsitsi Dangarembga in an interview with Per Contra. I have always turned to writers for insights on issues bedevilling one country or another, after newspapers and TV have failed me.

I was going through some of my old Shona poetry and I came across a line I wrote in 1995: "Makakomborerwa zvenyu imi munofumokwekweta mazheke eti-i." [Blessed are you who can afford to drink tea in the mornings]. Very poor translation, of course, but the point comes across. The poem goes on to talk about how this one family wakes up and just sits, facing a cold fireplace, nothing to cook, no tea to look forward to. The poetry I wrote then focused on the economic changes that the SAP in Zimbabwe had brought, back when IMF was seeking to assist the country in such issues as trade liberalization and educational reform ("Stop providing free education!"). I remember that the temper of the day was to distrust the SAP, to look at it suspiciously. Then there was another approach that was suspicious of the government conceding to the demands of IMF and other international interests, but regardless of how we looked at the matter, we, as university students, knew that whatever...

Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California, is accepting submissions for the Spring 2008 issue of Cosumnes River Journal . See below: Are you a writer? A photographer? Please consider contributing your creative work to Cosumnes River College’s literary publication We want your: short stories essays, including autobiographical narrative, criticism, + interviews poems art (b + w photos) Submissions: Please email your contributions to Heather at hutcheh@crc.losrios.edu Include: No more than 5 poems or photos per entry; limit your short stories + essays to 2 contributions per submission deadline More Information: Call 916.691.7492 Deadline for the Spring 08 issue : e-mail your work by 03.10.08 We are committed to publishing emerging + established writers, including Cosumnes River College students,faculty, staff, + the rest of the world. Please reply to hutcheh@crc.losrios.edu.