When my friend Dr Surreya Mohamed added me to Hafez Poetry site at the beginning of 2018, i had no idea of how poetry would consume me . I had never given it any serious thought and in that sense I am a poet by default . This instance and the indulgence of many fine poets , but mainly Maria Dulce Leitao Reis , has culminated in this body of work .
In retrospect this is hardly surprising as i am a product of apartheid and its injustices. The result of this is the firm outspoken views i hold against oppression, exploitation and the abuse so prevalent in the global social fabric . I am also an advocate of environmental issues and animal rights . All the food for relevant poetry .
It would have been easy for me to descend into a tirade of protest poetry , but i saw the danger of even that altruism polluting my humanity and my identity as an earthling. It is difficult in a polarized world ; where so few have so much and so many have almost nothing ; to displace yourself into the third..
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Poetry Planet Joined: Feb-28-2018 |
I cannot catalogue myself in normal terms because of all the things i've done and places i''ve seen in addition to the abnormal society that spawned me .
I was born in Johannesburg , South Africa in the township of Newclare to a rebel father and powerful mother . I grew up in a place where gangsters, drug addicts , intellectuals , artists and priests all rubbed shoulders . This place , though much changed , has coloured my outlook ever since .
I schooled for a long time in the mountains and vineyards of the Cape , from where I explored the natural beauty and wonders of my own country . To this day i have an innate love of nature embedded in my soul .
My tetiary studies have explored a vast array of subjects and I have in a hit and miss way ended up as an architectural technologist more by default than anything else. My love for physics , philosophy and history remains paramount . I have been told I am not a bad painter either .
Apartheid has foisted on me a deep vehemence of..
