In this episode, join Vasti as she tries to find her way back into reading poetry. She speaks to Nondwe Mpuma, whose collection Peach Country was a wonderful invitation back into the form. Nondwe writes about home, in the Eastern Cape, and the landscape matters – its seasons and its patterns, and the daily rituals and habits that are matched to them – time ticks according to that unfolding. These poems are of course much more than that, and happily, Nondwe reads a number of her poems during our conversation.
And then our book recommender today is Maneo Refilhoe Mohale, who is also a wonderful poet, and wrote Everything is a Deathly Flower. We talk about poetry generally and how to access it, and they recommend some brilliant collections: Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Confabulations by Kopano Moroga, ZOM-FAM by Kama La Mackerel, and A History of Disappearance by Sarah Lubal.
This season was made possible by a grant from the National Arts Council.
