
R180.00
The Summer We Didn’t Die is Christine Coates’ third poetry collection. It is an assured, tender collection that offers the reader a way to think about the mysteries at the heart of what it means to be human, in this place and time.
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The Summer We Didn't Die by Christine Coates
Christine Coates casts her eye over the arc of her life, sweeping from childhood memories to Covid-19. In richly crafted, she recalls the sights and sounds of childhood, from party lines to fêtes, to a beloved grandparent and early loss. Life as a young woman in Johannesburg comes with its own pleasures and early love. There are poems of her travels; of the quiet intimacies of a long marriage and meditations on aging. Politics is echoed in the resounding roar of Marikana and a woman’s performance art. And then there is life under Covid-19 lockdown and the small pleasures of baking bread and growing quinces.