Afrows: Words of Subversion

By Afrows

Afrows: Words of Subversion is a provocative anthology of protest poetry and prose, written by five students from the University of Cape Town. From 'Avengers of Fezekile' – which imagines an all-womxn anti-rape vigilante group – to texts that interrogate endemic racism, homophobia and government corruption in post-apartheid South Africa, Afrows bellows the defiant hopes of a new generation of Afrikan writers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Afrows
• Release date: Nov 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9780620781022

Afrows

Afrows: Words of Subversion is an anthology of poems and prose by the following young writers: Tshepiso Mashinini, 21, was born in Johannesburg, and is currently majoring in English Literature and International Relations at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Mashinini deals extensively with sexual violence, gender inequality, political protest and environmentalism in her writing. She intends to enrol in an LLB in 2018, and hopes to combine a career in environmental law with writing. Sthandwa Mbelle, 21, was born in Midrand, and is majoring in English Literature and Psychology at UCT. In addition to continuing her academic studies, Mbelle aspires to travel the world in order to learn about psychology from different cultural perspectives, and then to apply this knowledge back in South Africa in order to contribute to a healthier, more harmonious country. Nolitha Ngamlana, 21, was born and raised in Gugulethu, and is majoring in English Literature and Media Production at UCT. Ngamlana’s poetry deals with themes such as dispossession, discrimination and white hegemony. Ngamlana aims to pursue a career in writing, and hopes to contribute to strengthening basic education in South Africa. Lubabalo Ngejane, 23, from Gugulethu, is majoring in English Literature and Media & Writing at UCT. Ngejane came out as gay at the age of 16, and his writing explores the struggles of being a young, gay, black man in contemporary South Africa. An avid reader and film aficionado, Ngejane hopes to pursue a career as a feature writer and novelist. Matimu Rikhotso, 20, was born in Tzaneen, Limpopo, and went to school in Johannesburg. He is currently enrolled in UCT’s BA in Film Production: Screenwriting. Rikhotso aspires to a career in writing in which he can work on creating imaginative, Afrocentric fiction. His poetry is primarily concerned with empowering a nuanced black identity and confronting problematic masculinities.

Book preview

Tshepiso Mashinini

Sthandwa Mbelle

Nolitha Ngamlana

Lubabalo Ngejane

Matimu Rikhotso

© Tshepiso Mashinini, Sthandwa Mbelle, Nolitha Ngamlana, Lubabalo Ngejane and Matimu Rikhotso, 2017, all rights reserved

Afrows: Words of Subversion

Published by the UCT Centre for Creative Writing

AC Jordan Building, University Avenue, Upper Campus,

University of Cape Town, Rondebosch,

Cape Town, South Africa, 7701

www.afrows.com

ISBN 978-0-620-78102-2

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this eBook. Provided it remains in its complete original form, you are welcome to reproduce, copy and distribute it for non-commercial purposes.

Edited by Judd Yadid and Londiwe Gamedze

Cover art by Thabiso Lindani

CONTENTS

HEAT OF RESISTANCE

MAP TO MOTHERLAND

I WAS EMPTY. I WAS NUMB.

SODIUM HYDROXIDE

THE LEECHING FINGERNAIL

BOYS WHO CRY

UMGODI OWESIFAZANE

AVENGERS OF FEZEKILE

PHANTASMAGORIA

LUST AS A RITUAL OF SELF-LOATHING

THE TREE OF A WOMXN’S BREASTS

AN ANECDOTE FROM ICHOMI YAM

SEA OF NOMSA

TO TAKING MY NAME BACK!

NQO, NQO (BANGING ON PARLIAMENT’S DOOR)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

HEAT OF RESISTANCE

Matimu Rikhotso

The bones of amadlozi rattle when we meet fire.

Our ancestors, they smell it,

they taste it,

they feast on the undying-ness of our flames.

See,

there are elements that shift

when bodies of a black mass partake

in this thing called revolutionary fire.

From under our dripping skin

a divine throat screams: REVOLT!

The black body is political;

the body and the black together

are unequivocally political.

’Cause no one attends to our screams

without the preamble of a flame,

no one pays attention to the pain

without tyres and petrol existing within the frame.

Do you see how fire makes the pain prominent?

How it moves it from the basement

to the altar of public consciousness,

into the public square

of whiteness

of blindness

of silence?

Without fire, these bodies remain erased.

You can sit in the sun in silence,

speak to the gods in silence,

sit on the tar and wait for commitment in silence,

but history will prove to you –

like black bodies –

that you’ll be left alone, with and in your silence.

There is something about fire in the air

that purifies the space.

They do not respond without it.

They love to pass you by whilst you picket in silence.

They loathe our loudness,

our steadfastness!

Fire, it pries open people’s eyes.

It heats up the underground.

Revolutionary fire does the work of UNSETTLING.

Underneath our breath

there is a flame waiting to be unleashed.

Our words bellow life;

in our lyrics lives hope.

For song is an arrow. Song is a weapon.

Song is a life-support system.

We sing because it is air to our lungs as we suffocate.

We sing to bridge us back together

when morale has been beaten,

when there is nothing left.

We sing for discipline.

We sing so the bones of our ancestors can awaken,

so the bones of our ancestors can connect.

We sing so the mountains can hear us and join in