Beyond Spice

By Zena Velloo John

Zena Velloo John's debut poetry collection is interspersed with the visual art of Jayna Mistry, Kershnee Velloo, Raeesah Mahomed, Shaskia John and Shenaz Mahomed.These six South African women of Indian descent, share their creativity through this collaboration of inter-generational, inter-faith and multi-disciplinary art and poetic forms. Devolving their humanity into bite-sized chunks, these creative fragments voice the myriad dimensions of being, from birth, through life and love, to death and beyond, touched by spirituality. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zena John
• Release date: Nov 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201783501

Zena Velloo John

This accidental poet and astonished mystic was born in Pretoria in 1967. Her first book of poetry was published as an art and poetry anthology, “Beyond Spice” (Poets Printery,2016), featuring five women visual artists. She is an international events facilitator, a researcher with ZAPP (South African Poetry Project), a mystic spiritual healer/ trance channeler, and a radio motivational speaker on Lotus FM., South Africa. She resides online at: www.zenavelloo.co.za www.sacredfeminine.co.za

Book preview

Copyright - Individual Poet and Artists

First Published - April 2016

Poet: Zena Velloo John (www.sacredfeminine.c

Art/illustrations by Jayna Mistry, Kershnee Velloo, Raeesah Mahomed, Shaskia John and Shenaz Mahomed

All creative works presented in this book are sole expressions of the individual artist/poet and do not reflect in any form or manner as viewpoints of the other contributors.

Published by the Poets Printery East London, South Africa, P. O. Box 12560, East London, Alimanda 5252, South Africa: www.amitabhmitra.com www.poetrspintery.co.za Focusing on South African literature and its renaissance

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owners. All artworks and poems in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied. We apologise for any inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing information in a subsequent reprinting of the book.

Interior design, page layout, cover art: Raeesah Mahomed Lemon Tree Design and Photography www.lemonstudiotree.co.za

Writers imagine that they cull stories from the world. ...it’s actually the other way around.

Stories cull writers from the world. Stories reveal themselves to us."

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Arundhati Roy, The God Of Small Things

Introduction

Our beloved South African landscape reverberates with an Indian echo from the indentured labourers of 1860. The diversity of ancient South Asian ancestry happily mingles with the African and Western worlds.

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Weaving their Eastern philosophy and traditions into daily lives, the pioneers overcame