“…The struggle of black people inevitably appear in an intensely cultural form because the social formation in which their distinct political traditions are now manifest has constructed the arena of politics on ground overshadowed by centuries of metropolitan capitalist development, thereby denying them recognition as legitimate politics. Blacks conduct a class struggle in and through race. The BC of race and class cannot be empirically separated, the class character of black struggles is not a result of the fact that blacks are predominantly proletarian, thought this is true…”- (Frank Talk Staff Writers in ‘Azania Salutes Tosh’ – circa 1981)
front cover:
Tosh by Steve Gordon
back cover:
Kippie by Basil Breakey
Oncoming Traffic by Maakomele R. Manaka (Botsotso, 2018)
The traffic mainly reflects the silence in the author’s personal conflicts, meaning, writing what he cannot say, fusing different styles and tones from the lyrical to the surreal to strip himself down to the vulnerable marrow.
As such, this collection of poetry grapples with issues he has struggled with on a daily basis: firstly, what it means to be man when raised by a woman; secondly, his relationship with himself as a man with a physical disability; and lastly, as a black man dealing with the reality of living in a dysfunctional society.