“Three generations of white South African men were bound together at that table. Vermuelen was the first generation. He defined Africa, made it safe for Basson to defile. I was the last generation, the last to grow up in segregated neighborhoods. Between us was the silent photograph of Wouter Basson. Like a distant father, Basson was absent at the dining table.” – Henk Rossouw (Hole in the White ‘Hood). Also Mahmood Mamdani on Bantu Education at UCT, Gael Reagon on sisterhood, Binyavanga Wainaina on dis-covering Kenya, Gaston Zossou on African intellectuals and more…
Cover:
Strange Fruit by Lewis Allen
The Colours of Our Flag by Allan K. Horwitz (Botsotso, 2016)
The poet prefaces his preface to this collection with a quote by Octavio Paz which describes the nature of a poem as “the irruption of a present which periodically returns without a yesterday or tomorrow. Every poem is a Fiesta, a precipitate of pure time.”
This is an enticing cue as to how to read these poems for each piece claims its own space and the right to be an expression of that moment in which it was written. Kolski Horwitz utilizes this freedom with great energy resulting in many different moods, subject matter and forms.