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Introduction to "We
are All Poets"-- |
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This
book began in June 2000, when I arrived at Sinethemba Secondary School
in Philippi Township, Cape Town, for a ten-week summer internship under
the auspices of the Southern Africa Environment Project in Cape Town and
Service Opportunities in Leadership at Duke University.
My main project involved helping Sinethemba’s English Debating
Society to launch a school newspaper and develop their English debating
skills enough to enter mainstream public speaking contests with other
Cape schools. When we
got started on writing and typing for the school newspaper, however, I
noticed that almost all of the students wanted to write poetry, and when
given free typing practice would often type poems of their own
composition. So, over the
students’ winter holiday, we started to do some poetry and creative
writing exercises. We read
poems from a range of South African poets (Sandile Dikeni is their
favorite) and wrote about our homes, our families, our dreams and fears.
Given
the space to express themselves, and the affirmation that what they had
to say was worth hearing, these students displayed a natural talent for
poetry that stretched far beyond any assignment or exercise.
Their poems are remarkable for the depth and range of their
ideas, but also for their skill with description and innate talent for
metaphor. One would not
even realize from reading these poems that these poets do not speak
English at home; indeed, it is their second or third language.
The
poems in this collection are not the end of a process, but only the
beginning of what I hope will be a lifelong journey.
If there is one thing I hope these students will take from our
time together, it is that poetry is not the exclusive realm of a few
professional “poets” and academics, but is part of everyone’s
life, coloring the whole world around us.
We can all relate to the experiences, sights, and emotions
reflected in the beautiful poems collected here, and have our own to
add; because, truly, we are all poets. Eva
DuBuisson |