The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo
AS a poetry fan, I have always been fascinated with how some creative minds use word play in sonnets, ballads and rhyme to address various issues.
I came across a book by motivational speaker and life coach Rabison Shumba called “Showers of Inspiration: Poems from the Heart”, and it managed to capture my imagination with its rich poetry.
Just like its title, the author stitched together his vast knowledge into poetry to create this inspirational masterpiece.
Sometimes poetry, to the uninitiated, can be a bunch of gibberish, needing titanic amounts of brainpower to decipher, but with the simplicity of this piece of work, individuals with the laziest of brains can enjoy and be inspired.
From personal motivation and inspiration to love and relationships, this book is rich in captivating diction that will change mindsets and rekindle troubled relationships. Being a mentor and life coach, Shumba went to great lengths to send the message he is ever preaching, of how people can succeed as influential leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals.
Each chapter of the book focuses on various aspects of our lives and the environment that surrounds us.
The first poem, “I am an entrepreneur”, sets the tone and pace of the book with its exuberant vocabulary and ingeniously structured verses. “I am innovative and creative, I strive to do what was never done before, I do not sit on my aspirations, I make this world a better place for humanity, the world will come to know, I am an entrepreneur,” goes one of the verses in the poem in which the author astutely defined the term entrepreneur.
In one of the poems, “The Voice”, Shumba dramatically captures the power of having a voice and speaking out to represent oneself. “The voice that cries to express inner pain, excruciating, unbearable pain, the voice that shouts for joy and jubilation, abundant, uncontainable joy, the voice that instructs and corrects, without correction many are lost to hungry flesh eaters, I am grateful I have a voice.” Love and relationship poems drew attention to the beauty of women, marriages, friendships and a host of other challenges that come with such.
“Friend or Foe” is a piece demonstrating the nature of some friends who are only around when everything is going on well for you but then vanish into thin air when things turn upside-down.
In the poem, Shumba talks about being surrounded by people who seemed to care when his pockets were filled to capacity, swarms of people lingering around when he got to the pinnacle of his success but then they suddenly walked away with some actually running like they were escaping the jaws of a hungry lion when his financial position deteriorated.
However, despite the book being splendidly crafted into an easy read, the majority of poems are too big and might end up being boring as one reads on. I also noticed that the style, pace and tone are almost uniform which gave me the feeling that I was reading one continuous poem.
Overall, the book is a masterpiece and I believe it will serve the purpose for which it was crafted.
