The Sunday Mail
Shamiso Yikoniko – Leisure Reporter
Memory Chirere’s “Bhuku Risina Basa: Nekuti Rakanyorwa Masikati” is a welcome offering from one of Zimbabwe’s finest writers of the last 15 years.
The poetry anthology was published this year by writer-cum-publisher Ignatius Mabasa under his stable, Bhabhu Books.
“Bhuku Risina Basa” can be loosely translated to “a useless book”, and as with anything Chirere does, this is anything but a trivial work.
Asked to explain why he picked that title, Chirere says, “IBhuku Risina Basa because when writing (the poems), they were initially not intended for publishing. They were also written in between chores and in between studies and in between what I thought were more serious engagements.”
The project is Chirere’s first poetry anthology and fourth solo project.
Chirere employs almost all forms of poetry styles in this anthology to tackle different kinds of societal and sometimes spiritual issues.
From lyrical to didactic poems, “Bhuku Risina Basa” is an eclectic collection.
In “Yambiro”, Chirere speaks didactically about surviving under difficult conditions. Short and sharp, it is quite a survival guide in its own right.
“Tsamba Yamukoma” is a lyrical poem in which Chirere uses a comparative and non-narrative style to present his state of mind and emotional state; while “Pikicha” is longer and articulates a serious subject written in an elevated ode style.
At times, Chirere uses sonnets to deal with a lover’s heartaches and hopes, and he also makes use of dramatic monologue.
Chirere’s poetry balances humour and virtue, much like he does in his short stories.
A notable thing in the anthology is the deliberate omission of categories/sub-titles, probably due to the vast themes that are articulated in the collection.
Chirere — an internationally renowned author, academic, editor, lecturer and literary critic — says publishing the poems written over a period of 20 years was a means of saying out what he has mused on privately during that time.
“These are poems about relationships with family, friends and country. I noticed I have over a hundred such poems from a period of 20 years,” he said. “I’m not writing this book to make an impression but it is a way of putting together so many things that I have said to myself and others for the past 20 years so that they don’t get lost.”
The last poem in the collection centres on children as a thread connecting us to the future. Part of “Shoko Rekupedzisira” reads:
Dai kukaramba kuine zuva
Dai kukaramba kuine mvura
Dai kukaramba kuine mhepo
Dai kukaramba kuine ivhu nembeu…
Dai waro kwaramba kuine vana.
Chirere’s other publications include “Tudikidiki” (2007), “Somewhere in This Country” (2006) and “Toriro and His Goats” (2010). Many of his other works are published in short story colle ctions, magazines and newspapers.
