The Sunday Mail
Wilson Tinotenda Waison
Society Correspondent
LOCAL poetry has tremendously evolved over the years.
Pre-independence writings were more of a protest voice against minority rule, which is no longer the case in the current Zimbabwe.
Writers like Dambudzo Marechera, Freedom Nyamubaya, Chenjerai Hove, Stanlake Samkange, Musaemura Zimunya, John Eppel among others were dedicated to the themes of regime change. But with the progression of time, feminine voices like Yvonne Vera, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Valerie Tagwirei and others brought to the fore literature discussions that focus on the plight of women in society.
Conversations have since shifted from the liberation ideology to focus more on social concerns.
Like many other literature works, the said writers primarily explored the hardships of the people, in a painstaking and artful way that required deep meditation to disentangle the lumps of meaning packed in their writings.
Fast forward to the present day, a new breed of poetry now claims space.
For instance, Makombororero Nhau’s debut “Profused Feelings”, a contemporary anthology of poems dwells much on the plight of women as a dominant theme in her collection.
Nhau, a feminine voice, exposes readers to a plethora of takeaways from her anthology.
The book title preempts the gist of the major thematic aspect of the compilation.
Nhau is a poet with great simplicity and humility in her observation of people and society at large. Unlike Marechera, the most self-conscious of all Zimbabwean poets, she does not strive for special literary effects.
Her poetry is not verbose or classified as an echo of voices from other poetic traditions such as acrostics, limerick ballads or couplets.
Nhau uses blank and free verses to air her concerns. There is no attempt to use grand gestures and no effort to impress in “Profused Feelings”. Even when the subject matter is tragic, solemn, foreboding or gloomy, she consistently avoids the use of exaggerations.
Her collection shows her concern for the lives of ordinary teenagers in Zimbabwe and reflects the anomie and disappointment that characterise teens during adolescence.
The poems revolve around the plight of women through the first person narrative point of view of a girl child.
Through the use of “I” in her book, the reader is exposed to immediate and personal experiences of the writer.
Of interest is the prevalent theme of child marriages. The writer’s approach on this subject matter impacts audiences with a genuine experience of teenage pregnancies.
Teenage pregnancy is a predominant theme characterised by elements of the boy child taking advantage of the feminine gender.
The reader is exposed to matters of sexual abuse, harassment, consent for both man and female. The writer here strikes a balance on victims and does away with a stereotype that only views girls and women as victims.
In the poem “Arranged Rape”, the writer exposes the responsibility of a young man.
In another dimension, Nhau explores the element of patriarchal cultures within the contemporary Zimbabwean societies.
Her last poems in the collection, “Negligent Father” and “Then Who’s the Father Figure” pose rhetoric to man.
In her poems, she inquires for justice from a broken patriarchal society which allows negligence in man and infringe on women’s rights. She further condemns broken and far cordial relations that are woven from patriarchy.
Despite the attack on man, Nhau is not sadistic or bitter about the good deeds done by man.
Her poem “EX” is saturated with a conversation about lovers who break. Here she exposes the reader to women’s resilience. The poem portrays women as strong, courageous and independent from man.
The plight of women is cemented through a bold courage to move on and the poem captures an emancipated young woman who is not broken. She also takes a sharp turn into the topical element of drug and substance abuse, in “No to Drugs”.
Nhau paints a black and white picture on how drugs can destroy teens.
Titles like “When I’m Gone” and “Coronavirus” revolve around death. Here, she births a conception that there is an afterlife and finds a soothing stream of consciousness.
Apart from death as a sub theme, Nhau also brings on board dark themes like depression, paranoia and deceit in her collection.
