kagablog

It is the hotel bill or photograph discovered in a pocket
The open mouth saying nothing in defence
It is the fact splattered across the courtroom
Exposed to cameras, microphones and strangers ears
It is the addict at the brink of suicide
Frozen between picking up a fix or the telephone
It is the vibration in your chest and stomach pit
That hits when you read or hear a real guru’s words
…It is the written and the unwritten
The space and the line
It is different
It is the same
It is buried
It is the silence before
Beneath and beyond
The lie
It waits for you and I
It will not die
Truth is both spirit and flesh

Cape Town performance poet and writer Malika Ndlovu will launch Truth is both Spirit and Flesh her third poetry anthology this Friday 7th November at 18h30 at the Africa Centre, 44 Long Street.

Malika’s words whether performed on stage, read on the page, spoken or sung are an intimate and inspiring conversation. She delivers them with conviction and an obvious passion for life. Over the last 15 years her work has appeared in publications and performances across South Africa as well as in Austria, USA, UK, Holland, Ireland, Germany and the Philippines. Truth is both Spirit and Flesh captures a seven-year period of writing, including a selection of tribute poems to the some of the diverse high profile and ordinary South Africans who have nurtured and inspired her as a writer and as a human being.

“ I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the gift of creative expression and for the countless individuals who have in the past and continue to shape and enrich my life, sharing the best of themselves with me and most importantly, carrying me through times of self-doubt or personal loss. I don’t want to wait till they die or I do, to praise them. Even the one’s who’ve rubbed me up the wrong way or painful experiences have been my teachers and this is the core theme of my new poetry collection. There is a thread of gratitude for the love and life lessons I have been given so far.”

This sentiment was also the catalyst for a song Malika wrote for her collaboration with legendary jazz musician and singer Tina Schouw and vocalist Ernestine Deane of Moodphase5 fame. These three artists since 2006 have collaborated to form the unique poetry and music trio Womantide.

Tina and Ernestine will perform at the launch with Malika in celebration of her latest offering.

Malika is currently curator of Badilisha! – An African Poetry Exchange, an Africa Centre poetry project which launched its calendar of events on Heritage Day this year at the same venue. In January 2009 Malika’s next book entitled Invisible Earthquake: a woman’s journal through stillbirth, will be launched by Modjaji Books and her latest play Sister Breyani directed by Lara Bye, will have its world premier at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in April 2009 before a run at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.

For further information contact Lorelle Royeppen-Viegi on lorellev@gmail.com