1860 - 2010 Indians in South Africa

Celebrating 150 years of the arrival of Indians in South Africa with an exhibition of my art, poetry and films at Gonubie, East London, 30 October 2010.

Call for submission to a radical left poetry anthology

and let this sun
shatter in our thoughts
shards, lets pick up again
roofless
skyless
in drought
come
lets strike
lets form
in shapeless rivers
lets ride
a multitude
star again.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Black Boy

black boy
you are alone
south africa shimmers
in the darkness of streets
post world cup halo
finding way into veins
old trees tell tales
black is the sun
lingers long in riposte
in afterthoughts
in crippled nights
in hammering
black boy looks around
freedom birds
peck upon
an unforeseen
order
bullets still
love tattooing
a bluewhitesky.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Ma Ngobo's Place at Scenery Park

ma ngobo lives in the far stretches
of scenery park
a tiny house amidst shacks and shanties
seems to challenge still
an unburnt sky
lush greenery in abundance
has taken over the tiredness
of old thoughts
flaming tyres around necks
and a flaming jungle
are as remote
as long lost anc promises
i often drink here to
the laughter of myths
a rebellion of conscience
seems so far.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Launch of Poems for Haiti, A South African Anthology

Poems for Haiti, A South African Anthology is to be launched by firebrand ANC activist Prithraj Dullay at the Point Yacht Club on 13 October 2010 5.30 pm onwards. Prithraj Dullay is the author of Salt Water Runs In My Veins.
Ela Gandhi has kindly consented to grace the occasion.
Please do come.

Sunil Sharma, Associate Professor of English Literature at Mumbai says

On Wednesday evening, October 13, history is going to be made at the famous Point Yacht Club, Beachfront, Durban, SA. On this day and appointed hour, the assembly of the best poets will witness the launch of: Poems for Haiti, A South African Anthology by the Live Poets Society. “Poetry as Activism” is going to be on a wide-screen display from 5:30 pm onwards: For a change, the finest creative minds— instead of contemplating the world and its myriad recurring crises as is the general wont and pose of alienated souls—will be listening to and discussing the natural tragedy that affected a small but resilient island nation, and, what is more important, its recovery through solidarity and community efforts of little men and women, the marginalized of the local and global histories in every age. The poets featured in the collection talk of real problems of gigantic scales and address an entire nation in the aftermath of a severe quake that flattened the rich and poor houses alike, as nature is, mercifully, not hierarchical and pro-rich like human societies.

Professor Peter Horn in his forward -

A group of concerned poets rallied and expressed their shock and their support for the victims in their poems. While poems cannot rebuild destroyed houses, they can reaffirm the unity of humanity across the entire globe. The pain of our friends in Haiti was our pain as well.
While food, water, shelter, medical care are, of course, prime necessities in a disaster like this, it would be a misunderstanding, to believe that beyond the material needs there are no psychological, religious and cultural needs. People who survive man-made or natural disasters are in need of more than the bare necessities of survival. They need to come to terms with the destruction of their lives, the loss of their friends and relatives, the shaking of their most fundamental beliefs.

In my editorial –

This anthology not only verifies the extreme torture a single nation, a single environment and a single feeling went through that day but also unveils dehumanization of victims, death couldn’t have erased such stretched pain, such agonizing screams till this day.
The poets included here are, some as young as seventeen and others who are recognized voices of the South African poetry movement but many others who came out to share their sorrows and be a part of this minor collection, Poems for Haiti.

The contributors to this anthology are

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers
Mahalingum Govender
Anne Bebington
Peter Horn
Ben Schermbrucker
Arja Salafranca
Barbara Johnson
Amy von Witt
Carol Leff
Gona Pragasen Kathan (Danny) Naicker
Roy Venketsamy
Kogi Singh
Vivagalatchmie Ananthavallie Naicker
Shameela Abraham
Sharm Govender
Thaveshree Morgan
Sandeepa Ramsugit
Jean Cornet
Shabbir Banoobhai
Irene Emanuel
Louise Buchler
Brett Beiles
Ndaba Sibanda
Rozanne Baker
Khumbudzo Daniel Masutha
Tlangelani Ngobeni
Douglas Ntando Gumbo
Sarita Mathur
Mandy Mitchell
Kambani Ramano
Grace Kim
Tendai R. Mwanaka
Tlangelani Ngobeni
Muthal Naidoo
Crystal Warren
Pratish Mistry
Abigail George
Mxolisi Nyezwa
Marelise van der Merwe
Kakoli Ghosh
Amitabh Mitra
Ravi Naicker
Liza Smith

Publisher – Poets Printery, South Africa
ISBN 13 -9780620464734
Price – Rand 100

Scenery Park, East London

and next to the trees, shrubs and homes
women laughed, loved and drank
a spring evening at scenery park
when seasons excused themselves
joining the revelry
nothingness is here
and the trees revere to it
a sky jumps up in nude
a chant believes in streaking
a sudden heckling
stranger is oneself
stranger is a night
here
blooms
in untold eviction.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra