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Welcome to Zimbabwean poetry - January 2006
April 14, 2006
We hope that by introducing Phillip Zhuwao on our webpage along with an insightful commentary by Professor Anthony Chennells, he will achieve a little of the recognition never afforded him in his lifetime.
This edition focuses on a single poet, Phillip Zhuwao; a tragic figure who wrote the lines : “When man prays to God/and gets nothing/he gives nothing to his fellow man/For he will feel betrayed.” (‘the rotten fruit’). I only met Phillip Zhuwao twice and on the second occasion I remember him being on crutches. He brought me a novel which was written in a notebook, the words tightly packed across the page so as not to waste a centimetre of paper. It was a symbol of poverty almost incomprehensible in the West.
In his short life, Phillip Zhuwao did not gain recognition in Zimbabwe: “I've walked to town and backto try and secure that University scholarship”, which, of course, he never did. His complex allusive poetry with its rich word play is not widely read, and were it not for the commitment of Robert Berold, his Publisher at Deep South, he would have died unknown.We hope that by introducing Phillip Zhuwao on our webpage along with an insightful commentary by Professor Anthony Chennells, he will achieve a little of the recognition never afforded him in his lifetime.
© Irene Staunton
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