Poets illuminate Hifa

genres.
Those who attended the opening day of the fete can attest to the rich and diverse talents that the poets exhibited.
They made a huge splash with their rhythms and rhymes, sending the Hivos Poetry Café reverberating into a mellow sound.
Some of the country’s established and upcoming poets took turns to entertain the full house that attended the session.
The audience could be seen sipping their drinks and enjoying their food as poet after poet ignited the arena with their verses.
Dubbed “The Spoken Word Programme”, the session saw established poet and short story writer, Memory Chirere, opening the occasion with his new poems to be featured in his forthcoming anthology titled “Tadya Shuga”.
Gifted with a mild but rich voice, Chirere used his simple verbal dexterity to put across a myriad of social messages, most of which are inspired by his rural background.
Although it was his first time to perform at Hifa, his performance left many without any doubt that he is among the country’s finest published and performance poets.
In his humourous poem titled “Dzvutu Dzvutu”, Chirere — a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Zimbabwe — talked about how tables change in life.
The poem was about a former boss who ill-treated his employee. However, tables changed and the employee became a boss and the boss became the employee.
Chirere sent the crowd into fits of laughter with some of his mischievous poems like “Zvandakakudzidzisa” and “Kasvosve” which played on words and sounds and “Pamhararano”.
His Shona poems have been published in the anthology “Tipeiwo Dariro”, while he has other books like “Somewhere in This Country” a collection of short stories published in English as well as the two Nama award-winning books “Tudiki Diki” and “Toriro and His Goats”.
Then there was young hip-hop and rap poet Gerald Mugwenhi, stage name Cynik, who fused his rap and hip-hop poetry with music from the guitar and saxophone.
Fungai Rufaro Machirori also gave a good account of herself despite noise from the adjoining venue.
Various poets will be performing everyday at the Hivos Poetry Café.