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The Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Group – more opportunities for poetry
“So much depends . . .”
The Red Wheelbarrow was launched in January 2021 with a view to providing opportunities for poets, and those who love poetry, to meet and read. Our aim is to provide an inclusive platform for poets from diverse traditions, and at different levels of experience.
We host weekly Zoom readings every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Evenings consist of a reading by a featured poet, usually lasting for between 30-40 minutes, followed by a Q&A session, a short break, and then an open-mic session, in which anyone who’s ‘tuned in’ to hear the featured poet is welcome to read from their own poetry or from the work of another poet.
We also host in-person readings in Cape Town on the first and third Wednesdays of every month. These readings begin at 7 p.m. and follow the same format as the Zoom readings. Readings currently take place in Bertha House in Mowbray (on the first Wednesday of the month) and in Tokai Library (on the third Wednesday of the month).
Information about our readings is made available via our weekly circular, as well as our Facebook and Instagram pages:
https://www.facebook.com/theredwheelbarrowpoetry
https://www.instagram.com/redwheelbarrowpoetry/
An archive of our Zoom readings can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/@redwheelbarrowpoetry/videos
We hope that you can join us in these adventures, and that we can continue to provide poets with a vibrant space in which to share their poetry.
Yours in poetry,
Eduard Burle, Sindiswa Busuku, Jacques Coetzee, Kirsten Deane, Lisa Julie, Nondwe Mpuma, Melissa Sussens
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Suggested resources
https://www.facebook.com/otwpoetry
https://poetryinmcgregor.co.za/
https://stanzaspoetry.org/
https://www.ru.ac.za/isea/publications/journals/newcoinpoetry/
https://www.newcontrast.net/
https://www.afsun.co.za/product-category/books/
https://www.facebook.com/deepsouthpublishingco/
http://uhlangapress.co.za/
https://karavanpress.com/karavan-press/
https://dryadpress.co.za/
https://www.modjajibooks.co.za/
http://www.echoinggreenpress.com/
https://www.liferighting.com/
https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com/topics/poetry/
http://danwyliecriticaldiaries.blogspot.com/
https://www.litnet.co.za/
https://www.africanpoetryprize.org/
https://dyehardinterviews.blogspot.com/
http://dyehard-press.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1212939945859233
https://clarkesbooks.co.za/
https://booklounge.co.za/
https://www.facebook.com/exclusivebookscavendish/
https://www.facebook.com/Kalk-Bay-Books-184457614746/
https://blankbooks.co.za/stores
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Out of the desert
abundant baobabs,
a community of matriarchs
whose bodies split atoms of rock
and fists shake in a rumble of rain
refusing to fall.
I stand in your shade
in the fall of milk flowers
eating wild flesh of your seeds.
Green oracle, hot in the afternoon
warm in my palm
cupping kalahari.
-- Shortlisted Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Anthology, voll III, Jacana, 2013.
Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow on 2 June 2022
Shall we somehow find ourselves
being neither right nor left
but centred down the line dividing east & west
though north & south seem always where they were
and maybe we should trust
that they will stay
just there…
And should we hope that love will balance out
sight unseen
And touch will trace the routes which lovers take
the roads closed off
diversions barred
and so stay still until the green light shows
and nothing turns itself
to something else?
Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow on 26 May 2022
Sometime I’ll
hitch a pony and
sail upon the sea,
Meantime these
cloudy skies are
blue enough for me, lord,
blue enough for me
Sometime I’ll swear
allegiance to some
sacred text or creed
Then again I’ll
swear an oath to
keep my spirit free, good lord,
keep my spirit free
Sometime I’ll
beg a favour from
one who pleases me
Another time I’ll hitch
a pony and sail
the cloudy sea, lord,
sail the cloudy sea
Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow on 19 May 2022