By Brilliant Pongo.
Published by Heritage Press Wellingtone G. Kusema’s collection of poems Lazaruses and Divases is about the chasm that exists between the rich and the poor. In more than one poem Kusema makes this plain, he pulls no punches from the very onset with a very `hard hitting poem milk sanctions in which he tells of mothers who abandon their own babies to breastfeed corporate companies, mothers who devote and dedicate much of their time chasing money rather than caring for their own babies, which he follows up with Lazarus nations versus divas nations in this poem he explores the rift between the so-called first world and the third world countries.
This beautiful and affecting collection includes poems about the slave trade, about God and immigrant blues. In Chaminuka prophet he describes Chaminuka as a King-prophet, pacifist and philanthropist, ancient seer of yore, on the face of it, the poem is a religious salutation to Chaminuka but it also tells that God had always communicated with his people in Zimbabwe way before those who claim to have brought Christianity and civilization ever set foot in Zimbabwe. This is followed by “Africa” which proclaims Africa as the cradle of mankind.
The prevailing tone in most of the poems is retrospective, clear and unflustered – as if written from the vantage point of a hilltop. The poems are filled with assorted conscious themes which are easy to understand yet each of them is compelling, concise and punchy.
There are bracing elegies here too. “Running barefoot on empty bellies fuelled only by our words of encouragement…..” contrasts of the city, is especially arresting because it contrasts the life of a child growing up in the slums and one growing up in the leafy suburbs. Contrasts of the city, explores the names given to the ghetto’s of the city and the names given to the other side of the city. The strangeness rings emotionally true, a reaction to a new relationship with what one becomes because of what they are born into.
We come from the ghetto of the city, it’s true
From the metal and wooden slums
Of those forgotten places
We come from Rugare Township
Rugare means good living
Yet we are scorched by the blazing sun of poverty
Our names hewn permanently
On the rukangarabwe of under-providence
As burst sewage pipes overflow the streets,
Raw sewerage flows to your door step
As imaginative little toddlers splash around in its filthy puddles whilst young mothers sell fruit and vegetables
Perched on little tables………….
They live in Emerald Hill
Where the emerald of good fortune are always to be found
Their sons and daughters emerge from fifteen bed-roomed mansions
And are chauffer driven to posh schools
Pampered and spoilt, they nod vigorously in agreement, as the Sunday School teachers reads the scripture which says:
“In my father’s house there are many mansions…..”
For, in their fathers’ grotesquely minted lives,
This scripture is already fulfilled?
Kusema is conversational and welcoming, often present in his writing as a relaxed host. He never overdresses his poems. “Lazaruses & Divases”, is a great compellation of poems and a must read to all those who enjoy poetry.
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