I am a very sentimental person. I have this box where I keep a bunch of items that I’ve either received from people or invitations with meaning and memory and so on. As I was going through my 'memory' box this weekend I came across something I had written. It was a poem I had written in high school and it brought my attention to something about poetry. And that is the fact that poetry exists because of a four letter word, LOVE. You feel the need to express your passion (love) for something. I’m not a poet but that is what it means to me.
Even though I wrote poetry in High School I’m not a poet, poetry requires some sort of skill, which by my own will I have accepted I do not possess. For clarities sake i'm referring in this post to written and spoken poetry and not written and sung (music) poetry because i know all too well how to express myself in that department. There are a few people though who possess this skill and amongst these is a girl named Abigail Ndlovu.
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| Abigail Ndlovu- Bsc (Hons) Quantity Surveying Student and Poet |
After High School poetry started getting really boring to me, I supposed my interest at the time was aroused by the fact that I was dating a poet, until a few weeks ago when I heard a poem being recited by this lovely young lady. Her poetry caught my attention and lit a spark that made me appreciate poetry again. I got a chance to interview Abigail about her perspective on poetry and this is what she had to say:
1. How would you define poetry
Poetry is an opening up of the heart's portals; speaking out what's been written on the heart's pages by experience through the hand of inspiration.
In simple terms it is writing out one's experiences, emotions and just anything that comes to mind. Poets are take inspiration from just anything.
2. When did you start writing poetry and why?
I've always written but never really took it seriously. I would write pieces and tear them up afterwards, or just write and never share with anyone. But it was in 2010, and I do not really like to mention this but I have to be honest, it was after a bad relationship that I went back to writing poetry. My first piece was 'Faithfulness to Strength-Song of a healing Woman'. And many more pieces would thereafter follow. I am mighty glad I went back to writing. It feels so good to be doing something I enjoy. Moreover, I write because I figured, it is a way to evangelize, as you may have noted, I write Christian poetry, if I should call it that. We all have spiritual gifts and as this quarter's Bible Study Guide tells us, no gift is too small to use to tell God's children about Him.
3. I say poetry is all about LOVE, what do you say?
I agree. It is about love, it is for love, it is through love. Love could be the main theme of a poem. We have poets who write solely about love. And I also believe that poets write out of love, love being the driving factor behind their poems. Writing because they love it and with love for those for whom they write. For example, when a poet writes a piece with a message of warning, that's primarily because they have love and care for their audience and would love for them to hear that message and most likely make a change for the better. That is my comment in short.
4. Explain how you feel when reciting your poetry
Honestly…nervous. I am always nervous. There is no getting used to standing before God’s children to deliver a message from Him through my feeble lips. Well, everybody gets nervous standing before an audience, but I get nervous also because as I said, I believe the poems I recite are messages from God for me and all His children, so I get nervous because I know how important the message is and so I should not spoil it or let my personality get in the way of God’s children receiving it. Also I worry because I do not want to excite my audience with mere word-play but want them to get the message when I am done.
Below are 2 poems by Abigail, indulge in them as I have and POETS, let me hear (or read in this case) what POETRY is to you!
NO BEDTIME STORY
This is no lullaby to put you to your sweet sleep
This is the alarm with no snooze button come to forever ring in your senses
For too long we’ve let the world tuck us to bed early and read us bedtime stories
Or on days that we’ve been naughty deny us a bedtime story and shout ‘lights out!’
But even though I’m also denying you that bedtime story, I’ve come to echo “Let your lower lights be burning!”
No way do we light a lamp and put it under a bushel
But we let our light so shine before God’s lambs out there in the cold
So don’t stay tucked in while Jesus cried for them “Poor sheep with no shepherd”
Hear His cry and wake up!!!
Because a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-
And poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-
And the souls impoverished of the Word will be counted on your head when He comes, Keeper of the Sheep
Won’t you get up from your sleep?
Church, we need to wake up and set the pace as the world follows from behind
But at this moment the church stands as a bride to the world and the devil as minister is about to seal this unholy matrimony
To the feeble human mind there is no telling how long this marriage will last but Scripture warns against unions with the world
Scripture foresees a drastic divorce with the bride left stranded as she committed to a pre-nuptial contract because you see, she didn’t bring anything into this marriage
You can’t bring anything to the world’s dinner table
It stands as host and feeds you its well balanced diet of lies and mediocrity as the starter course and hypocrisy and compromised principles as its main dish
You have just read the menu; I advise you to make a decision not to partake
But it is funny coz even with this reality before our eyes we still order
See many of us have abrogated our lease contacts with reality
And sought accommodation with pretence, fantasy and denial
Building castles in the air with no foundation
We need to seek a city with foundations whose builder is God
Coz we’ve rejected the corner stone and forgot that these temples ought to stand firm upon the Rock of Ages, King Jesus Himself
And He calls on us to be sober and vigilant for our enemy the devil proweth about seeking whom he may devour
But how can we even hear his roar from afar and flee when our ears are blocked with the wax of the petty things of this world?
Won’t we clean our ears with the water from the Fountain of Living Waters and see the things that really matter?
Wake up! And proclaim the gospel of truth
Wake up! And feed the multitudes by the voice of your works
Let it echo through the corridors where you have not set foot
Let it venture into platforms you cannot climb
Heed to the call, and proclaim the gospel of truth
Wake up! And feed the multitudes by the voice of your works
This is no lullaby to put you to your sweet sleep
This is the alarm with no snooze button come to forever ring in your senses
Wake up!!!
By: Abigail T. Ndlovu
and
HEART MUSIC
My heart’s like unto a brightly polished grand piano
Standing in the middle of a hollow room in this earth house ready for God to play a piece of music on it
The keys of my heart are ready Lord; please play a tune for your children
As my fingers dance to the rhythm of my heart’s instrumentals
This melody springs forth setting my African feet to the dance to this poetic harmony
My whole body’s shaken by this tapestry of words
An arrangement actually composed by the Master Himself, Jesus
Springing forth from my lips, reaching your ears and setting your feet to the dance too
I see the joy in your eyes
This is no ordinary sound
But yet, none than we are accustomed to
With notes reaching as high as Mount Calvary, coming down to the pit of your heart with an ever-increasing pitch of His love
Our hearts join together in chorus and sing “Oh what a day that will be when we shall stand-man and angels singing in that mass choir conducted by King Jesus Himself”
Singing a melody whose words our hearts have kept a secret from our lips throughout the ages…
Heart Music…
A special thanks to Abby who allowed me to use her material on my blog.
