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Sing for our execution;: Poems and woodcuts
123 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
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March 21, 2022
A few years ago, I took part in a book donation drive in Soweto to collect books for a local school library. We were allowed to take a few books as a thank you for volunteering in the book drive, thanks to a generous donor who donated boxes and boxes of books.
Sing for Our Execution: Poems and Woodcuts was one of the books I chose from the collection and put in storage till I finally came across it, and what a gem it is.
The book was published in May 1973 and is a collection of 40 poems (according to the table of content but I counted more than 60 poems) and 12 woodcut art (excluding the cover).
The artwork inside the book into the art for the cover was made by Wopko Jensma.
His poems are primarily written in English and Afrikaans, but he frequently incorporates words from other languages such as Portuguese, IsiZulu, and SeTshwana. His writing style can be confusing at times, but the majority of his poems are clear, addressing topics such as police brutality, death and grief, politics, hope, arts, and much more.
Some of the poems were brave for a book published in the 1970s, but he could get away with it since he was a white South African who married a black woman to defy the apartheid regime at the time. I gave this book a 3/5 since I didn't some of the of the poetry and I don't understand Afrikaans, but I gave it a 4/5 because Jensma can't be blamed for my inability to concentrate in Afrikaans classes.
Some poems and art from the book which I liked:
Sing for Our Execution: Poems and Woodcuts was one of the books I chose from the collection and put in storage till I finally came across it, and what a gem it is.
The book was published in May 1973 and is a collection of 40 poems (according to the table of content but I counted more than 60 poems) and 12 woodcut art (excluding the cover).
The artwork inside the book into the art for the cover was made by Wopko Jensma.
His poems are primarily written in English and Afrikaans, but he frequently incorporates words from other languages such as Portuguese, IsiZulu, and SeTshwana. His writing style can be confusing at times, but the majority of his poems are clear, addressing topics such as police brutality, death and grief, politics, hope, arts, and much more.
Some of the poems were brave for a book published in the 1970s, but he could get away with it since he was a white South African who married a black woman to defy the apartheid regime at the time. I gave this book a 3/5 since I didn't some of the of the poetry and I don't understand Afrikaans, but I gave it a 4/5 because Jensma can't be blamed for my inability to concentrate in Afrikaans classes.
Some poems and art from the book which I liked:
Displaying 1 of 1 review