NDABA SIBANDA - POEMS

A 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee, Ndaba`s poems have been widely anthologised. Sibanda is the author of The Gushungo Way, Sleeping Rivers, Love O’clock, The Dead Must Be Sobbing, Football of Fools, Cutting-edge Cache: Unsympathetic Untruth, Of the Saliva and the Tongue, When Inspiration Sings In Silence and Poetry Pharmacy. His work is featured in The Anthology House, in The New Shoots Anthology, and in The Van Gogh Anthology, and A Worldwide Anthology of One Hundred Poetic Intersections. Some of Ndaba`s works are found or forthcoming in  Page & Spine,  Peeking Cat, Piker Press , SCARLET LEAF REVIEW , Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Pangolin Review, Kalahari Review ,Botsotso, The Ofi Press Magazine, Hawaii Pacific Review, Deltona Howl, The song is, Indian Review, Eunoia Review, JONAH magazine, Saraba Magazine, Poetry Potion, Saraba Magazine,  The Borfski Press, Snippets, East Coast Literary Review, Random Poem Tree, festival-of-language and Whispering Prairie Press. 

Sibanda`s forthcoming book Notes, Themes, Things And Other Things: Confronting Controversies ,Contradictions And Indoctrinations   was considered for The 2019 Restless Book Prize for New Immigrant Writing in Nonfiction. Ndaba`s other forthcoming book Cabinet Meetings: Of Big And Small Preys was considered for The Graywolf Press Africa Prize 2018.
Sibanda`s other forthcoming books include Timbomb, Dear Dawn And Daylight, Sometimes Seasons Come With Unseasonal Harvests, A Different Ballgame and The Way Forward. 
Ndaba blogs here: Let`s Get Cracking! – Ndaba Sibanda - WordPress.com

​Mlobikazi Of Mzilikazi Along Vithikazi

​Few people knew she had lived in Soweto
Not only had she resided in that township
Of the city of Jo'burg,Mlobikazi of Mzilikazi
Had lived in the core of greatness on Vilakazi 
Street, for Soweto is historic by virtue of heroic
Struggles against apartheid that ensued there

There was Mlobikazi from Bulawayo's Mzilikazi
Suburb with a painting that told of a great story--
Titled Vilakazi, the pretty princess from Mzilikazi
Not only exhibited the literary artistry of Dr Vilakazi
It also captured how Vilakazi  is the only street
In the world where two Nobel Laureates once lived


Perseverance, painting, passion, her mantra
None could see, hear ,smell, taste or touch it
A breakthrough, a beauty's brilliance and dance
Mlobikazi of Mzilikazi lived on Vithikazi Street
Her grit galvanized admirers to nickname her
Mzilikazi's Qhawekazi or  Mzilikazi's Heroine! 

They roared Mlobikazi of Mzilikazi, Qhawekazi!
Mlobikazi of Mzilikazi had an awesome  passion
Her loyalty to her profession paid off  in profusion
And precision when her painting proudly propelled her  
Into prominence:they crowned her a prizewinning painter
A sea of attendees ,her mates, all they could see  was glee!

Humanity Mirrored In Style  ​

​Her fifth book was a masterwork 
What a feat, it flew off the shelves

Upon release it had its own wings
The author couldn’t clip them at all!

I glided beyond her wildest dreams 
A publisher who had snubbed her 

Suddenly had rueful bended knees
As if proposing marriage of a lifetime 
 
It had its own life, verve and voice 
It invaded debates, contests, venues

It became topical in magazines, on TV
Business ventures were named after it

It got movie directors wooing, drooling
Readers and publishers stampeding    

Some said it awed and hypnotized them, 
Others claimed it was mania and magic          

It was such a huge accomplishment 
For a writer whose first one was a flop 

Nompilo`s fifth novel could cast a spell  
It graced timeliness and ruined records   

There was body language and texture
Her characters had a weird presence      

Their lifestyles and antics were magnetic
Shockwaves coursed down a reader`s spine

Yet there was depth, there was innovation
Her book strike a basic chord, bared truths

Her words stripped away the pretentions 
She had a knack for courting controversies     

One sat on the edge of a chair and cried, cursed 
Or laughed like crazy as one gobbled her narrative 

Such was the wildness and uniqueness of her work
It lingered with a charm that was lively & leading-edge