Mbizo Chirasha is a Creative Communities Expert, Opinion maker/ Contributing Writer/Columnist{World Pulse/www.worldpulse.com/mbizo chirasha,Bulawayo 24 news.com/www.bulawayo24.com/mbizochirasha}, Blogging Publisher/Writer/Editor, an internationally acclaimed Performance poet, Creative /Literary Projects Specialist, Mbizo Chirasha is the Resident Coordinator of 100 Thousand Poets for Change-Global in Zimbabwe. He is also the Advisory Council Member of ShunguNaMutitima International Film Festival in Zambia, an Advocate of Girl Child Voices and Literacy Development .He is the Founder and Projects Curator of a multiple Community, Literary, and Grassroots Projects including Girl Child Creativity Project, Girl Child Voices Fiesta, Urban Colleges Writers Prize, and Young Writers Caravan. Mbizo Chirasha has worked with NGOS and other institutions as an Interventionist [using creative arts as models of community education, information dissemination and dialogue].The interventions include HIV/AIDS Branding Project [Social Family Health Namibia 2009 - 2010], HIV/AIDs Nutrition Project [Catholic Relief Services 2006] , Arts for Drought Mitigation[Swedish Cooperative Centre2006] He is widely published in more than Hundred Journals, Magazines, and Anthologies around the world. He Co-edited Silent Voices Tribute to Achebe Poetry Anthology , Nigeria and the Breaking Silence Poetry anthology,Ghana.His Poetry collections include Good Morning President ,Diaspora Publishers , 2011 , United Kingdom and Whispering Woes of Ganges and Zambezi,Cyberwit Press ,India ,2010. He was the Poet-in-Residence from 2001-2004 for the Iranian embassy/UN Dialogue among Civilizations Project; Focal Poet for the United Nations Information Centre from 2001-2008; Convener/Event Consultant This Africa Poetry Night 2004 - 2006; Official Performance Poet Zimbabwe International Travel Expo in 2007; Poet in Residence of the International Conference of African Culture and Development/ ICACD 2009; and Official Poet Sadc Poetry Festival, Namibia 2009.In 2010 Chirasha was invited as an Official Poet in Residence of ISOLA Conference in Kenya. In 2003 Mbizo Chirasha was a Special Young Literary Arts Delegate of Zimbabwe International Book Fair to the Goteborg International Book Fair in Sweden. He performed at Sida/African Pavilion, Nordic African Institute and Swedish Writers Union. In 2006 was invited to be the only Poet /Artist in Residence at Atelier Art School in Alexandra Egypt. In 2009 was a Special participating Delegate representing Zebra Publishing House at the UNESCO Photo –Novel Writing Project in Tanzania, Mbizo Chirasha also work as a Performing Poet for Educational, Diplomatic, International, National, Media and Cooperate organizations .He also works as a Proof Reader/Editor , Poet /Writer in Residences for Institutions , Media Relations Strategist for projects, GirlChildVoices /Talent Advocate, Literacy Development Activist and Creative/Literary Projects Advisor/Specialist. Credentials Member - Zimbabwe Writers Association Member- Creative Writing Group Zimbabwe Member of the Jury- International Images Film Festival Resident Coordinator- 100 Thousand Poets for Change Global Contributor – Stellenbosch University Literary Project/Slip net Member /Contributor- World Pulse Graduate- Chitaqua Reading Project/US Embassy ,Certified social media practitioner-Young Nation/ US Embassy, Prize winner Aids out of Africa Project- United States, Founder- Creative/Literary and Girl child Projects Producer/Curator- Girl child Voices Fiesta Member/Mentor- Writers International Zimbabwe, Mentor- Zim talent Hunt, Former Volunteer Poet in Residence- United States Embassy, Harare. Identity Apples I am a fat skeleton, resurrecting From the sad memories of dada And dark mysteries of animism I am Buganda I bleed hope I drip the honey of fortune Makerere; think tank of Africa I dance with you wakimbizi dance I am Tanganyika I smell and fester with the smoke of African genesis I am the beginning Kilimanjaro; the anthill of rituals I am the smile of Africa My glee erase the deception of sadness My tooth bling freedom I am myself, I am Gambia When others seep with bullets stuck in their stomachs I sneeze copper spoons from my mouth every dawn I am the Colombia of Africa I am the Cinderella of Africa Where mediums feast with the ghost of Kamuzu in Mulange trees Here spirits walk naked and free I am the land of sensations I am the land of reactions Coughing forex blues Squandermania I still smell the scent of Nehanda’s breath I am African renaissance blooming I stink the soot of Chimurenga I am the mute laughter of Njelele hills I am Soweto Swallowed by Kwaito and gong I am a decade of wrong and gong I am the blister of freedom vomited from the belly of apartheid I see the dawn of the coming sun in Madiba’s eyebrows I am Abuja Blast furnace of corruption Nigeria, the Jerusalem of noblemen, priests, professors and prophets I am Guinea, i bling with African floridirization I am blessed with many tongues My thighs washed by river Nile I am the mystery of pyramids I am the graffiti of Nefertiti I am the rich breast of Nzinga I am Switzerland of Africa The rhythm of Kalahari sunset The rhyme of Sahara, yapping, yelping I am Damara, I am Herero, I am Nama, I am lozi, I am Vambo I am bitterness, I am sweetness I am Liberia I am king kongo Mobutu roasted my diamonds into the stink of deep brown blisters Frying daughters in corruption microwaves Souls swallowed by the beat of Ndombolo and the wind of Rhumba I am the Paris of Africa I see my wounds I am rhythm of beauty I am Congo I am Bantu I am Jola I am Mandinga I sing of you I sing Thixo I sing of Ogun I sing of God I sing of Tshaka I sing of Jesus I sing of children of Garangaja and Banyamulenge Whose sun is dozing in the mist of poverty I am the ghost of Mombasa I am the virginity of Nyanza I am scarlet face of Mandinga I am cherry lips of Buganda Come Sankara, come Wagadugu I am Msiri of Garangadze kingdom My heart beats under rhythm of words and dance I am the dead in the trees blowing with wind, I can not be deleted by civilization. I am not Kaffir, I am not Khoisun I am the sun breaking from the villages of the east with great inspiration of revolutions Its fingers caressing the bloom of hibiscus Liberation! DEMONS GRAZING 11
Democracy freedom unearthed from apartheid intestines a legacy that carried sorrows since the days of yelping baboons and yapping dogs Monrovia blooming legumes of blood in superstitions of blood harvesting Crocodiles basking in the east of political comfort zones Afghan with the heart burn for freedom Baboons laughing other baboons in political forests Politicians crushing poverty under their feet Polishing streets with the glitz of robots and rainbow sweet talk. Letter to my daughter this poem reshuffled cabinet the rhythm resigned the president its metaphors adjourned parliament my daughter awaken sleeping patriots eating peanut in slogan darkness rise dozing voters in the warmth of political acid awaken struggle heroes in graves tired of wrong epitaphs and fake eulogies awaken fat cats puffing zanunised and mdcided propaganda burgers in slumber rise green horns drinking much talked herbal tea of change grandfathers of patriotism to bring back truth drowning in potholes of grief god fathers of change to bring back my vote choked in drums of new renewed corruption bring red hot charcoal to roast political bedbugs sucking our blood in daylight bring a word scientist to burn the justified injustice in poetic sulphuric acid my daughter this poem reshuffled cabinet the rhythm resigned the president the metaphors adjourned parliament. My painful poetry Its rhymes are of the poverty stripped widows in Liberia. Its symbols are of the slain cops freezing on the mortuary slabs of Gambia Its imagery is of freedom succumbing within bomb cry in Nigeria Its sound is of poverty shriveled breasts of mothers in Eritrea Its surprise is of hunger tortured children in Ethiopia Its echo is of war caused orphans digging for fortunes and future in rubbish dumps of Somalia My painful poetry Its connotations are of the weeping of ethnic tribes in Libya Its voice is of groaning stomachs of banks in Namibia Its tragedy is of sewage pipes gushing out disgusting contents in the streets of Zambia Its metaphors are machetes slicing wombs in the valleys of Kataga Its similes are of blood stained walls of sufferance in Tanzania Its alliterations are of genocides and atrocities in Rwandan corridors Its resonance is of butchers and slaughters in Burundan drives My painful poetry Its beat is of apartheid explosions in South Africa Its allegory is of the crying of the Povo in Zimbabwe Its satire is of the inking of villages in Mozambique Its irony is barter exchange of diamond and riles in Angola Its epitaph is the dying of the cultures in Algeria My painful poetry is painful and never beautiful
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