ten flapping elbows, mama
Khulile Nxumalo
ten flapping elbows, mama is a poem series composed of several different elements, styles and voices, and its concern is mainly (though not solely) with being black in South Africa in the 10 years of transition since the 1994 elections. Nxumalo writes: ‘I have tried to be […] aware of style and form all the time, especially when trying to make language do new things. In what I call psycho-narration, I try to write beyond the understanding that the “inside of one’s head” and “the objective world” are really distinct worlds. This is a form I have grown to love more since I started preferring the long poem format that sits on a conversational tone. It’s a multi-vocal way of writing or telling stories in a less authoritative way, a kinda voice democracy in the poem.’
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[Nxumalo] wishes to occlude the distinction between “what’s reality out there and what’s inside my head,” constructing a mood of uncertainty around the conventional first person narrator of lyric poetry: in order that his poetry should become, in his words, “anti-lyrical,” and thus complicate reader’s relationship to the poems’ protagonists, particularly the first-person narrators.
– Kelwyn Sole, Scrutiny2
Date of publication: 2004
ISBN 0-9584542-6-4
93 pages
200 x 130mm
R120.00
Khulile Nxumalo 2024
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Khulile Nxumalo is a poet and film-maker who lives in Diepkloof, Soweto. His documentary films have been shown mainly on SABC channels, and he has been a commissioning editor on a number of SABC programmes. He currently works under the umbrella of Creative Soweto, which includes working with young people at Funda Centre on creativity and innovation. His documentary series The Life and Times of Credo Mutwa is part of a broader project on heritage and traditional knowledge in Soweto, covering the sites of memory, sacred practices and political identity. Books published Poetry |
Additional information
| Weight | 0.5 kg |
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Reviews of this book
Review by Lisa Combrinck of ten flapping elbows, mama by Khulile Nxumalo Sowetan, 2004 text PDF
Interviews & Articles
Interview with Khulile Nxumalo by Alan Finlay New Coin, 2005 text PDF
Interview with Khulile Nxumalo by Gary Cummiskey Dye Hard Interviews, 2013
Other Links
Poetry
Video: Khulile Nxumalo performs his poem “unfurl” live at the Long Night of the Poets Online Festival Open Ink LIMITED (YouTube), 2024
"Khulile Nxumalo & Sihle Ntuli: The Gcwala Sessions": (seven collaborative poems) Herri #9
"The Portfolio": a profile of Khulile Nxumalo Mail & Guardian, 2019
Review by Tlhalo Sam Raditlhalo of fhedzi: iamgoingtoknowmgwalopatterns by Khulile Nxumalo New Coin (Sabinet), 2014 text PDF
Video: "Khulile Nxumalo speaks to Polity's Motshabi Hoaeane about his poetry collection fhedzi" Polity, 2013
Review / interview by Theresa Owen on fhedzi by Khulile Nxumalo IOL, 2013
Article by Khulile Nxumalo on his cultural influences: "The train goes on coal" Litnet, 2004
Khulile Nxumalo as film-maker
Video: excerpts from “June 1976 The house Credo Mutwa”: an Open Ink production directed by Khulile Nxumalo SABC (YouTube), 2011
Khulile Nxumalo on filming the life of Credo Mutwa Chimurenga Online, 2007 text PDF
"Staffrider" a short film by Khulile Nxumalo and Tracey Rose Chimurenga's Pan African Space Station (YouTube), 2019
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