BY AGATHA CHUMA THE creative sector is moving with the times as evidenced by quality videos being produced by most local artistes. The same applies to poets who have shifted from just penning poems on paper to accompanying them with visuals.
Local poet and author Lennox Makurumidze told NewsDay Life & Style that his latest poem, Chingwa seeks to unravel the complex issues in society.
Buoyed by the success of his book titled Budding kit and building blocks (2019), the 24-year-old artist went on to release a poem, Chingwa accompanied by visuals aimed at exposing poverty and inequality.
“I lived in the ghetto and what I encountered there pushed me to come up with this poem.
“Life has inspired me to speak on different things that I see and have experienced.
“Chingwa, which is in Shona and English, speaks about the everyday life of a human in Zimbabwe, what they do and the misfortunes they encounter due to our economy. It exposes that there is no longer a difference between the educated and uneducated,” he said.
He added that there is so much inequality, poverty and strife and the pain can sometimes be unbearable.
Makurumidze, whose poems mainly speak about Christianity, society and love, said his works seek to tell people’s hidden stories.
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He is also the founder of Spoken Word Society (2018) at Prince Edward High School.
Poetry has been his solace in times of trouble.
“Poetry has become my home and my motive is to better the world by opening the eyes of people to different aspects of life.
“My book, Budding kit and building blocks creatively uses words to encourage the youths to use authentic voices to fight for themselves.”
The young and enthusiastic youth took second place in the inaugural Zimbabwe online poetry dubbed Slam-ZW (2020) and has participated at the Shoko Festival in the battle for Cities Poetry Slam (2019). He is a member of Page Poetry Alive.
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