Rubble

Description

In this, his third collection of poetry, Solomons foregrounds portraits as well as memories of personal shifts, and reflections in the context of a broad national and global milieu ruptured, intermittently, by pandemics and political upheavals. Ultimately, the poetry seeks to forge a creative fulcrum on which to balance this unfolding vision, share insights and sustain engagement.

The Western Cape setting is an important element as he reminisces about outstanding Muslim religious and political figures who inspired his childhood with their acts of resistance to apartheid. Indeed, the weight of this legacy of racism and brutality still weighs heavy as he reflects on the new wave of corruption massaged by often shameless propaganda at local and international level.

We spend days sweeping afterbirths of dead eras
titillating time with maudlin speeches.
While cunning cabals pillage and freewheel
we stumble with eyes shut, in the fog of war.

And so, solidarity with the oppressed – whether in Syria or on the Cape Flats – is a focal point, and yet many poems delve into family relationships, particularly inter-generational bonds tested by conflict yet cemented with love. This leads to poems with whimsical and affectionate musings such as The guava stew that spurned death:

By four in the afternoon, I take a bowl of the dessert
to Ma who is ninety-six years old,
ill in a Frail Care Centre for the aged,
recuperating from acute bronchitis.

She is lying on her bed when I spoon the guava stew
into her mouth as if she’s a baby.
She slurps it up, smiling and announces gently:
I don’t think I’ll die today,
maybe during the week, but not today.

Another significant feature of the book are the strikingly powerful black and white portraits of various figures by Glen Arendse; these haunting images complement the poems and add greatly to the humanistic yet tragic impact of the work.

Overall, Solomons has gifted us with another collection of mature and trenchant poems that remain in the memory long after the first reading.