Third place goes to local creative poet

Early in February, the AVBOB Poetry Project announced its first mini-competition for 2024 with the theme, Across a Crowded Street. In a cultural landscape where our words can easily divide and box us in, poets were invited to find their most urgent words, whether tender and encouraging or new and challenging.

The tone of much of what we read and respond to in the news or on social media is repetitive and shrill. However, when writing a poem, we have a chance to send an urgent and surprising but also tender and encouraging or new and challenging message.

This year, the AVBOB Poetry Project celebrates the power of poetry to help us slow down, tune in, and speak from the heart by announcing the winners of Across a Crowded Street mini-competition and sharing their astonishing poems.

This mini-competition challenged poets to share their most intimate words and stories, and the response was impressive.

The competition’s chief judge said: “Again, we are astonished by what poets were willing to share and explore. Clearly, the excitement is building about these competitions, and the standard of entries remains high.”

De Lange continued, “Poets shared their awe and excitement about the world around them. At a time when so much of what we read and listen to confirms our biases, poetry reminds us to listen and look again, to slow down and find newer, better words.”

First-place winner Retshepisitswe ‘Promise’ Makhatha was born in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. “My motivation for entering this competition is that it is an opportunity for me to compete against and learn from poets of different backgrounds and writing levels. I value any opportunity to improve and share my writing.”

Second-place winner Malusi Aphelele Mbangata was born in Mount Ayliff, Eastern Cape, in 2001. He has had four poems published by the AVBOB Poetry Project – three in English and one in isiXhosa.

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“I entered this mini-competition because I could relate to its theme. I locked eyes with a female stranger in a public place who had no company or fancy materials with her. She was quiet and collected, while almost everyone around her had company. I could relate to the way she was.

“As we locked eyes, it was as though we were speaking a language of shared understanding and admiration. She knew that she needed nothing to be comfortable. She was a treasure.”

Third-place winner Lezel Simons comes from Alberton. She is a physiotherapist, a mother of two and a widow. Over the past few years, she has been exploring writing and self-publishing, along with other creative endeavours, with a view to an alternative career.

“Writing has always been a dream and a hobby. Many recent events have guided me back to it to fulfil that dream. Poetry has helped me to deal with grief and to process complex and difficult emotions. I have been writing it for six years and have published three collections.

“When I write, I often have an idea or concept and then a subconscious, almost automatic flow and expression of that idea. That is how I wrote this poem. I believe our souls have wisdom, knowledge and a purpose beyond what we consciously understand and that sharing our experiences and insights brings meaning and purpose to our lives.”

Across a Crowded Street
Lezel Simons
I do not know
the road you’ve walked,
how long or how far,
what load you carry
or if your legs are tired
Here, we find ourselves
walking parallel lines
We are passers-by
in this uncertain journey
Never truly knowing
where we are going
We do know
where we come from
and where we are now
As I turn to see
what is around me
In a fleeting moment
eyes meet
If we pay attention
our hearts will say,
“Look, another soul
making their way.”
When we observe
and are seen
You are not simply
another person
across a crowded street
I am because you are