70-year-old’s poetry to be published

Visions, Regrets and Memories author, Valerie van Rooyen’s ultimate dream came true the moment her son and daughter-in-law offered to pay for the publication of her poetry on her 70th birthday. The proposal came after Valerie opened up about the deep-seated regret of never having her poetry published.

The foreword of Valerie’s book reads, “My delight knew no ends when at the age of seven or eight years, I had a few poems published in Cape Times Junior section for which I received certificates. From thereon there was no stopping me and I spent many hours scribbling away.”

“My Grade 7 teacher gave me the name Shellery Vallard because there were too many Valerie’s in the class. It became my nom de plume or literary double because it is meaningful on a personal level,” she explained when asked about the strange name on the cover of the book.

On her way to work one morning in 1967, Valerie read about the world’s first heart transplant on the news tape displayed on the very top of the Sanlam building in Cape Town. As the words circulated in a trance-like fashion, the euphoria of such an astounding accomplishment lingered in the Greenpoint air. Valerie put pen to paper that morning in a recollection of a remarkable day.

In 1986, Valerie submitted a poem to a local magazine. The poem came to her while reflecting on creation, the vastness of space and how life seemed to be like a Chinese puzzle; a box within a box within a box. The poem was returned after being dubbed ‘too political’. The controversial verse read, “There must be a reason for the furies unleashed when we fight for a land we don’t own, if only more people would sit down and think this land is only on loan.”

When US Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, Valerie listened to the radio as the legendary first steps were taken. Inspired, she wrote Moon Landing the next morning, vividly describing a day etched in the hearts and minds people across the globe.

Ms van Rooyen entered the Sanlam Literary Competition in 2000 and the letter that arrived in the mail on August 22, changed her life for good. Valerie’s poetry collection was deposited into the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown and incorporated into their archives.

Valerie recalled the moment she told her son Tony about the achievement, “His response was priceless. He said my poetry would be stored in a box and left in the corner to gather dust. We laughed ourselves silly that day.”

Valerie’s book is set to be published by Publishing World South Africa later this month and will retail for about R100.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, an English poet, said, “Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.” Valerie has taken her most painful and precious experiences and transformed them into something mesmerising. Her 114-page book features the original collection archived in the National English Literary Museum that she has expanded on over the past 14 years. With beautiful pieces about love, despair, trust and the infinity of time, Valerie van Rooyen is a wordsmith like no other.

Bits and pieces

Val van Rooyen

“When you feel as if you don’t fit in and nobody seems to care about you, just remember what beautiful bedcovers were made from bits and pieces that nobody even looked at twice because they were broken or skew or too small or the wrong colour.

Then someone picked them up and joined them together in a riotous mix of patterns and colours and every little broken or skew piece found a place where it fitted and eventually this glorious bedcover was created that everybody gazed at in awe.

So remember it doesn’t matter how skew or broken we feel, when God looks at us He knows exactly where each one of us will fit in his patchwork creation. Your piece is just as important as any other piece.”