I love fashion but poetry is my passion – Thabisile Mokwena
Mokwena (34) loves her work in the fashion industry, as well as to write narrative poetry and says she is excited for her next adventure.
POLOKWANE – Self-made fashion stylist and poet Thabisile Mokwena (34) from Polokwane, who is now based in Pretoria, started to write in primary school already and said she loved fashion and reading from a young age.
In Gr 8, Mokwena said, her English teacher, Elias Mamabolo, stimulated her love for reading, writing and poetry.
“He gave me a collection of poems and I was hooked. I devoured the copies and read it the whole day after school.”
When Mokwena got to Pretoria in 2018, a clothing company approached her to market and advertise their brands, and from there her friends have asked for her fashion advice non-stop.
At this point she wrote her poetry and worked in fashion for an extra income.
“When I was young, I’ve always had a pretty vivid imagination. Comic books with colourful images really drew my attention. I used to create stories and draw my own characters, thinking that someday I’d work for big TV companies where I would write short-story scripts for screen or theatre,” she said.
As time passed, Mokwena realised that her true passion was for narrative poetry.
“I love narrative poetry because it’s a form of poetry that tells you a story, often with the voices of a narrator and characters as well, and the entire story is usually written in metered verse which is the rhythm of syllables in a line of verse of a poem. Narrative poems do not need rhyme, they include epics, ballads, idylls and lays. And this is why my passion lies with writing scripts for theatre,” she explained.
Mokwena added that she spoke to a few book stores in Polokwane and once they heard her idea and style of writing, they have agreed to meet up with her for possible opportunities in the future.
“I’m extremely excited for this new venture I’m about to take.”
