Full Description
Folding a River is a sweeping poetic testament to migration, memory and the fragile work of hope. In this powerful new collection, Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé draw on years of intercultural practice, peace-building and international research to create poems shaped by ceremony, humour, lament and fierce tenderness. Moving across continents and crises, they weave rivers, forests, ancestors and everyday encounters into a shared language of resilience. These poems speak to displacement and belonging, to wounds that demand tending, and to the courage required to remake community. A vital, genre-defying collection for a world in search of liberation and healing.
Contents
Introduction 10
Part I - Freedom to move
Labyrinth 14
a guide to the traveller 16
Obedience 19
leopard hunter 20
What is your peace? 21
our squinty house 23
With holding 25
second handling 25
We are freer than we believe 26
b is for black, c is for captain: alphabet-themed misadventures of a terribly seasick crew with stoic colonial disposition in unrelenting tidal waves of historical inadequacies 27
The waiting 28
rukweza farmer 30
Part II - Freedom to create
Warrior bird 34
forest songs 35
Silence 36
speaky clean 38
Wanted 39
handmade 39
There is also this to tell 40
maybe it is 42
The one I am 44
sleeping awake 46
I remember writing my first poem 48
emissions 49
Part III - Freedom to wonder
WindCalm 52
thinkwalking 53
When 54
there are things 54
At GorseBloom 55
rootikali korekt 57
Abyss 58
four fires 59
At my lips 60
i don't need anything 61
I want to make more time for roses 63
how beautiful is life 64
Part IV - Freedom to bear
In that garden 68
meticulous the gardener 69
It's time 73
show and tell 74
Star Earth 76
a breath of myst 77
Folding a river 79
running return 81
Can you hear my river? 86
meander 88
Crossing the Volta 90
weathering withering whethering 92
No matter how poisoned the land 94
nothing much said 96
These trees 98
musasa 100
The rotting season 101
as 103
Black in history 104
arc 106
Great northern divers 108
leathers and smartphones 110
Beads 113
baddy lost goody 115
Part V - Freedom to praise
Wounded 118
chifumuro 119
The wolf moon - and its phases 120
kuziva mbuya huudzwa (learning comes through listening) 125
Look! 130
every now and again 130
A day as full as the moon 131
jenaguru 132
Poor in spirit 133
rupture 135
The HeartBeats 137
urban tears 139
The earth is covered in darkness 141
the spirit of darkness 144
Night watching 146
do hesitate to 148
Blessing 149
crannog means shama 150
At Nehanda's tree 152
the station area 153
Epilogue - Warriors cry
We are nature: pasichigaré 158
pasichigaré: we are nature 164
Acknowledgements 169
About the authors 172
