Homesoil in my Blood

by Keorapetse Kgositsile, Mandla Langa (Foreword)

A compelling selection of poems from Keorapetse Kgositsile’s lifework, traversing the journey of humanity in three I. The taste of bronze drunk hot . . . (dedicated to the struggle for liberation) II. Malibongwe (tribute to women) II. In motion like the ocean . . . (homage to musicians)

Genres: Poetry

Kindle Edition

Published April 24, 2018

About the author

Keorapetse William Kgositsile, also known as "Bra Willie", is a South African poet and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, he was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2006. Kgositsile lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career. He made an extensive study of African-American literature and culture, becoming particularly interested in jazz. During the 1970s he was a central figure among African-American poets, encouraging interest in Africa as well as the practice of poetry as a performance art; he was well known for his readings in New York City jazz clubs. Keorapetse was one of the first to bridge the gap between African poetry and Black poetry in the United States.

Harlem-based early hip-hop group The Last Poets took their name from one of his pieces, and his son is the highly controversial rapper Earl Sweatshirt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorape...

Reviews

[Barry Gilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ocean

Reading Bra Willie’s poetry is like wallowing in an immense, undulating ocean; now surging forwards with a swell; now beating the water to stay afloat; but always, always, carried by the tide, the tide of history and his story.

[Artem Brukovskiy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In my language there is no word for citizen, which is an ingredient of that 19th-century omelette. That word came to us as part of the package that contained the bible and the rifle. But moagi, resident, is there and it has nothing to do with any border or boundary you may or may not have crossed before waking up on the piece of earth where you currently live."