Dedication to Keorapetse Kgositsile – South Africa’s National Poet Laureate Dies at 79
South African struggle stalwart and national poet laureate, Professor Keorapetse Kgositsile (popularly known as ‘Bra Willie’), sadly passed away today at the age of 79. Award-winning Western Cape poet Athol Williams has written the following dedication to him… HIS GENTLE BREATH Dedicated to Keorapetse Kgositsile His gentle breath gave shape to the deflated – we stood […]
South African struggle stalwart and national poet laureate, Professor Keorapetse Kgositsile (popularly known as ‘Bra Willie’), sadly passed away today at the age of 79. Award-winning Western Cape poet Athol Williams has written the following dedication to him…
HIS GENTLE BREATH
Dedicated to Keorapetse Kgositsile
His gentle breath gave shape to the deflated –
we stood like inflatable waving figures along
the highways – falling, folding, fading, choked
by the large boot standing on our necks, but his
gentle breath returned our shape, our hope,
our belief in a great destiny, till inflated, standing tall.
And now that the river of his breath has run dry,
and we face deflation – falling, folding, fading,
it is his words, those rays of light that flew on
the back of his gentle breaths, that ignites our spirit,
returning our bones, our muscle, our greatness
such that we will never, never again, lose our shape.
© Athol Williams
Prof Kgositsile was inaugurated as South Africa’s National Poet Laureate in 2006 and was a member of SA’s Arts & Culture’s Living Legends Legacy Programme.
He was one of the first members of the African National Congress (ANC) in the ’60s and ’70s, and lived in exile in the USA between 1962 and 1975. In the USA, Bra Willie became a significant poet in the Pan-African movement, and was instrumental in bringing Africa into the limelight in the ’70s… with his poetry performances helping to bridge the gap between African poetry and Black poetry.
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, led the tributes on Wednesday, tweeting: “We begin 2018 on a very sombre note with the passing of one of South Africa’s most influential and exceptional poets…”
Keorapetse Kgositsile at a Poetry Festival in Berlin, 2009
It is with great sadness that we have learnt of Prof. Keorapetse Kgositsile's passing. He was with us just the other day at Abantu Book Festival & his event -which was his last ever- was one of those the audience wished would never end. RIP National Poet Laureate. #NoSerenityHere pic.twitter.com/nGNCt4v3Yu
— Abantu Book Festival (@Abantu_) January 3, 2018
We begin 2018 on a very sombre note with the passing of one of South Africa's most influential and exceptional poets, who went on to become the wRite Association's National Poet laureate & a member of @ArtsCultureSA's Living Legends Legacy Programme, Prof Keorapetse Kgositsile. pic.twitter.com/ydjjl1jyD5
— Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa (@NathiMthethwaSA) January 3, 2018
[WATCH] Tributes pour in for Prof. Keorapetse Kgositsilehttps://t.co/w3wGw6AlmU
— SABC News (@SABCNews) January 3, 2018