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Cover of “Days of my Youth”

Beaven Tapureta : Bookshelf

The Christian poetry anthology “Days of My Youth” (2016) by a “young and green” poet Lisbon Tawanda Chigwenjere is one of the books I have had an opportunity to read before it was published. Having known Lisbon from the days when he was starting out as a performance poet, immersing myself in his written poetry became a hunt for certain prominent qualities in the young man’s poetical formations.After reading the manuscript “Days of My Youth”, I commented that, “A few years ago we used to know him by his stage name ‘Babamukuru’. Whenever he performed his popular poem ‘Ndini Ndamubata’, he would send the audience into frenzied ululation. It is now his new nickname ‘The Lord’s Poet’ that his passion is explained. ‘Days of My Youth’ resounds with Lisbon’s spiritually powered poetic musings.

“Not only youth will enjoy the poems in this book, but children as well. No doubt, Lisbon’s gift of poetry has risen to another level in quality and theme.”

The comment is captured in the published book and I still stand by it. There has been an upsurge in Christian literature in Zimbabwe, perhaps indicating an enlarging base of Christian readers, especially of poetry.

Lisbon is one of the youthful writers who are inspiring their generation through the written word. He believes the youth are the future hence they deserve a chance to occupy spaces of leadership.

As in the Bible, God used youths such as David who, with a stone flung from a sling, killed Goliath the giant Philistine warrior and Joseph who was about thirty years old when he faced Pharaoh the king of Egypt.

How God chooses a person to minister in harmony with his/her talent is reflected in one of the poems in the anthology called “What is that in thine Hand”.

The poem almost recalls how the prophet Moses was chosen and sent to lead the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus. In the poem, the young Moses of the written word is receiving instruction from God to go and save the world:

Wordsmith, what is that in thine hand?

Write about the effects of grace in the holy land,

Is not that ink and paper?

Write on behalf of thy Maker . . .

The anthology is thematically divided into three sections, that is, Faith, Love and Patriotism.

Where faith and love are spoken of in some everyday conversations, peace is normally attached as the third and maybe last word. No matter how hair splitting it would sound, there is something reflective of Lisbon’s vision in replacing “peace” with “patriotism”.

The section on “Patriotism” consists of eight powerful poems which are rooted in the African ground. It sings the Zimbabwean and African dream and it configures a ‘wisdom centre’ for the youth.

As we honoured Heroes Day on Monday, this section could as well be a dedication to all the fallen and living heroes of Zimbabwe, the gallant sons and daughters of the soil who fought for liberation from colonial bondage. Lisbon’s interest in politics is confirmed by his current studies in Politics and Public Administration at the Midlands State University.

In past interviews elsewhere, he has been outspoken about the critical need for African countries to invest in the youth to ensure a successful political future. He does not want to see youths engaging in lifestyles destructive to society. His faith lies in the youth who naturally are endowed with the gift of nation building.

In the poem “Brothers, I Had a Dream” the persona retells a beautiful dream he had the previous night, of an Africa “full of light”, an Africa “no longer the last”.

The persona in the next poem “God Bless Africa” meditates upon Africa overtaking America which is considered the world largest economy. “Dear Adele” is addressed to “a woman so patriotic” who has a voice “sweet and melodic” that when she sings the Zimbabwean national anthem, the persona repeatedly begs her:

Adele, the next time you sing the national anthem we will sing it

Together

I’ve listened to you sing, sitting under the cedar

How you do it, to sing our sacred song in different

Tongues?

The declarative and prophetic voice of Mbuya Nehanda is invoked in the poem “The Unknown Soldier”. The poem creates an atmosphere of courage as Nehanda speaks her last words before she is hung for leading an uprising against the colonial settlers. She advises in one of the stanzas:

Let the eternal flame of Independence continue to burn

Let it burn now and forever, as it was then

Whatever comes, sunshine or rain

Let us never be a colony again

Lisbon’s other call is for Africa to unite as in his poem “The Last Moon of a Divided Land”. Unity can transform Africa.

In the other sections “Love” and “Faith” a reader enjoys various poems and also be gripped by the outstanding voices lyricising love, the joy of new found true love, patience in relationships especially between young people, and many other complex matters of love. Under “Faith” the poems primarily speak about the vitality of youth in spreading God’s liberating message and in building the nation.

Lisbon was a born a twin in 1993. Together with his twin brother, Liberty, they spent most of their high school days preaching the Gospel of Christ to their schoolmates.

His poems have appeared in various international Christian poetry anthologies such as “Enter the Gateway” (2013) and “The Effect of Grace” (2015) published by TL Publishing Group. Lisbon is a youth leader, nominated in 2015 for the Future Africa Leaders’ Awards (FALA) which aims “to identify, celebrate and support young Africans who have demonstrated exemplary leadership by impacting their generation positively through education, youth empowerment and mentoring, and through their projects aimed at building young people and preparing them for a positive future”.

Lisbon has also launched the Days of My Youth Movement, an initiative which he says will encourage young people to live for God, use their talents for the propagation of the Gospel, and find ways of developing their country whilst they are still young.