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House of Hunger Poetry Slam along with their “Poetry and Music” counterparts took turns to wow the audience.
Award-winning author Shimmer Chinodya set the mood for the celebrations with his prose/poem, which he described as “half prose, half poem” titled “Snow”.

“Snow’’ tells the story of a “country bumpkin” who grew up in Zimbabwe but yearned to see “white, white” snow. But while in the United States he comes face-to-face with the true America; a land of contradictions characterised by “black faces and white smiles”, hamburgers, racism, and typical stereotypes about Africa as a “land of coups, wars, hunger and disease”.

Peggie opened her set with a piece on the biblical origins of the spoken word as narrated in the Book of Genesis. With Easter just a days away, Peggie gave a moving chronicle of Jesus’ suffering on the cross before concluding her set with a romantic duet with So Profound titled “Killing Me Softly”.

So Profound’s set revolved around love while MwanawaAfrica’s poems were inspired by his passion for everything African. Dressed in a an all-white “Nigerian” outfit with a map of Africa on the back of his shirt, MwanawaAfrica recited three poems “15 Mupani Avenue”, “Poetic Justice” and “Marunjeya”.

Guest poet Mbizo Chirasha, who described himself as the “black poet”, raised the bar even higher with his own catalogue of poems about the African continent which he variously referred to as the “motherland”, “fatherland” and “sisterland”.

He paid tribute to the leaders of the liberation struggle such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Angola’s Agostinho Neto, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Mozambique’s Samora Machel as well as Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe and Mbuya Nehanda.

He also paid tribute to leading pan-African authors among them Chinua Achebe, Charles Mungoshi, Dambudzo Marechera with a poem derived from the titles of their books such as “Waiting for the Rain”, “House of Hunger” and “Things Fall Apart”. It was a mesmerising performance which earned him wild applause.

But the loudest cheers of the night were reserved for Madzitatiguru, who described himself not as a poet but a painter, specialising in rock paintings. Rock paintings do not fade easily; it’s the same with Tati’s poetry. It echoes in your mind long after he’s left the stage. Thursday was no exception. Few will forget his expert wordplay on pieces “Nhau Dzepadare”, “Christmas MuZimbabwe” and “Zesa”, a perennial favourite with the crowd.

The House of Hunger Poetry Slam gave way to “Poetry and Music” comprised of Barbara “Breezy” Anderson, Dimtri Kwenda and Nash “Flowsick” and guest artiste Qhawe from South Africa all performing with a live band.

Chikwata 263 and House of Stone featuring “MyBruthazKeepa” provided the music element and a chance for those who brought along their dancing shoes to sway to poetry put to music. The multi-racial Chikwata are fast becoming a force to reckon with when it comes to punk music fused with mbira. Of late, little known House of Stone have been churning out some amazing songs making them one of the sought-after reggae bands in Zimbabwe.

World Poetry Day was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 1999 to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry, throughout the world. The Unesco session declaring the commemoration describes it as a day to “give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements”.

With platforms such as House of Hunger Poetry Slam, Poetry and Music and Team Mashoko Magamba, Zimbabwe is certainly doing its part in promoting the spoken word as a serious arts genre.