GEORGE NEWS - Those who heard the poet Archie Swanson read his poems at the George Library on Saturday 23 November, know the answer to this question. Poetry is authentic. It is written by real people about real experiences - far removed from the artificial world inhabited by Facebook and Instagram junkies.
Swanson was the author in the spotlight at the last of the library's annual "Make Your Mark" event. The owner of Blue Forest second-hand bookshop, Wolfgang Schrader, chatted to Swanson and opened up the poet's thoughts to the audience. Swanson has certainly made his mark.
Three of his poems were translated into Spanish and published in the Spanish National Newspaper El Mundo and the Bolivian newspaper Correo Del Su.
Over the years, his poems have been published in any number of anthologies, and he has published two poetry collections, the stretching of my sky and the shores of years. He also serves on the board of the SA Literary Journal.
What makes Swanson's work different is that each poem is accompanied by a photo depicting the inspiration for the poem - hence the title of the talk, Hearing: seeing in poetry. The poems often constitute accurate descriptions of things that he observes, but put in a context where the irony or the poignancy is highlighted. Such is the poem Camp jacket 28343-B with a photo of a striped jacket from Auschwitz in the Cape Town Holocaust Centre.
Archie Swanson chats about his poetry in the George Library last Saturday.
He believes people are intuitive and usually don't need embellishment to make them understand the "meaning" of a poem, especially as the importance of a poem is in the eye and ear of the beholder.
Swanson said while writing poetry doesn't take quite the amount of discipline needed to write a novel, it isn't just jotting down a few thoughts. You may have a spark, but you still need to stack the fire to make it burn.
One audience member took home a tangible reminder of the morning: 11-year old Zipporah Nota won a copy of Swanson's collection the shores of years in a lucky draw.
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