The Sunday News
Sunday Life Reporter
SIMMERING Storms brings the giftedly poetic voice of a Zimbabwean writer, Tholiwe Ndebele.
A poignant collections of the emotional storms within us, Simmering Storms is about what matters most to us. Quite simple, you just can’t stop reading at one poem, you are compelled to read the rest, probably in one sitting.
The poems, mostly dramatic monologues, are an eye-opener into the way we make sense of things and break the silence on many issues at the same time inviting us to question our attitudes and values.
For example Girl Power celebrates a girl excelling in stem cell research, a field usually associated with men. Istanbul Vibes and Turkish Tulips are expressions of great love for the vibrant city and for the students. Other poems such as Broken Birds deal with the lack of voice and dignity of refugees and Gender Genocide is a form of protest poetry against male suppression.
There are also a significant proportion of poems delving into different expressions of love such as first favourable first impressions Gruff Voice, through to hot passion Reeling Kiss and then dying love Quiet Storm and finally disdain Empty Shell.
Ndebele’s style of writing is both rhythmic and as well as conversational thus making this eclectic compilation a page turner and accessible to everyone.
Ndebele started writing as a teen. She developed a love for writing very early in primary school right up to now. An avid story teller, Ndebele has always been interested in reading and writing short stories and poems. The poems were initially in various notebooks, but with the advent of computers and new ways of storage, she transferred her work on to the digital platform. She jokingly laughs at herself for starting out as a novice with computers but went on to master the keyboard and prefer typing to actual writing.
“I used to type with just the index fingers, one letter at a time,” she chuckles.
Ndebele is from Silobela but lives in Istanbul in Turkey. She holds several degrees which include two Masters. To date, she has co-authored an English grammar book A Fresh Start (using Tholiwe Ndebele Dube) which is currently the prescribed Form 2 textbook in Botswana government schools, two books on poems, Deep Deep Blue and My Africa in Me and one short story text, Echoes of the Mind and Other Stories. This latest book, Simmering Storms is her fifth book.
She explains, ‘‘Everybody has a well of unforgettable and life-changing plethora of words and paradigms of imagery awaiting to be set free. It is up to us to unbolt our taps and allow those beautiful words and exquisite perceptions to cascade on to paper’.’ Ndebele’s books are readily available on Amazon.
