The Sunday News
Nkosilesisa Ncube, Sunday Life Reporter
At only 22, she has asserted herself as one of the most vocal poets in Bulawayo. Better known by her stage name, BlackLilly, Fungai Mombeshora is a lot more laid back, more down to earth person than her on stage persona. Sunday Life caught up with the poet.
Sunday Life (SL): Who is BlackLilly? And is there a difference between BlackLilly and Fungai?
BlackLilly (BL): I chose the stage name BlackLilly because to me it juxtaposes my two personalities.
Lilly stands for the more tolerant side of me that can put up with anything while Black stands for the side of me.
There is a difference between BlackLilly and Fungai. BlackLilly is a poet. She is strength, she is fire. She is the depiction of a black woman. The depiction of a Zimbabwean woman. BlackLilly is the feminist in me, the truth that I tell.
BlackLilly stands for everything that Fungai does not say out loud. BlackLilly is a voice and Fungai is just a 22-year-old lady. She is a sister, a daughter and a friend. She is just a girl trying to get educated and employed.
SL: What inspires your work?
BL: Everything around me inspires me. My personal experiences, my friends’ experiences, movies, music . . . just everything I come across inspires me.
SL: When did you know you had a voice as strong as yours is?
BL: I guess I have always known. I just was not in a good enough space to let it out. I have known since I was a little girl that I was born to make a difference. Where I am right now is just the beginning of something great, there is more to conquer, learn and embrace.
SL: Some people have referred to you as the angry poet . . . what’s your take on that?
BL: I used to have a problem with people calling me angry because for me it is more about the passion.
I cannot be talking about certain things and be all smiles, I speak the truth and if the truth at that moment is anger then I speak anger. I am more about the truth, I do not like to sugarcoat things or pretend.
SL: What’s been the highlight of your journey as a poet?
BL: I do not have one highlight but every single time I am on stage, it is a new experience.
A whole new lesson, a whole new journey. Every time I win a poetry slam, it feels new. Every relationship that I build with my audience is a highlight.
SL: What is it like doing something that was previously male dominated, are you a feminist?
BL: It does not matter much to me that men used to dominate this field. I am a rule breaker. I am doing what I have to do regardless of who did it first. I am definitely a feminist. Like Maya Angelou said, “I would be stupid not to be on my own side”.
I am not a radical feminist though.
I am rational. I am not one to conform to society but I am not all about discord either. Feminism has now become more about crushing men, but I am not about that.
SL: Your Instagram (stalker alert) says that you’re a singer-songwriter; can you shed more light on that?
BL: I was a singer-songwriter before I became a poet, and that is something a lot of people do not know about me.
I was a Zim Talent Hunt finalist, and I have won quite a number of local and regional small-scale music competitions.
BlackLilly will be competing in the Intwasa poetry slam on Saturday ( 1 October) at the National Art Gallery. — @Nkocykay
