Writing in new collection is taut and evocative - Peterson on My Rainbow

An astounding anthology with a poetic vision that is incisive, textured and big-hearted in its treatment of the intimacies and intricacies that link the past and the present, the personal and the political. So says Associate Professor Bheki Peterson of my new poetry collection, My Rainbow.

He further describes the writing in My Rainbow, released in October 2009, as "taut" and "evocative". The book represents a 'best of' selection of my poetry writing over many years.

Although I believe that a good number of the poems in My Rainbow are playful and merely revel in words, Peterson notes that the work is intense, engaging and informed by a clear poetic vision. The book can be purchased at:
a) www.kalahari.net/books/My-Rainbow/632/35071067.aspx
b) http://www.adamsbooks.co.za/

Here is the full quote from Peterson:

"An astounding anthology with a poetic vision that is incisive, textured and big-hearted in its treatment of the intimacies and intricacies that link the past and the present, the personal and the political.

The writing is taut and brimming with evocative cadences that recall rites and rights of passage that range from street corners, the whispers of yearning lovers to the bruised but resolute mantras that will activists to insist on a compassionate and equitable world.

The poems, in reading, achieve a collective coherence and visceral power because of Meintjies’ mature perspective and his sensuous and lyrical writing."

Bhekizizwe Peterson
Associate Professor of African Literature
School of Literature and Language Studies
Wits


For further details on My Rainbow, see also http://narratingchange.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-poetry-book-my-rainbow-hits-shelves.html.

New poetry book My Rainbow hits the shelves

My new poetry book, My Rainbow, has hit the shelves. Check it out. (www.kalahari.net/books/My-Rainbow/632/35071067.aspx)

The content ranges widely and wildly - it covers the personal and the social and effortlessly shifts vantage points from domestic and highly localised settings to distant places and broader concerns.

The book draws on the best of poems written over nearly 30 years, and gains strength and depth (or at least a distinctiveness) from this wide scope.

My Rainbow can be obtained from good South African bookstores. It can also be obtained, online, from http://www.exclusivebooks.co.za/ or http://www.kalahari.net/; or you can trace the book on these websites by searching via author name and surname. (ISBN: 978-0-620-44659-4)

Although the book, taken as a whole, is said to have depth and meaning, My Rainbow contains many fun and playful poems, and quite a few that adopt the perspective of growing up and finding a place in the world.

My Rainbow, by Frank Meintjies, October 2009.