Poeticblood: A spoken word poet who recites in three languages
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Sunday January 29, 2023 06:00
While many poets are rooted on one language, Poeticblood's performances use three languages interchangeably. The languages include Setswana, English and Shikgalagari.
In an interview with Arts & Culture, the talented and beautiful poet said she was inspired by her late father to fall in love with poetry at a young age. She explained that from primary to senior school, she was obsessed with both written and spoken poetry.
She added that she got assistance from her junior school English teacher, Joel Kgodungwe, who would edit most of her work and give her feedback. “In 2014, I did my first commercial or paid performance and that is where the professional stage name "Poeticblood" came into being.
I had used my school days to build my confidence during drama club rehearsals therefore it was easy to interact with the audience. Contemporary (English) poetry was not as easy as Shikgalagari and Setswana.
But I continued with it, which made me more confident that I was doing something different,” she said. Pusetso also pointed out that she started participating in the President's Day Competitions and constituency competitions where she always emerged a winner from the Kgalagadi region to the Nationals. She said her work spread across the country adding that over the years she has participated in a lot of national events. She explained that the journey never stopped and she started to see growth in her as well.
Her performances attracted a lot of people. She continued performing across the country and internationally. Speaking of her most memorable performances, she highlighted that the FNBB Lentswe Lame Bodiragatsi Jwame competitions held last year where she emerged the first runner up in the poetry category was one of the events she holds dear to heart especially because it was after a long struggle due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said it was good to be back on stage and being loved as well.
“My poems touch different topics depending on the occasion but mostly they are about love, national matters and mental health. I have been given an opportunity to perform in different kind of events over the years including weddings, funerals and corporate parties. My first international performance was in 2018 in Uganda, Kapchorwa for Babishai Niwe Poetry Festival.
It was a great opportunity to interact with other poets and benchmark more," she added “Other international performances that followed after that includes Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya. I learnt a lot in having to share the stage with other icons and legends of the African Literature. We had chances to be a panelist in discussions and spoke on matters of poetry and African Literature.
I continue to get invites to speak and perform in other countries. I may not have poets I look up to, but I have a family of poets that I work with from time to time to keep motivating one another,” she explained.
However, Pusetso said she admired efforts of other poets in bettering the reception of poetry in Botswana and beyond. Internationally, she pointed out that her favourite poet is Maya Angelou whom she says her calmness when reciting inspires her. Moreover, this young poet has 15 books including poetry anthologies, short stories, novels and non-fiction. The first book was published in 2020 immediately after the lock down called Oceans of Untold Goodbyes. It is a poetry anthology dedicated to her father. She said it was well received in the community as it sold over 2,000 copies over the past two years.
Kingdom Publishers published the book in Botswana. She said rest of the other books where published by Poeticblood Publishers, her company she registered shortly after the release of the first book. She added that it was her dream to open up an academy of African poetry and literature to train kids from a young age who are interested in both spoken and written poetry. She already offers mentorship programmes to some but she said she hoped it would grow into an academy with time. “When I am not on stage, I am the Vice President of African Writers Round Table Organisation based in Zimbabwe, which helps authors, writers and performers with their work on capitalising it and distributing it across the globe.
I am also the managing director of Poeticblood Publishers, which offers book publishing, printing, and book distribution to both local and international authors. We have publishes over 300 books since we started.” “I was also honoured last year to be appointed the external coordinator for Explorers of Literature Club at BUAN in Gaborone. I have been nominated and won several awards for both poetry and writing over the years including the African Authours Awards 2021, African Honoree Awards 2022, BCPI Poetry competition 2021, KASA Awards 2022 and more.
Last year I also got an opportunity to be awarded an honorary Doctorate in Arts by IIU University in Austria/India. It was an honour to be granted such for my work in Africa as far as promoting African Literature and helping those willing to explore their crafts but with limited resources,” Poeticblood added. She further said her journey as a poet has been fulfilling since she started commercialising it and growing it professionally.
She added that she had several projects lined up for this year including hosting the Botswana Literature Awards and Writers and Poets retreat camp. Her books are available in local bookstores, and book stalls across the country. They are also available in Kenyan Library of Congress.