"A profound even if exaggeratedly self-aware writer, an instinctive nomad and bohemian in temperament, Marechera was a writer in constant quest for his real self, quarrying towards a core that he once wryly expressed in the cry, "My whole life has been an attempt to make myself a skeleton in my own cupboard." The reward of "Scrapiron Blues" is that he has succeeded largely in laying the ghost of that skeleton, and bringing his tormented humanity to bear on the plight of others, their loves, their little tragedies, their sense of mockery and love of life." - Wole Soyinka

"Dambudzo Marechera was and is an important voice in African literature. Although he died young and his output was regrettably small, the difference in his voice, in his concerns and in his attitude added something special and enduring to the body of African literature." - Dennis Brutus

This is a book of poems by Dambudzo Marechera, representing the whole spectrum of the young writer's growing literary maturity. The poems sparkle with Marechera's unique wit, always quickened by his uncanny ability to use language to subvert all conventional cultural and political pieties. "Cemetery of Mind" demands serious attention and reveals, through the sharpest of the poet's voice, the real world inside us all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dambudzo Marechera, a Zimbabwean who died at the young age of 35 in 1987, is also the author of the award winning novel, House of Hunger. He left behind a large number of unpublished literary works. The Black Insider, Cemetery of Mind, and Scrapiron Blues comprise many of his poems and short stories that were published after his death.

CATEGORY

Poetry/AFRICA