Inhabiting Love

by Abu Bakr Solomons

In this second collection, following his debut A Season of Tenderness and Dread (published by Botsotso, 2018), Abu Bakr Solomons continues his exploration of the unfolding social and political milieu – worlds in transition – both locally and globally; the threats and compelling beauty which coexist, in these complex human tragedies and triumphs, so that the past and the present intersect in the psyches and consciousness of individuals and their delivery of social movements.

Change arrives dispassionately, like death; the armoury of the present is indifferent to restive coils unfurling in the gut. What is to be done is to retreat, wait for vigorous currents to displace stale trends of thought until our tired muse rekindles and desire dares to flourish, illuminating love in all the places we may inhabit.

Love always forms an integral element in these engagements of upheaval and healing. Ultimately, the poems assert that the manifestation of love, in its various forms: personal, romantic or patriotic, is more than a mere outpouring of sentiments, for love spawns a context – a habitat – in which individuals battle to converge and combat, in order to define their purpose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abu Bakr Solomons worked as a teacher and principal for more than forty years in high schools and primary schools on the Cape Flats and continues to serve the educational community at various institutions on a part-time basis. He studied English language and literature at three different South African universities as well as abroad. His poems have been published in Tribute, Akal (the journal of the Congress of South African Writers), Poetry Institute of Africa, the Botsotso Literary Journal, the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology, Sections of Six: Contemporary South African Poetry (Botsotso Publishing, 2008), New Coin (poetry journal of Rhodes University, Grahamstown) and New Contrast. His debut collection of poetry, A Season of Tenderness and Dread was published by Botsotso in 2018 and received a commendation from the judges of the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize in that year.

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(International): African Books Collective: Inhabiting Love