A Private Part

Description

Lionel Murcott is an accomplished painter (especially of portraits) and poet who has had a long association with Botsotso. This collection of poems is beautifully illustrated by him with ink and charcoal drawings that masquerade as doodles and Picasso-esque figures that burst with a sensual vitality. Printed in black and white with blue duotones, the images combine in a robust and in-your-face way with the hard-hitting prose-poems that deal with family relations, macho illusions and mortality. And to complement the energy and bluntness of his vision, the collection’s jazzy layout offers the reader constant surprises. “Into this break-in of the dark, these jumbled bits, I lift the light I know / – the lamp on the dresser of a clean kitchen, the night-light burning besides a child’s bed –/ against whatever raises its arrogant head, or aims its heartless stare.”