Sihle Ntuli (@usihlentuli) is a 25 year old up and coming writer from a township called Kwa-Mashu just outside Durban, he is also a Rhodes University Graduate with honours in Classical studies. His work can be seen on New Coin, Bakwa, Saraba, Itch, The Kalahari Review & The Grounds Ear Anthology among others. Sihle’s engages with contemporary topics such as lost love, morality and existed as a black youth within white dominance.
Below are two poems from his debut Anthology “Stranger”:
Film Noir
fallin
smoking aces
i go van gogh blue
death by invisible pistol
and down i lie
to tell the truth
eye smelt oceans and cried
envy was never so green
silver steps second best to walks under moons
reminiscing on days
when silence was golden
your head on my chest
when we would lay together
your concussions
my chest
– End –
Retrospect
to throw no shade
drying beneath the sun
to soul searching
to calmness of the blues
to the gold in the gospel
to favourite colours
to states
mind travelled to
out of this world
to 90’s
rerun as nostalgia ultra
to living single
and to living colours
from burgundy jazz
small hands that hold onto velvet rope
to slow percussion as my mood
the sound of symbols
from the pharcyde
towards tribes called quest
to 9th wonders of this world
to hear life as musing
at the bottom of the glass
after sinking
– End –
Stranger (Debut poetry anthology)
“Stranger” Sihle Ntuli’s debut poetry anthology is published by independent publisher Aerial Publishing based in Grahamstown. It is edited by Robert Berold alongside Marike Beyers. There are 37 poems included most of which have been published Africa-Wide in Nigeria’s Saraba, New Contrast,New Coin & ITCH.
The poetry is written from the perspective of a contemporary South African youth living in the current era. The pieces are very young and experimental. The project itself can be considered conceptual with six different sequences (chapters) that deal with different topics such as marginalisation, lost love, introversion, nostalgia and melancholy. The poetry is not typical for a black South African writer there is very little struggle poetry but more life poetry.
The artwork is called “Twin Two” by Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor based in Lagos/Washington @victorsozaboy. The artwork was chosen as a play on the fact that there is a second twin in the original artwork but it has been cropped out. There is significance because the author is a second born twin hence “Twin Two”.
The book was launched at the National English Literary Museum on the 30th September and will be sold at R75 + postage from the publisher. For further details contact aerial.publishing.grahamstown@gmail.com
