“Everybody is a poet in Cameroon, just that not everyone writes poetry”, Violetta Zygmunt artistic coordinator of Stigmator Theatre’s cyclic meeting with foreign poets quoted the words of her guest. The poet, who writes under the pseudonym Simon Mol is a political exile from Cameroon . His real name is Moleke Mo-Nije. On Saturday February 25th he came to Krakow from Warsaw, where he lives and works since 1999.
Simon presented his poetry works, published in Poland in two volumes: Africa, my Africa and The Goddess from Mount Africa.
He usually plays drums while reading his poetry. This time however, he didn’t use that instrument . Instead, after the recitations he sang a song in his Bakweri language which belongs to Bantu group. The main theme in his poetry is pain of separation with Africa, that he was forced to leave. His poetry is influenced by the spirit of the moment, the place and concrete events. “Conscious of the fact that I could not see the sky it made me almost insane,” he recalls his period in detention. Then he began to write poetry in jail. This helped him to survive the worst. You may read more about his life and activities soon in GK.
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