Frontier country creatives Sithembele Xhegwana and Jeannie McKeown, both 50, took first and second place respectively in the competition under the theme Water is Life.
The pair answered the February call by the Avbob Poetry Project to reflect and share their personal experience with the scarce resource during the run-up to World Water Day 2023 and the three-day United Nations 2023 Water Conference, both on March 23.
Xhegwana said his winning poem, titled Ostrich Egg Carrier of the Kalahari, was partially inspired by spiritual beliefs.
“My work as a sangoma means that things sometimes come to me in dreams. [The poem] was partly inspired by such a dream.
“It is a tribute to pre-colonial civilisations to whom water was very sacred,” Xhegwana said.
McKeown said her lived reality, with the region being in the grips of long-standing drought, inspired her to share that experience through her poem Water Crisis.
“As I live in a water-scarce area, this topic is very close to my heart,” she said.
“One night, I was taking a flimsy yellow bucket to fetch water from the tank in my backyard, and it struck me how lucky I am to have such a short way to walk while so many have no running water or water tanks.”
“The standard of submissions was very high, and interest in our competitions is clearly growing.”
The duo, both of whom are studying towards their PhD at Rhodes University, have often crossed paths whether it be on stage or during their sessions at Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, where Xhegwana works as a curator.
