words-that-matter-compThis year FunDza has once again helped to inspire and bring out the writers in our lovely readers by hosting two competitions. In June we had the ‘Noem My Skollie’ Essay Competition. Readers told their many wonderful, funny and inspiring stories in a more short and manageable manner. And later in the year we had the ‘Words that matter to me’ poetry competition which enabled our readers to bring out the Shakespeare in them and use their words in a descriptive and creative manner.

The ‘Words That Matter To Me’ competition not only inspired me personally, as most of the poems were very heart-felt, but it also showed how one can use limited words to tell a story. I’m not one to quote Google but sometimes it phrases things nicely. When I searched ‘what is a good poem?’ it said: “A good poem is a symptom of the author’s effort to make sense of the world. And often, ideas that can’t be expressed in prose can sometimes be expressed through strong images. A good poem often uses clear, memorable, concrete images to make a point.” This is how I felt our readers captured the essence of the ‘Words That Matter To Me’ poetry competition’s instruction.

Our readers were asked to write a poem comprised of words that mattered to them personally (i.e. words that made them very happy or sad or even angry).  Also, these were words that were either said to them by loved ones or friends or just words that sparked something inside them. These words and the context and what it meant to the poet were then crafted into an eight to 10 line poem. Our readers are very talented – they sent so many wonderful poems. It was hard to pick our five lucky winners.

The FunDza judges also highlighted a number of poems as being Highly Commended or Commended poems because we felt that the writing we received was just too good to not acknowledge it. Below is an example of just how talented our young writers are:

That is not what you said, by Sisipho Kokoma

That is not what you said that evening
When I actively brought the painting to you
Angrily chopping your onions
You said: “a painting is not the only thing there is to life”
These words cut through my inner being and tore me to endless pieces
I looked at how you and your onions ganged up on me
Your words stole my ability to paint
I am not sure if I cried or was it just your onions
But my eyes were wet

Click here to meet the winners, read their winning entries and view the highly commended and commended poems.

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