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    Please, Take Photographs
    Please, Take Photographs
    Please, Take Photographs
    Ebook67 pages30 minutes

    Please, Take Photographs

    By Sindiwe Magona

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Sindiwe Magona's poems conspire with her. Even years after being written, they still seem warm from her lips, and it is this residue of her telling them that draws you into their confidence. From the languid innocence of the poems about her village, to her shattering images of Africa at war, Magona leads you headlong into her fireside circle where archetypes flicker like shadows on a face that has seen, and been. Please, Take Photographs is defiant and tender, horrific and homely, at once irreverent, outspoken and beautiful.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherModjaji Books
    Release dateDec 29, 2009
    ISBN9781920397111
    Please, Take Photographs

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    3.5/5

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    • 2/5
      While Magona's fiction has a poetic tone, and unquestionable originality, I have to admit that I found both these qualities lacking in her poetry. Many of the poems came across as short socio-politically themed speeches or monologues, with little poetry in the language or the direct expression, aside from the line breaks. While there were some few moments that struck me, much of the poetry came across as overly didactic or melodramatic, leaving all of the wrong elements to the imagination. Her fiction is so concrete as to paint wonderful illustrations of the most beautiful and horrible scenes alike, but this same level of detail was nearly entirely absent from the poetry. I hate to say it, but much of the poetry actually came across as somewhat amateurish, and was a huge disappointment. Certainly, the poems clearly paint issues and express emotion about situations and events which should be seen and more widely discussed, so the work here is necessary in many ways, as literature may be the best way to educate the world about socio-political issues and problems that readers aren't personally familiar with. BUT, the problem here is that the poetry comes across as too simple, and as too much in that educational vein, to really reach readers on an emotional level (in most cases). In the end, I would absolutely recommend Magona's work, but I would recommend her prose first. There are some few poems here which stand out beautifully as poems that should be read and shared, but they are so few and far between that, admittedly, I have to hesitate before recommending this particular example of her work.

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