Written by a young man who is learning through experience and exposure to different cultures, the anthology will make you fall in love with language all over again. It comes as the first of many to follow, lighting the path of an artist who is on the journey of building his brand as the Battery that recharges poetry.
“Back in the day poetry was a machine, a genre of substance, it was respected and it made noise, I’m talking of the Shakespearean and the Chaucean age but now over time it’s almost as if it has now taken a back seat to other art genres, through my scope I now see poetry as a machine in need to be “powered up”, hence the name “The Poetry Battery”.
The Poetry Battery, born Kudakwashe Victor who has been in the arts industry for quite some time recently completed his debut project “On The Edge of The Universe “. Through this relatable piece, the Bulawayo raised artist has outdone himself and gone international. The emotionally relatable piece touched many hearts and made waves across the borders, selling to people from as far as Mexico, Germany, Mexico, Guatemala and the UK.
The title was derived from the idea that when you are on the edge you get landscape view of both what is inside and what is outside. Kuda has dedicated his career in poetry to his family who have been a pillar to his life and a basis of most of his experiences in life so far.
As they say in shona “chara chimwe hachitswanyi inda” Kuda had to have a team around him to bring all the pieces together for this project to run through. When we applauded him for his success, he had to mention that he didn’t do it all alone, “For this book to be a success I would love to thank the house that manages Kudakwashe Victor as a brand, WTM MEDIA HOUSE. With my head bowed I appreciate all they do” he said.
Being a part of the Russian based media hub, WTM Media house, has helped Kuda to grow in his art and connected him with many possibilities.
Like most writers, he started off with an aspiration to be the next “Shakespeare or Hugo” and put in effort and time towards making that happen. However, with growth came the realization that imitating someone else would kill his creativity. “I just want to be the first of my kind, the first Kudakwashe Victor, the first Poetry Battery” he told Tafadzwa.
His work has proved his words true, the young man is does make an effort to represent his own brand. Being his first book, Kuda was afraid it would not make sales but to his surprise, it sold beyond his reach. This made him realize that facing your fears can be worth it. “The chief lesson I got from this book release is that some of the most bright and blissful things we desire lie right next to our fears and all we have to do is to get of them (our fears), my fear before releasing the book was that it would never sell but now it’s selling internationally with copies in countries like America, Guatemala, UK, Germany, Mexico, SA, Australia and counting, this is something i never saw coming, this is something that I thank God for, tirelessly”. He said with a grateful heart.
The mission, as he calls it does not end there, the Poetry Battery intends to release other books in poetry and other genres. He promises to release a novel soon and encourages the world to sit back and digest “On The Edge of the Universe” while awaiting the release date. The debut book is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GFL6Q2C/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_awdb_btf_t1_ih9rFb9EB1V47
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