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Points of view | Ari Sitas
4 days ago
During secondary school, most of us are exposed to romantic nature poets under the spell of picturesque surroundings. We will probably also be required to read a few explicitly political poems that protest and speak truth to power. There are ways to do both these things at the same time: describe beautiful surroundings without losing sight of the complex, often difficult, contexts that surround them.
Ari Sitas is a poet and sociologist who has performed his work on international stages across the world, both on his own and as part of the wonderful Insurrections Ensemble. His poems often combine lyrical exuberance and a deep awareness of ongoing inequality.
This month, he shared the opening stanzas of a poem called “Evening Song (Durban)”, first published in Vespa Diaries (SAHO Books, 2018), with The AVBOB Poetry Project.
Read the fragment he shared and discover how to shift between contradictory perspectives in the same poem.
Readers expecting beautiful scenery will probably focus on the opening of the second stanza: “What a fine evening …”, followed by descriptions of waves, insects, birds and flowers. But we have already been told that the poet records these things after “a day of stoning and gas”, referring to a confrontation between shack dwellers and the police who are evicting them. The “happy bulldozer” in the first stanza leaves us in no doubt that this is not a happy fairytale. The “evening song” of the title refers to the chant of a crowd of poor people, looking for coins buried in beach sand. This chant, rendered in a mixture of isiZulu and street slang, advises us not to take our investments to heaven but rather to buy lottery tickets. While they sing, the desire to win the national lottery unites them. We know, however, that the chance of even one of them actually doing so is remote.
Of course, this does not mean that the waves, birds and flowers described earlier are any less beautiful. The poet clearly registers the real beauty of such things. At the same time, he notices that access to such beauty is limited because of the unequal way in which the world is apportioned. We are left with this contradiction, which deepens throughout the rest of the poem. It is difficult to maintain both these perspectives at the same time. Notice, though, that it does not incapacitate the poet or leave him in despair. Writing a poem such as this is a form of action – a political poem that simultaneously registers the beauty of the world.
In the next few days, write a poem in which you express two contradictory perspectives on the same person, place or event. Try to show that these contradictory points of view are both true at the same time.
The AVBOB Poetry Competition opens its doors for submissions on 1 August 2026. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and find out how to enter your best words.
Ari Sitas is a poet and sociologist who has performed his work on international stages across the world, both on his own and as part of the wonderful Insurrections Ensemble. His poems often combine lyrical exuberance and a deep awareness of ongoing inequality.
This month, he shared the opening stanzas of a poem called “Evening Song (Durban)”, first published in Vespa Diaries (SAHO Books, 2018), with The AVBOB Poetry Project.
Read the fragment he shared and discover how to shift between contradictory perspectives in the same poem.
Evening Song (Durban)
After a day of stoning and gas
an ancient chore beckons
by the ocean’s lip -
a crowd heaving, heaving, sifting through the sand
for coins
A happy bulldozer resting
after eating up another row of shacks
its jaw nestling by a crab-hole
What a fine evening
What a sea, what pulse
of insects
tiptoeing to the lovelorn strings
of a dune’s cicada;
What a toptiptoe of tiny birds
Hurrying in and out of pollen
before the blooms shut shop
What a sigh from the darkening mangrove
as the crowd picks up the evening song:
“musa ukuthath’ investments ezulweni/
kodwa/
ukutheng’ iLotto ithiketi/
thathani MaChance! uLotto machance!”
After a day of stoning and gas
an ancient chore beckons
by the ocean’s lip -
a crowd heaving, heaving, sifting through the sand
for coins
A happy bulldozer resting
after eating up another row of shacks
its jaw nestling by a crab-hole
What a fine evening
What a sea, what pulse
of insects
tiptoeing to the lovelorn strings
of a dune’s cicada;
What a toptiptoe of tiny birds
Hurrying in and out of pollen
before the blooms shut shop
What a sigh from the darkening mangrove
as the crowd picks up the evening song:
“musa ukuthath’ investments ezulweni/
kodwa/
ukutheng’ iLotto ithiketi/
thathani MaChance! uLotto machance!”
Readers expecting beautiful scenery will probably focus on the opening of the second stanza: “What a fine evening …”, followed by descriptions of waves, insects, birds and flowers. But we have already been told that the poet records these things after “a day of stoning and gas”, referring to a confrontation between shack dwellers and the police who are evicting them. The “happy bulldozer” in the first stanza leaves us in no doubt that this is not a happy fairytale. The “evening song” of the title refers to the chant of a crowd of poor people, looking for coins buried in beach sand. This chant, rendered in a mixture of isiZulu and street slang, advises us not to take our investments to heaven but rather to buy lottery tickets. While they sing, the desire to win the national lottery unites them. We know, however, that the chance of even one of them actually doing so is remote.
Of course, this does not mean that the waves, birds and flowers described earlier are any less beautiful. The poet clearly registers the real beauty of such things. At the same time, he notices that access to such beauty is limited because of the unequal way in which the world is apportioned. We are left with this contradiction, which deepens throughout the rest of the poem. It is difficult to maintain both these perspectives at the same time. Notice, though, that it does not incapacitate the poet or leave him in despair. Writing a poem such as this is a form of action – a political poem that simultaneously registers the beauty of the world.
In the next few days, write a poem in which you express two contradictory perspectives on the same person, place or event. Try to show that these contradictory points of view are both true at the same time.
The AVBOB Poetry Competition opens its doors for submissions on 1 August 2026. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and find out how to enter your best words.
