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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
FOUR poets from Bulawayo won this year’s Shoko Festival Battle of the Cities Poetry Slam that pitted the City of Kings and Harare wordsmiths.

The four Tinashe Tafirenyika, Thando, Sox the Poet and Delah Dube were voted by the public through an online poll and garnered 51 percent to win. They were pitted against Banshee, The Unspoken, Shaldo and Kuda Rice.

The competition was held live on the Shoko Festival Facebook page and also on the festival’s website.

There was no live audience, save for those on the stream and this was one of the difficulties with the competition as Tafirenyika explained.

“It was a bit difficult because we’re used to live performances and personally, I’m quite awkward in front of a camera. It was indeed a very different experience from the slams we’re used to,” said Tafirenyika.

The Nama Award winning poet however, said it was a joy to be part of the winning team.

“It’s great that we won, although slams are less about winning and more about enjoying art. It was a pleasure performing alongside poets from both cities,” said Tafirenyika

Dube said the competition lacked the usual excitement of having poets in one room.

“It didn’t feel like much of a competition since we didn’t have our opponents in the room with us. I believe that slams are about intellectual and emotional exchanges. This is not how slam poetry is supposed to be done but we had no option because of this global pandemic,” said Dube.

She, however, said she was glad to have made new friends from Harare.

“In any case, I’m grateful for the new friends I made from Harare, I was very pleased by their performances and hope we will get the chance to work together again soon,” said Dube. – Follow on Twitter @bonganinkunzi.