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Mthabisi Tshuma, Online Reporter

TWENTY ONE-year-old up-and-coming artiste Keith Ndlovu is using his writing talent to fight depression and abuse among other social ills.

The Nkulumane-bred writer has penned over 50 poems with an anthology titled Snow on Roses set to be released in March.

Said Ndlovu: “I write as a way of raising awareness on depression to show people that writing is a way of releasing stress and other things. My other poems focus on poverty, romance and death. Most of the things I write are things I’ll have encountered within this putrid planet we call earth.

He started writing professionally in 2019 and has earmarked 2022 as a year of spreading his works regionally.

Below is one of Ndlovu’s poems titled Rise Unbroken.

RISE UNBROKEN

Like a lotus flower blooming in mud,

She bloomed from pain and torture.

Bullied and thrown around like a strewn sack of tomatoes,

She wanted to shed her flesh to become invincible from pain.

Her eyes became blue,

 

While her verdant dimple was covered by bruises and scratches.

Tears streamed down through the narrow bridge of her nose,

While another routine “sorry” was passed down by a villain she calls husband.

How can she rise unbroken from a sea of sorrow and regrets?

 

They say the epitome of feminine is a mystery,

But which shell shall be used to cover the mystery of feminine from abuse?

When will violence become dust windswept from the glow of women?

We continue to grieve for change and security.

How can women rise unbroken from abuse and violence.

 

 

When will men learn that the way to a women’s heart is not through a slap,

But through a desolate and opulent effort of kindness and love.

She cries during the night,

While memories of harsh words encompasses her mind like a bucolic garden.

Her face has become a dumpsite of anger and frustration,

 

Hands that used to gently hold her hand-

Have become a hammer that grinds her beauty and pride.

Just like a morning star she wades the clouds of pain and rises from darkness,

She embraces her bruises and rises unbroken.