Apart from many other activities as a committed Zimbabwean poet, such as his activity as Outreach Agent for the Zimbabwe Book Development Council, and as Delegate of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair dispatched to the Goteborg International Book Fair in Sweden in 2003, Chirasha was a writer in residence in Egypt in 2006; in 2009 he was invited to participate in the UNESCO Photo Novel Writing Project in Tanzania, and in the same year he took part in the International Conference of African Culture Development in Ghana as a poet in residence (in 2009). He was also Producer/Coordinator of the I am the Artist project, an Artist-in-Residence program of the Zimbabwe Germany Society in collaboration with the Goethe Zentrum
The Republic.
Mandela is our revolutionary cousin, the rainbow is the color of our freedom
Limpopo…..the metaphor of boundaries,
Another paradox
…………recipe of the Rhodesian colonial diet
We are freedom babes of unfinished struggles
Our jugs of liberation are filled with bitter lemon and orange squash
We ate colonial samp with gusto and we shat the diarrhea of poverty
every midnight, dawns come with woes of propaganda toddlers wincing from claps of hunger
This afternoon, ideological imbeciles drank the sweat of the republic and later munched the rich steak of our flag
…..rigged elections are the itch of syphilis clutching the scrotum of the republic
Violence is the oil lubricating the rough political wheels of the state
Kaunda is another revolutionary camaraderie
Zambezi river carries the holy mist of the land, the smoke that thunders
Ngwazi is the grand master of the dictators club
with thumbprints as hieroglyphics on tear-filled presidential coffee mugs
Footprints are the wretched paradox of the torn statehouse carpets
Spirit of Nehanda is the nectar of Chimurenga with a sweet dream of the sweet honeycomb of political deliverance
Kinjikitile remains the soul of the land of Azania,
she was not buried in Bagamoyo, her bones are interred in the crevices of great caves
Tanganyika is the genesis of our revolution, dear Azania, Tanganyika is your kindred cousin
Nzinga sang her psalms alongside King Solomon and Menelik of Ethiopia
Kakurukazi Mungunda held the hands of tata Nujoma past the shadows of death up to the freedom podium, Namibia is the republic of silence, not violence,
……….***************This republic eats the ideological berries of Lenin for breakfast
*****************This republic munches propaganda nuts of Chairman Mao
This republic was birthed between the stitches of bullet and laughter of the gun,
This republic, my republic, your republic.
http://
*ARTISTIC STATEMENT*
Mine is not Arts for the sake of Arts. It is a revolutionary INSGINA carved into the artistic plaque of my DNA to speak FREEDOM of expression and then freedom after EXPRESSION. The footprints of my revolutionary walk are dipped in the paths of RESISTANCE. My Ideological Swag -word is CREATIVITY. My spiritual birth mark is RESILIENCE. My revolutionary slogan is a nonviolent but a poetic fist of MASS INSTRUCTION. I am non-selfish believer. I adore to take on head bashing challenges head on. I value brew and experiment positively with ideas and there- after bring contentment to humanity. My triplet principles are INCLUSIVITY, DIVERSITY and EXCLUSIVITY. I write for the demoralized and dehumanized to awaken their mental eyes to see candle lights of FREEDOM and like wise to realise that their ballot casts are used fatten political hyenas and insatiable tyrannical systems in corrupt stinking corridors of power -through my insight- ful-torch bearing hybrid memoirs, peasant hoe hardened skull grazing poetic verses, rhythm creamed short fiction mind raving book reviews and nerve grinding political commentary.I chant RESISTANCE with my pen of DEFIANCE. I roast dictatorial regimes with metaphoric acid and disinfect our earth from cantankerous political fungi with ironic calamine lotion. I am a prophet baptizing unrepentant corruption fat cats with acidic spit of pen. The bullets of my pen dig the truth hidden in the potbellies of propaganda zealots, extortion itching double chins of political pundits, fake election manifestos of revolutionary rejects and sloganeering palms of ideological imbeciles drunk with illicit propaganda cocaine.
https://mbizotheblackpoet.wixsite.com/mysite/artist-statement
Mbizo Chirasha is a Zimbabwean poet, who writes spoken word poetry, page poetry, essays, short and flash fiction, political commentaries, book reviews, memoirs, critical
reviews, blog posts and articles. He is also a spoken word artist and a performance poet. His main artistic interest is in freedom of expression, resistance writings and arts, Arts and Human Rights, African cultural anthropologies, global politics, lives and experiences of exile, asylees and the homeless, the plight of the girl child, women and the elderly, social justice and economic equity as well as voices against dictatorial regimes, corruption, warlords and drug cartels.
ttps://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/unesco/partnerships/rilaaffiliateartists
Mbizo Chirasha
Poetry Profile: Mbizo Chirasha
Mbizo Chirasha Interview With The Black Poet
Chirasha: Poet par excellence
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Published by Mbizo Chirasha(AfricanWilliam Blake)
Mbizo Chirasha is the Founder of the Writing Ukraine Prize (2022-23), UNESCO-RILA Affiliate Artist (University of Glasgow, School of Education, Scotland).2020 Poet of Residence at the Fictional Café (International literary culture Writers Space).2019 IHRAF Pan Writivism/African Fellow .2020 free-Speech Fellow at PEN -Germany Writers in Exile Program. Resident Coordinator at All Africa Live Poetry Symposium (100tpc, USA, global).2019 live literature hub Producer at Sotambe Film Arts Festival (Kitwe, Zambia). 2015Jury President at Shungunamutitima Film Festival (Livingstone, Zambia).2009 Poet in Residence at ICACD (Accra, Ghana). 2009 Fellow at UNESCO-Photo Novel Intensive Training (Tanzania).2011 United States Embassy, Harare Guest Poet at World Poetry Day (Harare, Zimbabwe).2007 Producer/Coordinator of This is Artist Artist in Residence Project (Goethe-Zentrum, Harare) 2006 United Nations Tribute to Kofi Annan Poet .2003 ZIBF ,100 Best Books Young literary/writing delegate to Goteborg Book Fair (Sweden).
Chirasha is the Publisher of the Time of the Poet Republic.Curator of WOMAWORDS Literary Press. Editor in Chief at Brave Voices Poetry Journal. Chief Blogger at Porcupine-Quill blog(wixsite). Founder/Curator at AfricanWritersCaravan.Author of MbizoChirasha (AfricanWilliamBlake)blog journal. Mbizo Chirasha was the Creative Director of Girlchild Creativity Project and Urban Colleges Writers Prize.
Author of A Letter to the President,
Pilgrims of Zame. Co-Authored Whispering Woes of Ganges and Zambezi,
Co-Edited Corpses of Unity, Second Name of the Earth is Peace,
Street Voices (all African, German and English Anthology), Edited
Voices of Africa: A Call for freedom Anthology,
African Contributor /African Writing Associate to more than 500 places(online/print) at Demer Press (Holland). World Poetry Almanac (Taiwan), Cultural Daily (USA), Monk Arts and Soul Mag (UK). Bezine.Com(USA). FamAsiaMag (UK), Blackwell Pamphlet of Poetry (Oxford school of poetry), Ditch Poetry (Canada), WordCityliteraryJournal (Canada, global), the Evergreen Review (USA). Ovi Mag( Finland),DiogenPlus( Turkey), Ink Sweat and Tears (UK), The Poet Mag (UK), Spill Words (USA), Litnet (South Africa), Slipnet literary journal (SouthAfrica). Sentinel (UK), Poetry London (UK), Poesis.si (Slovenia), Atunis galatika (Belgium), New Coin (South Africa), Ihraf Publishes (USA), Diasporan online (Spain), Poetry Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), Zimbolicious (Zimbabwe), the Zimbabwean (Zimbabwe) and more
Chirasha works as a Live Literature Producer, Arts for Human Rights and Free-Speech Fellowships Literary Arts Activism Diplomatie, Writivism Projects Curator, Visiting, Editor at Large, African Writing Associate, Visiting Writer and Poet in Residence.
He is widely published in more than Hundred Journals, Magazines, and Anthologies around the world. He Co-edited Silent Voices Tribute to Achebe Poetry Anthology , Nigeria and the Breaking Silence Poetry anthology,Ghana.His Poetry collections include Good Morning President ,Diaspora Publishers , 2011 , United Kingdom and Whispering Woes of Ganges and Zambezi,Cyberwit Press ,India ,2010.
He was the Poet-in-Residence from 2001-2004 for the Iranian embassy/UN Dialogue among Civilizations Project; Focal Poet for the United Nations Information Centre from 2001-2008; Convener/Event Consultant This Africa Poetry Night 2004 - 2006; Official Performance Poet Zimbabwe International Travel Expo in 2007; Poet in Residence of the International Conference of African Culture and Development/ ICACD 2009; and Official Poet Sadc Poetry Festival, Namibia 2009.In 2010 Chirasha was invited as an Official Poet in Residence of ISOLA Conference in Kenya.
In 2003 Mbizo Chirasha was a Special Young Literary Arts Delegate of Zimbabwe International Book Fair to the Goteborg International Book Fair in Sweden. He performed at Sida/African Pavilion, Nordic African Institute and Swedish Writers Union. In 2006 was invited to be the only Poet /Artist in Residence at Atelier Art School in Alexandra Egypt. In 2009 was a Special participating Delegate representing Zebra Publishing House at the UNESCO Photo –Novel Writing Project in Tanzania..
View all posts by Mbizo Chirasha(AfricanWilliam Blake)
Apart from many other activities as a committed Zimbabwean poet, such as his activity as Outreach Agent for the Zimbabwe Book Development Council, and as Delegate of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair dispatched to the Goteborg International Book Fair in Sweden in 2003, Chirasha was a writer in residence in Egypt in 2006; in 2009 he was invited to participate in the UNESCO Photo Novel Writing Project in Tanzania, and in the same year he took part in the International Conference of African Culture Development in Ghana as a poet in residence (in 2009). He was also Producer/Coordinator of the I am the Artist project, an Artist-in-Residence program of the Zimbabwe Germany Society in collaboration with the Goethe Zentrum
Mbizo Chirasha (African WilliamBlake) 