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Buckets of memories | Mxolisi Nyezwa
3 days ago
Do you ever sit down to write about powerful emotions, only to discover that you cannot find the words to describe them?
Poets have wrestled with this problem for centuries and left us an archive of strong, memorable images that can carry our deepest hopes and fears.
Mxolisi Nyezwa is a poet, memoirist and publisher who excels at finding such moving, memorable images for emotions that might otherwise be overwhelming. He has published three anthologies of poems in English, a book of poems in Xhosa, and a prose poetry memoir. This month, he shared two short poems from his debut collection, Song Trials (Gecko Books, 2000) with the AVBOB Poetry blog.
Read the poems he shared and notice how they make sense of powerful emotions by finding concrete imagery to describe them.
What matters most in this poem is the immensity of the sea. But this is no ordinary sea: it is inside us. In other words, there are such strong tides of emotion inside the poet that he likens them to the ocean that is outside us. The absence of capital letters makes the poet’s voice sound informal but also quite vulnerable.
All he has to protect him from being overwhelmed are “buckets of memory in a jar”. In other words, memories of easier times sustain him. Though buckets in a jar can hardly match the vastness of the ocean, they have made it possible for this poem to be written.
The second poem also uses simple, concrete language to evoke powerful feelings:
As in the first poem, the poet is threatened by forces beyond his control: an entire universe that is in flux, a place at the end of time. Even the earth feels precarious: its surface will eventually crumble. In such a universe, things do not thrive. They have a quality that the poet calls “long-suffering”. With this single, beautiful word, Nyezwa conjures something fragile and vulnerable but simultaneously very strong and enduring.
There is consolation in the familiarity of the spaza shop and in the vague colour of the moon and the southern sky. These things are always there, even if it feels as if the world is about to end.
In a few short lines, Nyezwa shows us how overpowering emotions can be held at bay by something concrete and close to us: a precious memory or a shop at the end of the street. In the process, he gives us tools to negotiate with the things that make us feel small. He shows how poetry itself can be a place of refuge during difficult times.
In the next few days, write a poem in which you find a simple, concrete image for a powerful emotion. You could start with something very large, like the sea or the sky, or something very small.
The AVBOB Poetry Competition reopened its doors for submissions on 1 August 2025. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and learn more about how to enter your best words.
Poets have wrestled with this problem for centuries and left us an archive of strong, memorable images that can carry our deepest hopes and fears.
Mxolisi Nyezwa is a poet, memoirist and publisher who excels at finding such moving, memorable images for emotions that might otherwise be overwhelming. He has published three anthologies of poems in English, a book of poems in Xhosa, and a prose poetry memoir. This month, he shared two short poems from his debut collection, Song Trials (Gecko Books, 2000) with the AVBOB Poetry blog.
Read the poems he shared and notice how they make sense of powerful emotions by finding concrete imagery to describe them.
the sea
the sea is so heavy inside us
and i won’t sleep tonight.
i have buckets of memory in a jar
that i keep for days and nights like these.
the sea is so heavy inside us
and i won’t sleep tonight.
i have buckets of memory in a jar
that i keep for days and nights like these.
What matters most in this poem is the immensity of the sea. But this is no ordinary sea: it is inside us. In other words, there are such strong tides of emotion inside the poet that he likens them to the ocean that is outside us. The absence of capital letters makes the poet’s voice sound informal but also quite vulnerable.
All he has to protect him from being overwhelmed are “buckets of memory in a jar”. In other words, memories of easier times sustain him. Though buckets in a jar can hardly match the vastness of the ocean, they have made it possible for this poem to be written.
The second poem also uses simple, concrete language to evoke powerful feelings:
quiet place
and it seems that i live in a quiet place
at the end of time
with a blowing universe behind me.
i remain aware of the long-suffering of things
i remain aware with a simple truth
of how the planet eventually crumbles.
and it seems that i live in a quiet place
at the end of time
with a blowing universe behind me.
i remain aware of the long-suffering of things
i remain aware with a simple truth
of how the planet eventually crumbles.
to me there is always the spaza shop at the end of the street,
the vague colour of the moon
and of the southern sky.
the vague colour of the moon
and of the southern sky.
As in the first poem, the poet is threatened by forces beyond his control: an entire universe that is in flux, a place at the end of time. Even the earth feels precarious: its surface will eventually crumble. In such a universe, things do not thrive. They have a quality that the poet calls “long-suffering”. With this single, beautiful word, Nyezwa conjures something fragile and vulnerable but simultaneously very strong and enduring.
There is consolation in the familiarity of the spaza shop and in the vague colour of the moon and the southern sky. These things are always there, even if it feels as if the world is about to end.
In a few short lines, Nyezwa shows us how overpowering emotions can be held at bay by something concrete and close to us: a precious memory or a shop at the end of the street. In the process, he gives us tools to negotiate with the things that make us feel small. He shows how poetry itself can be a place of refuge during difficult times.
In the next few days, write a poem in which you find a simple, concrete image for a powerful emotion. You could start with something very large, like the sea or the sky, or something very small.
The AVBOB Poetry Competition reopened its doors for submissions on 1 August 2025. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and learn more about how to enter your best words.
