In this collection, the second one by Andries Bezuidenhout, two realities are juxtaposed that seem completely unrelated. On the one hand there are the larger spaces of the South African city and the countryside, and on the other there is the intimate space of the house, in particular the kitchen, full of various appliances. Changes are at work in both. History does its dismantling work, manifest as ruin, isolation and desolation in cities and towns; in the kitchen the changes are more insidious, sinister times, and the narrator wonders what the household appliances are plotting against their users (‘Kombuiskomplot’). In the poem ‘Muizenberg, renovator’s dream’, the changes brought about by history are described as ‘die ewige ritme van bou en verval’ (the eternal rhythm of building and decline) and by contrast the processes in the house – cooking, cleaning, preparing meals – is much more basic but essential. As the poet avers: ‘You’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties’: ‘Die geskiedenis, liewe vriende,/word selde in fabrieke vervaardig,/soos enige digter wat haar sous werd is, weet:/In kombuise word dit opgekook’ (History, dear friends, is seldom produced in factories: it is cooked up in kitchens as any poet worth her salt would know.) (free translation).

Andries Bezuidenhout is professor of Labour Sociology at the University of Pretoria, but is also known as a rock singer and a visual artist. He made his debut as a poet in 2007 with the volume Retoer. Retoer did well, and his second collection should also find a broad receptive audience.

With acknowledgement to Joan Hambidge on Versindaba.

PRICE: R150,00 (VAT included); ISBN: 978-1-4853-0072-4; FORMAT: 213 x 137 mm; Paperback; 76 pp; Protea Boekhuis, 2014.