Mbali Vilakazi’s “Swim Your Own Race” Wins Gold in NPR’s Poetry Olympics
In celebration of the Olympics, NPR asked poets from all over the world to compose poems that reflected their feelings about the London 2012 games and the competing athletes. Over the course of a week, each poem was broadcast on Morning Edition, one of the most popular radio shows in the US.
Last week, South African poet Mbali Vilakazi was announced as the winner of NPR’s Poetry Games for her reflection on South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, “Swim Your Own Race”.
Read her winning poem:
There is life here
Beneath the surface tension
of shattered
bones, dreams and splintered muscles
things broken
and those that may never be replaced.
Vilakazi, who currently lives in Durban but also calls Cape Town home, has been a part of the poetry scene for over a decade. She has been described by fellow performance poets as a master of the genre. She was a poet in residence on the Climate Train, and recently took part in The 3 Furies, a tri-nations poetry theatre collaboration between South Africa, UK and Holland. Performances of The 3 Furies in Cape Town, London and Amsterdam marked the official launch of the Afro Vibes Festival.
Image courtesy Lights of the City
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