An incentive of R300 will be paid to you if your poem is selected.

Loss makes people vulnerable, whether it is the loss of income or the loss of a dream at the death of a loved one – a mother, a father, a child – and, consequently, we are at a loss for words to say goodbye. And, if we do not have the words to send off our loved ones, the ritual of parting is muted.

With a month to go to upload your poems, and over 10 000 poems already submitted on www.avbobpoetry.co.za – a website completely devoted to South African poetry – AVBOB are calling on all established and aspiring poets to help those who are bereaved and who desperately need to hear words of comfort.

The focus of the website is twofold. First, we want to publish as many quality new poems as possible, in all 11 of the official South African languages. These poems will be freely available to all lovers of this enchanting and everlasting literary form, and to all those searching for a verse to give expression to the complex and unique emotions they are experiencing.

Secondly, the website forms the platform from which we have launched a nationwide poetry competition. Again, just as AVBOB belongs to the people, so too does poetry – it knows no boundaries, and transcends all differences. For this reason, we have made a massive effort to make the competition as inclusive as possible. The competition is thus open to all South Africans, in all 11 official languages, to celebrate the richness and diversity of all the voices of our land.

Should a poem be accepted by one of our editors, it opens up a world of exciting new opportunities for the entrant of the poem. First, every poem which is approved by the relevant editor is featured alongside other poems on the AVBOB poetry website, where it becomes part of a library of content to provide words of beauty and comfort to the people of South Africa. As a token of our appreciation, an incentive of R300 is paid for each poem selected.

This initiative is by no means accidental. “I am extremely grateful to say that, over the years, AVBOB has been a proud supporter of the arts in our country. We have always believed that the arts provide emotional and intellectual upliftment for our people, and that it is a way to liberate them from the difficulties of daily life”, says Frik Rademan, chief executive officer of AVBOB.

Every person who enters the Poetry Project stands an equal chance for their work to feature alongside that of some of our most accoladed poets in a 100-poem print anthology, entitled “I wish I’d said”. The anthology will be published in August 2018. The title of the anthology is also the theme for the poetry competition. This theme resonated deeply with us because all of us, at some point in our lives, have felt regret for the things we’ve left unsaid. Perhaps we wish we’d said, “I love you”, “forgive me” or “I will never forget you”.

“Now is the time for us, as a nation, to take up the pen and not the sword. This is when we
should focus on what unites, rather than divides us. And the AVBOB poetry project strives to do exactly that”, concludes Frik Rademan.