Review
By
Musa Gift Masombuka
The book ‘Broken Dreams: And the Anthology of Poems’ is a masterpiece of its own kind. We venture through the miserable life of the author. It flares up with emotions of sadness and feelings of rejection.
The soul of oneself wanders into the darkest journey in search of identity, acceptance and belonging. The author yearns for fatherly love which he has never felt nor smelt a scent of it, it shatters him into broken pieces to know that the father he yearns for- is still alive. His father lets him write elegies of hope, drench pillows with tears every day and his soul feels lost and hopeless, whereas he is still alive. Why would he bring an innocent soul into the world to desert it? Is it when they say that when the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers the most?
As much the author is still on the quest to find his identity, there comes a man in disguise and takes over the place of his father, a man who treated him like his own son. Life could be unpredictable and unfair sometimes, as he was receiving the fatherly love which his arms long stretched for, death crawled and scavenged his beloved stepdad. There goes his happiness again.
As he was on his journey to find identity, just as he was much close to finding the truth, pauper Lord called for his dear mother. Dreams became broken, hope was shattered and the navigation map to finding identity was torn apart. Every night, the soul swim in the ocean of tears and the pillow becomes the reservoir, to reserve him memories of his tears for the whole night. Pain, endless questions and tears became his daily night song.
Life has twists and turns but his journey became tangled with barbed wires and electric gravel. We see the author encountering relationship problems, his daughter is caught in the midst of having two fathers after a man comes into their lives and claim to be the real father of the child. It gets tough when the mother has to unveil the truth, instead – the mother leaves town providing no naked truth about the situation. Could it be that Edwin had been fathering a chick of another rooster?
The yearn of acceptance from his father, complications in his love life and the passing on of his mother, it was too much for him to handle, the alcohol that was supposed to be his friend and help him forget about the problems ended up becoming an addiction he couldn’t resist.
The life quest has been a rosy garden filled with thorns that pricked at his heels every time he tried to make a move. Anger and depression made room for themselves and a script of endless questions was written in his mental typewriter.
Find out how all this misery unfolds by buying a copy. Contact the author for orders:
+27 728 929 762
‘Broken Dreams and the Anthology of Poems’ by Edwin D Mabodimo Mphaga is published by Bakopa Press – ISBN: 9780620677967
Musa Gift Masombuka
Born on 1st April 1998, bred in Siyabuswa and grew up at Regae township in Marble Hall, South Africa. First son on his mother’s and last on his father’s side. Published poet at an early age of 15. He is an Arts group leader at his community. A SATMA Awards nominee of 2014. Musa has explored South Africa through his writings, reciting poems and accompanying performing artists of his community.