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AN AWARD-WINNING Port Elizabeth poet is elated after seeing one of his poems in paper two of the English examination written by Grade 12 pupils nationally.
Andre van Vuuren, who has been running the annual poetry evenings at The Barn in the Opera House for the past seven years, said: “I was elated when a friend of mine, whose daughter is in matric, said my poem was included in the exam paper”. Van Vuuren, who started writing poems at the age of 14 and has won local and international poetry awards, has penned about 150 poems to date.
He wrote the poem Ode To An Orange in 2004 “while canvassing for elections in Mthatha. I was sitting under a tree and a small boy came up to me and said: ‘Do you want an orange? I said yes’.”
The poem, which puts emphasis on the beauty of Africa, was also published in Botsotso, a contemporary South African culture magazine, in March 2004.
“What makes this poem unique is that it’s an English poem ... despite the fact that I write mostly in Afrikaans. It has given me academic honours,” said Van Vuuren, adding some of his poems had been translated into Xhosa, German and Dutch.
“Poetry is the cement of society that brings people together.
“If you are sincere in what you are doing, then you can only succeed,” said Van Vuuren.
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