Poetry is a timeless art that often finds its place in the darkest moments of our lives. In 2017, South Africa’s largest funeral company, Avbob, launched its first ever poetry competition. This initiative may seem unusual at first glance, but it finds its meaning in the need to find powerful words to comfort those who are facing the loss of a loved one.
The aim of this competition was to enable all South Africans, regardless of age or native language, to express their emotions through poetry. Themes of love, hope, death and birth guided the participants in writing their verses.
Over the years, this competition has become an essential event, with a panel of renowned judges responsible for electing the winners in the country’s eleven official languages. The poems of the 33 finalists, with their English translation, are published in an anthology entitled “I Wish I’d Said”, providing a unique platform to highlight South Africa’s cultural and linguistic diversity.
The lead judge, award-winning poet Johann de Lange, highlights how poetry allows us to find meaning and inspiration even in the darkest moments of our lives. Each year, the competition pushes poets to dig deep within themselves to offer words that keep hope alive.
In 2023, more than half of the poems submitted were written in South Africa’s vernacular languages, testament to the country’s rich linguistic diversity. This competition also gave birth to an online library bringing together nearly 23,000 poems in eleven languages, accessible free of charge to all.
The enthusiasm for this project is such that two new poems are published every week on Avbob’s social networks. In addition to the annual competition, a mini-competition was recently organized on the theme “Three ways of looking at a person”, giving poets the opportunity to share their thoughts on the complexity of being human.
The winner of this mini-competition, Ann Scarborough Moore, wonderfully illustrates the diversity of talents that emerge from this competition, with her poem “Through the Eye of a Fish”. This initiative also allowed talented students like Kiara Naidoo and Collen Thabo Molahleni to make their voices heard through poignant and inspiring poems.
In short, the Avbob poetry competition goes far beyond a simple literary competition; it embodies a true celebration of poetry, linguistic diversity and the hope that emerges from art. It offers everyone the opportunity to share their emotions and find comfort in words, thus making poetry a bulwark against the darkness of life.
The continued success of this competition is a testament to the importance of poetry in our society and reminds us that, even in the most difficult of times, words have the power to bring us together and inspire us. So, may the competition continue to thrill hearts and minds, thus offering a poetic refuge to all those who need it.