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| Mushava’s new book |
Zimbabwe’s literary thoroughbred Stanely Mushava this week released his debut poetry anthology, In Memory of the Future.
In Memory of the Future, which the poet says was written to spread love to all humanity and wage peace to all nations, is currently available as an e-book on Mazwi Online Store.
Mushava shares some insights into his workflow, message and inspiration:
I will start with an admission. “In Memory of the Future” sounds wrong as a title. Memory goes back; future lies ahead. Some readers have already asked me: How can one remember the future?
Of course, we can remember the future. In fact, that should be our most urgent business as we speak.
The title did not come just together as I placed my poetic voucher on the counter. I might have done a bit of that but every choice, cover to cover, was a function of consciousness.
In Memory of the Future is a loud and clear call for our generation to place eternal considerations into the balance.
I have read about artists who say: I didn’t sing this song or I didn’t write this book to change anyone’s mind. As for me, if I didn’t want people to change their minds, I wouldn’t have bothered writing.
In Memory of the Future is overtly Christian because I believe it’s time for bold writing and clear speaking.
That doesn’t make it preachy or predictable. As we shall see, suppose we meet in the pages, the book is the marriage of melody and truth – a thing of beauty and a joy forever, to import John Keats.
I write about real life as I see it. Whether I write about love, meaning, suffering and international affairs – which is much of what I do in the book – I stay true to observation and conviction.
Double-speak is not a luxury I can afford because I am not writing out of vanity but I have a definite message by which readers can make meaning of their lives and have something to think about.
I have long ceased to imagine that any form of creative content can be value-free. Even silence is not silent. It either speaks of concession or indifference.
I earn my bread as a critic and a lot of pages I interact with assume a position on the way things are and the way they should be. I also have my opinions and I am bold and open with them.
In the title piece, for example, you will see how international affairs are all rapid signposts to one definite end. We are living on the edge of eternity, the end is at the doors and one of the consistent messages of this book is that we must not burn our bridge to Zion.
Now, a lot of tags come with being a Christian artist: fanatic, apologist, naïve, mediocre, you name it. I admit some but take exception to some.
Fanaticism for all the wrong reasons is what has messed the world up. You don’t correct that by having nothing to do with ideas. You have to be fanatical for all the right reasons.
As for being an apologist, to avoid such a tag, you have to either doubt or be silent about what you believe.
These are not options for me.
As for being naïve or mediocre, I wrote “In Memory of the Future” partly to send that lie to the devil.
My work ethic is basically to think like a saint and write like a genius. The line between the two is quite navigable.
When I write, I am conscious of being signed up to a responsibility to deliver real content equal to the problems of life.
But having a serious message doesn’t make my work clichéd and commonplace or dark and unapproachable because that would overturn the whole purpose of writing.
I am signed up to a commitment to quality. No work is complete without the beauty and potency to which art owes durability and universal appeal.
I observe with disappointment how writers sometimes take their cause or faith for a cop-out which exempts their work from the need for quality. I am on constant alert against that.
If you are to reach across culture with a message, a creative package not dry indoctrination must be the vehicle and this is what I did with my book. It’s what I do with all my work.
Writing as a Christian doesn’t make my work parochial but rather universal because “In Memory of the Future” is basically about spreading love to all humanity and waging peace to all nations.
In Memory of the Future is my first book.
My second book, an essay collection, is already unravelling under the working title The End of Creativity.
I am also looking to publish a novel entitled The Return of the Nerd around this time next year.
You can buy my new book for $2 at Mazwi Online Store.
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