LIGHT by Begumya Nkabafunzaki Rushongoza

Excerpt

“How do you tell your friends that you were raped?

By your boyfriend?

“Do you write a chit/ and place it under each of their pillows/ do you raise it/ at the bar/ 5am/ when Nigerian Afrobeat/ retires/ into retro RnB/ before you throw in a shot/ of chocolate tequila/ you shoot them with the news/ like/ Oh/ by the way/ Simon raped me.

“Do you say it in a poem/ you will never release/ swallow up the paper/ just after you finish writing it/ digest each/ and every/ syllable/ until there is nothing/ because there was nothing/ when you woke up/ no clothes/ no memory/ just a grinning face/ saying/ I thought you wanted it.”

• THE BURDEN OF FEELING, THE BURDEN OF SAYING AND THE BURDEN OF SAYING WHAT YOU ARE FEELING

Author Bio

BEGUMYA NKABAFUNZAKI RUSHONGOZA is a Ugandan lawyer and poet. He attended Namirembe Parents Primary School, Katikamu SDA S.S., Mengo Senior School and Makerere University where he read Law. Presently taking the bar course at Law Development Center, he first started writing poetry in Primary Six in 2007, when his English Language teacher set up a poetry writing competition and his poem made it to the list of best poems. Orphaned by 7, and after losing many close family members in his early years, he began writing poems more frequently. Between 2009 and 2012 he stopped writing poetry, preferring to write, first, plays and later novels. He would start writing poems again at the instigation of his friends in 2013, sharing his work with them both in his school and in other schools by letter-writing. In 2015, Rushongoza was chosen to participate in VERSE IN VAC, a mentorship program for young poets in high school vacation. There, he began writing and performing poetry more seriously. That same year, he was a founding member of Kitara Nation, a poet’s collective based in Kampala and has been a member ever since. In 2016, Rushongoza released his self-published debut poetry collection, ‘How Will The Gun Bark If I Am Kissing It’s Muzzle?’ A few years of depression, failing at football, succeeding at school, learning to race cars, falling out of love with the army, gaining weight and writing about all that, he has this book to share.

Publishing Particulars of the Book

ISBN:  9-798654-866851
Format:  Paperback & Kindle
Language:  English
Number Of Pages:  96
Published: 2020
Publisher: Kitara Nation