Saying it as it is in ‘The Rhythm of My Rhyme’
By Morris Mwavizo

Most readers approach poetry with caution as in most cases, there is a lot more than meets the eye with every sentence, every simile, every metaphor and every stanza.  As a result, a lot of people would overlook a good poetry book when in search of reading material and instead favor an average novel.

While one might enjoy an occasional poem, most poetry book are written for literature-not that its wrong but often one wants to read a poem that comes from the heart that’s simple to understand and one whose rhymes take you back with nostalgia to the good old nursery school days.

Sandra Mushi’s ‘The Rhythm of my Rhyme’ is one of the few poetry books I have come across that does exactly that.

While her words fill your mind with imagination, it’s her verses that have the ability to rhyme and that make the whole poem pleasing to the ear.  Her often simplicity way of writing is backed by an efficient way of getting the message across that can at times be scary. 

It is like reading ‘Jack and Jill’ over again but this time, when they come down the hill, Jill is pregnant and Jack says he has nothing to do with it. It has that sense of realism.

Sandra explores different themes, some that we know of but want to stay clear of. She talks and reflects on events that an average person can relate to. She talks of abuse, sexual abuse, from its very roots. She goes into the head of an abused child in ‘The happy Queen and Crappy Prince’ and gives us a picture of what he goes through.

She talks of love, from a woman’s perspective. She talks of intimacy, of satisfaction with details that will leave nothing to imagination and of women’s independence in a way that should have been talked of before.

She gives a voice to the women, the children and the oppressed. She talks of other subject that few writers in the country are taking on and she does it in a way that makes the subjects easy to approach.

She is not graphic in what she writes but she gives it as it is; word for word.  And that is what makes her first book such a pleasurable one. 

Sandra is sincere; her poetry is a reflection of life, from her eyes. It is from the events in her life, her dreams, her inspiration that the words flow.

Perhaps the sincerity and simplicity is because this is her first book and maybe it’s because that is her nature. Bottom line is that this is a book that you would read, love it, read again, hate it, read again and keep it.

The 43-paged book is published by Andika Afrika publishers and has an easy to read layout and style which is a huge plus for it.

morrismwavizo@gmail.com