SONATAS

SONATAS by Deon Marcus
Published by Amabooks

Deon is a musician; a member of the Bulawayo Philharmonic Orchestra. The title SONATAS is expected from a musician. The title also fits like a glove (forgive the cliché) as most of the poems are musical.
Reading this collection of Poetry by Deon Marcus, it is not difficult to understand why he won a NAMA award for Best First Book 2005 and Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association award for Poetry and Drama 2005.
My firm belief is that Poetry should be accessible; I am unwilling to develop a headache trying to understand what a Poet is talking about. There is the myth that Poetry should be abstract for it to be good. For the majority of Deon’s poems, you do not develop a headache trying to understand what he is talking about and the subject matter is relevant, take for example the poem The Erl-king:
What ever happened to those Sunday
afternoonswhen time for a moment stood
quite still, when poetry was read with tea and
scones and Schubert lieder filled the air with their

spinning wheels and Erl-king tales?
What ever happened to walks at Hillside
Dams and sitting sunning summer brows with
silky sweat and melting ice-cream cones and coke...

You can dictate some musicality in Deon’s poems; the arrangement is not what I, who is totally tone deaf and without rhythm would do it. Deon’s collection of is must have for Poetry lovers. I cannot resist sharing the very short poem Intermezzo:
A collage of moments nailed
together in the hope of making
something pretty?

For a copy of Deon’s book contact amabooks @ amabooksbyo@gmail.com