HOLD BACK YOUR TEARS

Book: Hold back your tears
Author: Raselebeli Khotseng
Introduction by Pule Lechesa


From the Introduction of the book...

The publication of this book comes at a very important, exhilarating period in Free State Black literature. Many literary pundits have pointed out that, stripped of exceeding literary criticism, this year (2010) has been a remarkable year for writing – with the emergence of writers like NMM Duman, Hector Kunene, Jah Rose (Nthabiseng Jafta), Teboho Masakala.

Not all of them are poets; in fact Kunene and Jah Rose are the recognised poets. They are young, promising and confident. It is part of the irony of the literary pantheon that they actually published their books of poetry before a veritable doyen of poetry in the Free State, Raselebeli “Magic” Khotseng.

What is the quintessence of poetry? Amidst the cymbals of the distinction between real poetry and prose, we can at least say that we expect poetry to comprise heightened, elevated language; with moving imagery thrown in for good measure. In this wise nobody can deny that “Magic” is a good poet!

Nobody deserves a book of poetry more than Mr Raselebeli Khotseng. His dedication and sacrifices for poetry are legendary and date back to some two decades ago! Yet this remarkable individual has never published a book before, though of course his poems have been published liberally in a wide variety of publications over the years.

As for the quality and maturity of Khotseng’s poetry, his talent has always belonged to the top drawer. He is easily one of the best in the country. On a personal level, I might criticise this great poet for the rarity of humour in his poetry – but this Introduction does not intend to critique “Magic’s” poetry – rather to celebrate his life work...

PULE LECHESA (November, 2010)