SEVERAL RWANDAN POETS have published different poetry collections in English but few have published them in Kinyarwanda. This shows how most poets, especially the young generation, are more comfortable writing poetry in foreign languages than in vernacular. Yves Muhizi, a 25-year-old rising poet is one of them. After reading a lot of poems and realising that what he had been writing was poetry, in 2016, he decided to educate himself more about the craft of English poetry, afterall learning materials were accessible to him. He had started earlier in 2013 while in senior four with less knowledge about that literary genre. Nowadays, he writes stunning English poems although he rarely writes in Kinyarwanda because he is not knowledgeable enough about the Kinyarwanda language of poetry. “It is sad that our generation doesn’t know Kinyarwanda. Most parents prefer having their children learn foreign languages and as a result, they do not learn Kinyarwanda as they should,” he said. On May 15, Muhizi released a poetry collection titled Love Tails, a title he derived from the tail of a snake that contains venom. When asked why he compared love with venom, he explained that it’s because it can be strength, a weapon, and as well as be used in the most powerful things in the world that sometimes result in death. Muhizi’s collection comprises over 50 works that are well-thought-out into two parts — prose-poetry and poetry. The prose-poetry part encompasses themes like love, divinity, patriotism, and parental love while the poetry part comprises poems that entail different stages of a relationship. “I chose to write about love because it is worth it. When you look at today’s world, you find that love is something to talk about and remind people of. This book aims at showing people that love is still alive and has a giant meaning in our lives. So, in this book, readers should expect change, recognition, knowledge, and melodiousness of poetry.” He narrates. Muhizi doesn’t only write poems, he has also performed some of them at different events like Spoken Word Rwanda. He loves poetry because it is related to everyday life. Through his art of poetry, he uses a few words to tell the whole story. Considering the feedback he gets from his readers, his poems are authentic and straightforwardly relevant. Asked about his opinion on poetry in Rwanda, Muhizi shared that it is a language that most Rwandans do not speak and of which some do not even know. He believes that teaching Kinyarwanda poetry and poetry in general, starting from a young age is an indispensable way of enhancing their critical thinking and sense of imagination. “I have realised that children are taught English poems in primary schools. That’s good but they should also be familiar with Kinyarwanda poetry,” he said. He testifies that poetry has played a vital role in the person he has become today. It opened his mind and made him think widely, as well as view the world in way that can benefit his community. He uses poetry to portray messages that heal people and address the issues that they are afraid of talking about. Completing his poetry collection took him a lot of time and effort. This is because he wanted his content to be genuine, relatable, and have a convenient meaning. His greatest challenge however, was that most of the publishing houses that he reached out in Rwanda did not want to publish poetry. He therefore, had to find an answer for the publication of his book through an online-based publishing site, Stori Africa that published his ebook and handled the marketing part, while he handles the printing of hard copies by himself. Muhizi is a member of Writers Space Africa-Rwanda (WSA-R), a community that provides learning and networking platforms to Rwandan writers, especially poets. He draws inspiration from everything around him and famous poets like Jericho Brown and Saul Williams. Some of his notable poems include ‘A Solace’, ‘Entanglement’ and ‘A Trip To Mississipi.’ He is currently, a Civil Engineering student at the University of Rwanda, College of Science Technology. For more information about him or if you would like to grab yourself a copy of his book, you can contact him via email:yvesmuhizi3@gmail.com or social media: IG: yves-mu, Twitter: yvesmuhizi
