Uwayezu, a teacher turned poet

He realised his passion for poetry after listening to, Baby I’m back, a song by American rapper Baby Bash featuring Akon. What mesmerised him was the rhyming of the lyrics. At the time, Gracious Rimer Uwayezu was 26 years, and an English Secondary school teacher. “After listening to the song, I realised the rhyming lyrics were what made it appealing and I decided to take poetry in that angle,” he says. He chose to turn his new found passion into a profession and started to compose poems which he rhymes from the beginning to the end. The 38-year-old has since written 12 poems, which are extracted from his Romance novel that he started writing four years ago. “Writing is my passion and I chose poetry because its one way we tell our stories. Many musicians have taken poetry seriously, which has given their songs popularity because it sounds good to their ears. I mix poems in my novel to make it interesting,” he says. He was born and raised in Kamonyi district to Rwandan parents. Being a Rwandan native, he admits to having been questioned by several people why he did not write poems in his native language Kinyarwanda. “I love doing things differently and I want to give poetry a new twist because I feel it has been overshadowed by music. Poets can make money through concerts because they invest time, money and hard work which should be rewarded,” he says. He is currently a student at Keplar University pursuing business communication, although he wished to have studied literature, to perfect his skills, if only the course was available in the country. Uwayezu plans to launch several poetry events to learn more from his peers and contribute also to poetry although; he has participated in competitions like Huza Press and Transpoesis. He looks up to Robert Froze, and Maya Angelou who he says are great poets. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Uwayezu, a teacher turned poet