Exclusive Q&A with the author of ‘Weeping Becomes A River’, Siphokazi Jonas

Renowned for her mesmerizing stage presence and lyrical prowess, award-winning writer, producer, poet, and author Siphokazi Jonas has captivated audiences with her debut book, Weeping Becomes A River.This evocative poetry collection marks her debut as an author - cementing her status as a trailblazing voice.

A seasoned literary artist, Jonas has consistently lent her expertise to elevate the arts and ignite a love of literature. Her remarkable career has been marked by numerous accolades and collaborations, solidifying her position as a sought-after creative force.

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In Weeping Becomes A River, Jonas courageously explores her experiences as a black learner in former Model C schools during the 1990s. With unflinching honesty, she challenges dominant discourses that erased her identity while reclaiming her cultural heritage and linguistic roots.

In a masterful blend of poetry and iintsomi, she traverses the fluid boundaries between tradition and innovation, faith and identity. Her work navigates the intricate web of intergenerational stories from rural and urban landscapes, while questioning the complex dynamics of family and personal freedom.Through this powerful collection, Jonas' voice emerges as a testament to the enduring power of narrative, and offers the transformative power of storytelling and the resilience of the human spirit

In an intimate conversation with GLAMOUR, Siphokazi Jonas reveals the driving forces behind her debut collection, Weeping Becomes A River.

What finally made you to publish a poetry collection?

The simplest answer is that I finally felt ready to lend a kind of permanence to my work. I’ve wanted to publish since I was in high school but there is something scary about the existence of your work on the page and in a book, which is not always comforting to a performing artists who enjoys the fleeting and organic nature of the stage. I have been toying with the idea of a book for years but my mentors have been encouraging me to publish, and doing so when the country is in reflection about 30 years of democracy has been fortuitous timing.

Weeping Becomes A River is such a captivating title, how did you come up with it?

The title links directly to the significance of the river kwinstomi in the book as well as the idea of transitioning between states, communities, etc. But it was also inspired by a song called Hata by Zimbini, featuring Buhlebendalo where in the speaker in the song is in conversation with her mother about the fear of crossing a river to quench her ambitions and chart her path in life. The title was a piecing together of the lament in my work, and the urgent call within this song.

What sparked the idea of incooperating iintsomi into the collection? it was such a beautiful merge of literature

Thank you so much. It is not an exaggeration to say that being raised on iintsomi as a child is a huge part of why I am a storyteller today. They ignited so much of my imagination and expanded my appetite for mythology which challenges and even rein scribes social dynamics. I’ve used aspects of intsomi and childhood games in past work, but this felt like the right body of work to lean into this art form. There has been a an exciting emergence of the use of intsomi by South African artists in the past few years, eg. Zoë Modiga in two of her albums, Nwabisa Plaatjes and Mfundo Tshazibana in the theatre, etc. I am excited to keep working with the form for both children and adults.

The poems felt very intimate and personal. How did you approach the writing process without revealing too much of your life?

This is the beauty of the editing process. It allows you to approach your first draft with curiosity and to question and listen to your work. I also think that crafting tools (poetic devices, etc.) help me to shape the writing into a creative output instead of something purely confessional, as one would while journalling.

The collection delves into various themes centred around your personal journey, was there any hidden link between you and Olinde Ukuthiywa character kwintsomi?

Some elements are certainly personal, but they are also written within the larger questions of the impact of colonisation on education, which make the story about more than just my journey. The link between the story and my journey with English and isiXhosa is quite overt but not limited by it. I lean into the mythical elements of iintsomi to create an open-endedness to the narrative which I think speaks to various experiences of migration between two opposing and formative worlds which we all experience.

Was there a particular poem that was challenging to write? Please elaborate on that?

There were so many! But I think the most challenging one was Compensation Patterns. I remember my editor, vangile gantsho commenting on an earlier version of the poem saying that I was using so many similes and it felt as if I wasn’t quite ready to say what I wanted to say. It took a lot of time to strip the poem down without hiding between a particular poetic device. Which is quite ironic because the poem speaks to how the body develops patterns to overcompensate for injury, and I was doing that in the writing!

Why was it important for you to include Xhosa phrases and words into the book?

I wanted to write in the way in which I speak. But it was also a way of navigating the contradictions which I feel in how I express myself and which parts I have access to in English and isiXhosa on the page. Further, intsomi is a traditional isiXhosa tale and it would have been impossible to hold this form of oral storytelling together without flowing between the two languages – the dialogue, songs, and chants in particular are not translated and that was intentional. I wanted to keep the magical function of the language which exists when the stories are told around fires, the language plays a role in shifting the narrative of intsomi, I did not want to attempt to translate that magic.

You are one of the most prominent poets in South Africa, what is your take on the poetry scene in South Africa, and how can we grow it from what it is,especially in schools.

Our scene is incredibly vibrant and there are poetry sessions, slams, reading sessions, productions, and poetry-related events all over the country. We are seeing more poetry in ads, poets teaching spoken word poetry in schools and universities, and poetry films. There is no shortage of talent in the country, and it is a truly exciting time in which to create. I believe growth is a result of collaboration: it would be wonderful to see more of the contemporary work as part of the curriculum, but also greater acknowledgement of poetry alongside other artistic disciplines in funding opportunities.

Looking back at your previous projects , what impact did the work have on your growth in writing Weeping Becomes a River?

I think that all the work I have created thus far has expanded me as a creative and allowed me to explore my instincts. This is certainly the most personal work, but it is predated by earlier poems where many of these questions on identity, navigating community, finding new language were evident. I would not have been able to write this book without the deep enquiry of earlier work.

What do you hope the readers will take away from the book, and can we expect a second collection anytime soon?

In many ways this process of writing a collection was about unblocking things that yearned to flow within and through me. I hope that encountering Weeping Becomes a River will catalyse a similar sense of release within each reader, wherever they need it. That is what art does for me often. I am quite excited to adapt this book into various things, including turning intsomi into a children’s book, adapting the work into and album, as well as a stage production. Quite a few people have been asking for the audiobook version, so we will work on that. Once I have had the pleasure of exploring how all those forms can expand and deepen this work, I should be ready to release a second collection.

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