Description Citation: Thomas Pringle Award for
Poetry in Periodicals
Rethabile Masilo

The winning poem:

Swimming
I don’t know if my father could swim
But that night, bullets hissing
over his head, he waded across the river
into South Africa. September clung
to his pyjamas at the shins, even as
he clung to images he remembered,
us in family portraits, rising always
left to right on a staircase, up and up
according to age; he was my father
even on that territory, on foreign soil
that speaks his tongue yet was alien
to him. Back at home, we grouped
around the dead boy then in state,
till neighbours came when dawn did,
to help us put him in the ground, as is customary
with my people, for his spirit to fly.

Rethabile Masilo’s poem ‘Swimming’, the judges’ unanimous choice, is a technically flawless and emotionally profound lyric that crosses borders with the universality of its message. The poem stands out for its economical construction, enticing voice, compelling story and poignancy. The power of the poem lies in the beautiful duet of its imagery, which balances nightfall and dawn, home and foreignness, family and alienation, swimming and flying. All of this in a poem of only seventeen lines: a remarkable achievement.