imperialism” (27). No wonder then that when Serote opens the six-part poem,^81 it is with
a reflection on the impact of imperialism not only on South Africa, but also on Africa in
general:
must I believe that
I asked
that there was slave trade
there was colonialism
there was apartheid
and because these were there
there is racism (10)This leads the discussion to Serote’s specific deployment of dialogue through the
foregrounding of dramatic monologue in the poem. One is led into the world of his
reflection on global issues of the times through his involvement with an implied female
interlocutor whose name is Linda. The value of this artistic device in the work hinges on
its ability to initiate his reflection from various angles and through this, he is able to
create multiple voices and characters as the occasion demands. The context of their
dialogue, though hopeful of extending the horizon of alternative living in a global
context, creates an atmosphere of calm where lovers intimately reach out to each other
amidst the challenge of engaging issues of national and global importance. So, rather than
yielding itself to boredom, the romantic interpolations and reports on the simultaneous
activities of love and love-making, create a necessary vista of digression by which the
narrative of postcolonial utopia on the politics of globalization unfurls. For instance, the
speaking voice invites one into the romantic world where the narrative character talks
about their lying together (9), their turning to face each other and the passionate union
that follows (12), to cite but two examples. But this also leads crucially to the mission of
the poetic musing: the fact that such digressions, which adhere to Ndelebe’s espousal of
“the ordinary”, are intended to point to the more political and consequential of the
essence of the union of lovers. The urgency of the need to respond to the challenge of
globalization and rescue the soul of the nation thus remains the ultimate intent of this
apparent romance-inspired intervention. That their reflection is on the need for the right
step towards the apprehension of what becomes of the nation in the age of globalization
81
Although a full publication, we are instructed by the author that the text contains only one poem. This is
why the full citation is History is the Home Address: A Poem.