Under dark under branches – Joan Metelerkamp

Description

Under dark under branches, Joan Metelerkamp’s tenth collection, continues the explorations of her recent book-length poems, opening out to five generations of family history and the wider context of national history. The assured music of the writing carries dialogues, lyrical passages, and fragments of narrative. Five years after leaving South Africa, the poet mourns the torn-out roots of her life – her community, environment and ancestors left behind in a country no longer her home.

Joan Metelerkamp grew up in KwaZulu-Natal. After university studies in English and Drama she worked in educational theatre and taught English at the universities of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. For 20 years she lived with her husband and two children outside Knysna on a family farm. In 2016 she moved to Devon, England, where she trained to be a teacher of the Alexander Technique. She now lives with her daughter and family in Maynard, Massachusetts.

Metelerkamp was editor of New Coin poetry journal from 2000 to 2003, and was later a teacher in the Rhodes University MA in Creative Writing programme. She is the author of nine books of poetry, and has won the Sanlam and Sydney Clouts prizes. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, both in South Africa and internationally, and have been translated into several languages. She has taken part in literary festivals in South Africa, Switzerland, France, Portugal and Brazil.