Dead poet’s society lives on in PE

Poet Byron Armoed didn’t live to see his work published. He was gunned down shortly before his favourite poem appeared in print. So his mother had it engraved on his tombstone — and took up poetry herself.

Now Margaret Armoed has discovered her own poetic voice and has been invited back to read her work at the Poetry in McGregor festival next month.

Margaret said her work was helping her come to terms with her son’s 2015 murder by gangsters in Port Elizabeth.

Byron, 30, had been a pioneering member of a collective called The Helenvale Poets, and his death almost scuppered the project — until his mother got involved.

“His passion for poetry made me realise I can’t just let it all come to nothing,” Margaret told the Sunday Times this week.

“I saw his passion for it. He was always the one who took the initiative. I said to myself I am going to be a part of it too.”

Margaret is one of several poets to benefit from the programme in Helenvale, a suburb in Port Elizabeth. The programme was started by former teacher Brian Walter. His group of 20, most of them children, will read their work at the festival in the Western Cape town of McGregor next month.

Walter said Byron’s death had ultimately galvanised the group.

“At the time he was killed we were putting together a volume of his work and that of another adult poet. He was among our better writers.

“He was invited by the University of the Western Cape to a poetry function. We had been talking about it on the Thursday night and he was shot on the Friday.

“It really took the guts out of our group; we nearly packed up.”

Margaret’s presence helped get things back on track. She has been attending the poetry meetings ever since.

“She said: ‘I don’t know how to write.’ We said: ‘Just put it down.’ When we turned to her work it was really intriguing. Initially she wrote quite a lot about Byron.”

He said Margaret’s success was all the more remarkable given her personal circumstances in Helenvale — known as “Katanga” because of the violent crime in the suburb.

“It is quite a disturbing and disturbed area — a lot of people in PE won’t go into it,” Walter said.

Margaret said she had been inspired by her son’s collection, Nagedagte [Afterthoughts].

In his verses, she said, Byron seemed to foretell his death.

“In that poem he left us a message: ‘Don’t forget to walk my dogs.’ He loved his dogs. I put that on his gravestone.”

Picture: Eugene Coetzee Poet Byron Armoed, left, and his mother, Margaret Armoed, at his gravestone on which his favourite poem is engraved.

In memory of my life When I go someone must enjoy the view from my home over the bay and drink a toast to it. When I go someone must remember to walk my dogs and not forget to pat their subservience on the back. Fill my job vacancy and love our...