NATALIA MOLEBATSI

Last year’s enforced hibernation resulting from the pandemic, writes poet and performer NATALIA MOLEBATSI, turned out to be a lesson in accepting that we are never in control – but can still shape our lives in creative and productive ways.

Covid-19 entered our lives in such a shocking way. You’d have had to be a complete pessimist to believe that,with all the medical advancement our time is known for, anything could disrupt an entire way of existing in the 21st century. Yet we were all forced into quasi-hibernation as the global pandemic continued to be relentless. It also reminded us of the glaring disparities between those who wield power and privilege, and those who do not.

As a writer, I was privileged to finally sit down and face my incomplete projects, one of them very close to my heart – a manuscript of poems from all over the world that I compiled and edited. Wild (Im)perfections: A Womanist Anthology Of Poems is now forthcoming from Penguin Random House and Cassava Republic Press; this title truly resonated with what we were all forced to navigate – an imperfectly perfect existence (or the other way around).

As a performer, however, I wondered how and when I’d be able to get back on stage or into a classroom, sharing the energy in the room with lovers of literature and poetry. The anxiety, the loss and the grief that the pandemic was causing seemed endless, with many losing their lives or livelihoods. The cultures of touch, collective joy and mourning were completely altered and disrupted. An entire culture of Zoom and other virtual interactions became the norm – at least for those who could count on the comfort of access to resources. And many of us started to accept our new reality, and the challenge to learn life anew – mostly on our own.

With hibernation comes rejuvenation. My social media was flooded with recipes for home-cooked meals, home exercise, skin-renewal routines. I learnt to braid my daughter’s hair; to cook and actually enjoy it. I used to be an opportunistic eater due to a heavy work schedule, but I’m lucky to have a daughter whose first love is cooking, and who encouraged me to try it. I started to relish home chores, and moving my furniture around for feng shui. I read every cooking and decor website and magazine I could find, in search of new ideas.

Plus, through reading and writing, I was reintroduced to virtual travelling, which is what had made me fall in love with literature in the first place. I was transported to my childhood, when the only way to travel the world was by accompanying storybook characters on their escapades and meanderings.

I discovered that humans could be amenable. I rested more, and accepted that I was not in control. I became aware that we could be rooted in one place and adapt as well as grow in it, the way plants do. Some of the things I thought were important faded into the background. I fell in love anew with my family – my daughter, and my partner, who was stuck on another continent. I was grateful for good health, and tried my best to contribute to Covid-19 relief actions. Suddenly, collective compassion was another way of being part of a community. From the forced hibernation came the true meaning of contentment and rejuvenation.

The editor of We Are: A Poetry Anthology (2008), and author of Sardo Dance (2009) and Elephant Woman Song (2017),

NATALIA is currently a PhD student in performance studies at Northwestern University in Illinois. She has performed poetry and facilitated creative-writing workshops in 15 countries on five continents. Her latest book – Wild (Im)perfections:

A Womanist Anthology Of Poems (Penguin Random House/Cassava Republic Press) – will be out in July.