For the first time, in Zimbabwe, through Ndaba Sibanda’s poem ‘ What You Perceive Is What You Believe, we encountered a philosophical poet who asked powerful questions.
The powerful questions centred on thoughts, human life and conditions, existence and morality. The questions were rhetorical and ‘double-barrelled’. For instance, ‘what you perceive is what you believe’ could be read vice versa. What you believe is what you perceive.
‘Believe’ sounded internal and ‘perceive’ external; one could shape what they perceived through belief and what you believed could be shaped by perceptions.
The questions underlined the philosophical and rhetorical nature of Ndaba Sibanda’s poetry:
How do you look
at yourself and the world? Did
it transform your visual and
cultural landscape?
How do you see the future? In a positive light?
Is it spiritual?
By Qinisela Possent Ndlovu
