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This Carting Life collects poems that span more than ten years of writing. A fair number of these poems have been published previously in either journals or anthologies, primarily in South Africa, but also abroad in the USA and, in some cases, in translation in France. Within the admittedly small market of poetry (as opposed to other forms of South African literature), the author has some reputation and has recently been awarded the Thomas Pringle Award for a poem published in New Contrast. As the title suggests, a recurring general theme in the volume is that of the personal, romantic and political losses attendant on a form of wandering. These find more specific meaning in the contexts of South African national history, religion (Islam) and music. While the poems are sometimes insistently political, the author’s style is also marked by an insistence on poetry as a craft. The poetry shows the author in control of his language and rhythms and the volume attempts to shift our preconceptions of political art in South Africa.

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In this new collection Rustum Kozain, who won both the Ingrid Jonker Prize (2006) and the Olive Schreiner Prize (2007) for This Carting Life, raises his own bar. Groundwork retains strong connections with Kozain's early work, but it does so while simultaneously introducing a group of poems that indicate the promise of work to come. His voice has strengthened and has a new confidence, making the poems (paradoxically) lighter – though they are not without his trademark seriousness. This is a thoughtful, pitch-perfect collection that resonates with the reader long after the last poem is read.

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