Life of a Poet ~ Khaya Ronkainen

We are so pleased to be visiting today with Khaya Ronkainen, who blogs at POETRY? WHY NOT? Khaya lives in Finland, a land I am eager to hear about, since Khaya is our first poet from this country. And she grew up in South Africa, a country dear to my heart. Between the beautiful landscapes and poetry, we are about to be hugely entertained and intrigued. Let's not waste another minute.

Sherry: Khaya, every poet has a story and, from looking around your blog, I suspect you have a most interesting one. Let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up?

Khaya: First, I’m honoured to be featured in this amazing site, and amongst its talented poets. Thank you so much, Sherry. I hope my answers will give enough glimpse into my world.

I was born in a small town, Umtata, in South Africa. It’s the same place where Nelson Mandela was born. That’s my only claim to fame!

Suburbs of Umtata, Eastern Cape, SA

Sherry: Wow, and what a claim to fame that is!

Khaya: During my childhood, and as the political landscape was changing, my mother had an opportunity to buy a smallholding farm from another small town, Engcobo. We then moved from city to the countryside. By countryside, I’m talking about the most remote rural area I’ve ever lived in.

Engcobo, Eastern Cape, SA

Then, in my teens, I came back to the city and joined the boarding school life, but continued to spend school holidays at home in the country.

I’ve also spent a great deal of my adult life in Johannesburg; the economic hub of the African continent. So, I’m both at home in the city and country.

 Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA

Sherry: What an amazing childhood! It sets me dreaming! When you look back, is there someone you feel was a big influence in helping you become the woman you are today? Who encouraged your dreams?

Khaya: Oh Sherry, the answer to this question is a book on its own. But to give a brief answer, without a doubt both my parents had a huge influence in helping me become the woman I am today.

In their own different ways, through love, sheer hard work and sacrifices, they instilled in me a strong sense of self. By this I mean, knowing one’s strengths, what it means to be brave, and willingness to take risks. They also made me realise that luck has nothing to do with it.

Sherry: They sound like most wonderful parents. They gave you roots and wings. South Africa has always claimed part of my heart – because of the wild animals, and also because of the spirit of the people of South Africa who, while some may not have much materially, seem to know a joy we in North America lack, for all of our excess. What do you carry of South Africa in your heart?

Khaya: I mentioned above the village in Engcobo as the most remote place I’ve ever lived in. What I didn’t mention is that it was also (and remains) one of the poorest villages in South Africa. Yet I’ve never experienced, from anywhere else, so much generosity and joy than I did there.

And so, in my heart I carry fond memories of my childhood. A smile from the sincere warmth with which people treat both members of the community and strangers. Stories found in our robust traditions and diverse cultural heritage.

Sherry: I have observed that generosity  in those who live close to the land, and who may have little other than the rich culture and kindness in their hearts. It seems more elusive among those whose values are material.

We are eager to know what your life is like now. I am so intrigued that you live in Finland, which I do not know much about. We are all ears!

Khaya: My life is the same yet different. What I mean is that I continue to enjoy the same things in life. What is different is the place, and the fact that now I have a husband to navigate life with.

City neighbourhood in autumn

Tampere, Pirkanmaa, Finland

Another thing that hasn’t changed is the continuous living between city and country lifestyle. My husband and I have the pleasure of living in the city due to work, but spend most holidays in the country.

Sherry: Wonderful photos! Beauty all around you, at all times. This is felicitous, for a poet. Smiles.

Countryside activities during summer

 Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland

Khaya: My field of work is constantly changing. At present it’s in the education sector; a completely new experience for me to work in the public sector.

Sometimes I give talks around schools

Because I come from a business background; that is, I have climbed the corporate ladder working in Finance, Healthcare & IT sectors.

Sherry: How wonderful, to work with children. When did you make the life-changing move from South Africa to Finland, Khaya?  How did you feel, when you arrived there, and how did you manage to become acclimated?

Khaya: Officially, I moved from South Africa to Finland about ten years ago. But for a number of years, we lived abroad before my husband wanted to come back home, and here we are! So, in a way Finland chose me, that is, I fell in love with a Finn.

A leap from sunny South to freezing North has been the biggest adventure of my life, thus far. As a child, I used to read books about faraway places with snow and white Christmases but never, even in my wildest dreams, did I think I’d end up living that life. 

Snowmobiling in Kuusamo, Finland

Sherry: Wow! When you say "snow", you really mean it! It looks so beautiful and, yes, very cold.

I understand Finland has very advanced social systems. What impresses you most about it?

Khaya: What impresses me is the accountability and transparency on how public funds and taxpayers’ money are used in creating a dignified and decent living for all. The accessibility of education, free and everyone’s right, regardless of background, impresses me the most.

Sherry: It impresses me as well. In North America, we are losing rights left and right at the moment. 

When did you first begin to write? Did it help you with the culture shock of finding yourself in a new place?

Khaya: Ah! The famous question…*laughs*. I can’t say for sure. As a child I preferred to write than to talk. This means I did a lot of letter writing, you know, more like the Dorothy Osborne kind of writing; long reports about rural life to my cousins and friends living in cities.

But it was when I moved to Finland that I actually started putting meaningful stories down. It was a way of dealing with culture shock, and so words became my friends.

Sherry: I love that: "words became my friends." They do give comfort. When did you branch into poetry?

Khaya: I don’t think I branched out into poetry, Sherry. I’ve always been in it, even before I attempted to write it. I’ve always been a lover and a reader of poetry with influences such as S.E.K. Mqhayi and Tiyo Soga (Xhosa poets/writers), to name just a few.

I even had a crush on John Keats himself, during my high school years…*laughs* when a boy trying to impress me recited Keats’ Endymion. I thought, wow! I want to do that. But then I went to study business and got swept away a bit, whilst I chased the bottom line.

So, I returned and pursued poetry seriously, when I got stuck in my novel writing; a project that is still pending. Luckily at the time, I was also doing studies in English Philology (as part of a career change), and the process of writing poetry sort of came naturally.

Sherry: I love that you branch out in all directions, exploring all life offers. What do you love about poetry? What makes it sing for you?

Khaya: I love how poetry pushes limits with language and form. Its ability to make us pause, be in the moment, and remind us that water is still wet. The process of birthing a poem; the whisper, the nudge, the build-up and the release that eventually leads me to write with urgency. That like any other art form, poetry doesn’t belong to the creator but to the people.

To quote one of my writer friends, Khutsie Kasale, “Poetry is something more sacred and authentic. It is a gift of words birthed through the artist that come straight from the hands of God.”

So, I love that poetry means different things to different people depending on where it finds them.  

Sherry: Such a good explanation! I read on your blog that you come from the Xhosa people, who have a strong tradition of oral storytelling. Do you think that is reflected in your poetry, that you are carrying on the tradition in your work? Do you remember a grandmother or someone in your family, who told great stories that caused you, as a little girl, to dream?

Khaya: I mentioned earlier on that I don’t think I branched out into poetry, I’ve always been in it. By this I mean, a Xhosa child, (or an African child for that matter), learns quite early in life who they are. That is, a knowledge of their origin, past history and culture because African cultures pride themselves on clan names.

So, a child learns about the notion of iziduko/izibongo through chanting of a multitude of family clan names; ancestors and heroes (living and dead) from the elders.

Chanting of clan praises is poetry itself; oral poetry that overlaps with a song. Thus, in my writing I’m always trying to emulate that rhythm and harmony.  

  

Sherry: I envy you that rich cultural heritage. I see it, too, among the First Nations people where I live - such an ancient, proud, traditional culture. 

Would you like to share three of your poems here, and tell us a bit about each one?

Khaya: Before I share, it’s important to point that my work often examines duality of an immigrant life; loss and gain. And the “I” doesn’t always mean the writer but the speaker.

Word Roots

Of origins I do not know

Theories varied and accepted

Making sense and no sense

Words are my friends.

Words that go forward

In prose and in books

Words that return

In verse and in song.

Of classical and medieval

Renaissance and modern

It's Twa, the forage and pastoral

Tshawe, the ancestral heroes I seek

Diminished words found

Not in history books

Accepted words whose

History is esteemed

It's Nongqawuse's words I thirst;

A prophecy from uQamata

Words older than writing

Dramatic and creative

Praise poems of no particular

Historical period. Folk tales

Of Tokoloshe terrifying

Children and adults alike.

Infidel words, beginnings

I do not know but whose

Oral tradition leaves me

Smitten in a trance

Speaking in tongues

Descending the Great Lakes

Borrowing from Khoi

To click a sound.

A tradition of Xhosa poetry

Whose metre measured not

In literary magazines, yet rhyme

Rings loud in Grahamstown

Words murmured teasing

With foreplay, words chanted

Exploding into a climax

Do scratch an itch

Spoken and sung

Barbaric and censored

Roots of word

I seek.

Khaya: This poem examines relationship with languages. It was inspired by a Poetry Festival held in my city, Tampere, in 2015. The theme was Syntyjä, Syviä, loosely translated as “root of words”.

Journeys I’ve Travelled

I’ve been to the north
I’ve been to the south

Journeys —
left me floating in between
(where both worlds depart)
and with no claim to either.

Suburbia no longer white
we sip tea and spend hours
discussing weather, whilst
the sun shines in black rural.
In song and dance we quench
— thirst vanquished.

I’ve been to the city
I’ve been to the country

Allow me the misguided view
with diluted memories, for
I build a world with these
smatterings of my life.

Khaya: I think this one is self-explanatory.

                     Summer

                    What would you have me say of you?

                    Ours is an obscure relationship

                    You led me believe I was your baby

A summer baby―

                    Because down south, October simmers

                    Spring overlapping with summer.

                    What would you have me say of you?

                    As if immaterial, now you tell me I am

An autumn baby―

                    Because up north, October teases

                    Skies weep fearful of winter.

Khaya: And the last is a poem excerpt from my upcoming chapbook that I’m hoping to release in spring 2018. I wrote it in celebration of the centenary of Finland’s Independence.

Sherry: Thank you for these, Khaya. You express yourself so well. I especially love the Xhosa words included in your poem. And we look forward to your book.

When you aren’t writing, what other activities do you enjoy?

Khaya: During my spare time, I can be found wandering in nature, hiking and backpacking, amongst other things, with my husband.

Hiking in Kilpisjärvi, Lapland

I’m also a hobbyist photographer, and more of my nature photographs can be found on Instagram.

Sherry: The landscape is so beautiful! We look forward to checking your photos out. Many of us are armchair travellers! Smiles. Is there anything you would like to say to Poets United?

Khaya: I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the amazing and welcoming poets at Poets United. People around here really take time to read each other’s work, inspire and support. What a wonderful community you are!

I found Poets United through my writer/blogger friends, whom I met at Prompt Nights hosted by Sanaa Rizvi at A Dash of Sunny.

Sherry: We are so happy that you found us. Thank you so much for this most interesting visit. We look forward to enjoying much more of your work, Khaya.

Wasn't this wonderfully interesting, my friends? Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!