Louis Esterhuizen. FaceBook as behoud van die digkuns
Vir goeie rede word daar dikwels kommer uitgespreek oor die nadelige effek wat die sosiale media se verskillende vorme van kitskommunikasie op veral die jonger generasie se taalvermoëns het. Luidens ‘n berig in The Guardian het die Britse poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, haar ten sterkste van dié negatiewe kyk gedistansieer. Sy is naamlik van mening dat “texting” direk verwand is aan die digkuns en tot die maak van beter gedigte aanleiding gaan gee. Trouens, dat die toekoms van die digkuns meer as veilig is in die blitsvingers van die sogenaamde FaceBook-generasie …
Carol Ann Duffy
“The poem is a form of texting … it’s the original text,” het Duffy aan The Guardian se beriggewer gesê. “It’s a perfecting of a feeling in language - it’s a way of saying more with less, just as texting is. We’ve got to realise that the Facebook generation is the future - and, oddly enough, poetry is the perfect form for them. It’s a kind of time capsule - it allows feelings and ideas to travel big distances in a very condensed form.”
Ook het sy haar ten sterkste uitgespreek teen die opvatting dat poësie besig is om ‘n stadige dood te sterf in die Britse klaskamers. Ek haal aan: “She (Duffy) believes there’s a myth that poetry is considered ‘difficult’ or ‘complicated’ by teachers - but says that’s simply not borne out by what’s really going on in the nation’s classrooms, where poetry is enjoying a major revival. ‘The poem is the literary form of the 21st century,” she says. “It’s able to connect young people in a deep way to language … it’s language as play.’ Just, one might say, as text messaging is language at play.”
In ‘n verdere uitbreiding van haar argument, betrek sy veral die nuwe vorme van musiek - met spesifieke verwysing na die groep Arctic Monkeys: “I think it’s most obvious in music,” het sy gesê. “If you look at rapping, for example, a band like Arctic Monkeys uses lyrics in a poetic way. And using words in an inventive way is at the heart of youth culture in every way.”
Inderdaad besonder sterk argumente wat ‘n mens meer hoopvol stem teenoor die toekoms van die digkuns onder die jonger begaafdes. Nogtans kan dit nie verhelp word om ietwat ongemaklik te voel oor die prominensie van digkuns in ons klaskamers hier ter lande wanneer jy die volgende lees nie: “I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn’t read poetry, so if I hadn’t had the chance to experience it at school I’d never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.”
‘n Mens kan maar net hoop dat dit steeds die geval is …
Nietemin, by wyse van groet, die volgende wensdroom wat sy aan die einde van die onderhoud uitspreek: “What I’d like to do is create anthologies for (all) school subjects - for history, for geography, for maths … I think poetry can help children deal with all the subjects on the curriculum by enabling them to see a subject in a new way. So you’d have a maths lesson, and the teacher would hand out a poem about mathematics. Poetry is a different way of seeing something, and seeing a subject in a different way is often a very good tool to better learning.”
Amen. Wat meer kan ‘n mens sê?
Vir jou leesplesier plaas ek graag weer die indrukwekkende reeks haikoes wat Bernard Odendaal in sms-taal geskryf het.
***
Vlugskrifte uit ‘n onverklaarde burgeroorlog
Sms-haikoes gebaseer op net 14 Volksblad-berigte oor uiterste geweldpleging
A. DINGE
JUWELE TUSSEN ALLANRIDGE & BOTHAVILLE 31/05/2008
stormwatrpyp-
vonds: jweelstuke & vr-
minkte jnkvroulyk
PUTTOILET BY SPITSKOP, BFTN 13/01/2009
‘lyk’ na j gvind
duikrs in ‘n puttoilet
brokkis been ‘n kind
GEREEDSKAP IN VIERFONTEIN-DISTRIK 30/03/2009
boer mt ystr dood-
gslaan, 2e mt ‘n graaf
& toe vee hy stoep
MIELIES BUITE ODENDAALSRUS 02/04/2009
man soos 3talig
bord by grnsdraad dryg, doodg-
moer oor milis steel
KIERIE VAN THABONG, WELKOM 12/05/2009
ouma slat klynkind
toe sy hoenrboud uit pot
gaps mt kiri pap
DOEKSPELD TE DAGBREEKBUURT, WELKOM 21/05/2009
tas mt doekspeld toe-
gsteek by moskee gelos
peutrlyk ‘sielsbom’
B. ADRESSE
3 SERVICES-SPORTKLUB, BFTN 15/12/2008
rowrs vlug mt nix
toe ‘goedhartige’ ná skoot
net oorvloedig bloei
NUWE HUIS IN HALDONWEG, BFTN 08/01/2009
man v str gehuur
as 1 v p-jobwerkies
oumies doodgwrg
CONSTANTIA-MOTORS, WELKOM 24/01/2009
motorhweman
na minstns 10e rooftog:
‘net di angs stan vas’
COMMISSIONERSTRAAT, BETHLEHEM 28/04/2009
‘man met nix’ wat ‘rie-
me dunnr moes leer sny’ keel-
af gsny gkry
H/V MARKGRAAFSTR & NELSON MANDELARLN, BFTN 22/05/2009
‘my ma’t gasêkel
gaslat tot ek hêt galoop
nou sêkel mindr’
ABC-BEGRAAFPLAAS, PAMPIERSTAD, KIMBERLEY 28/03/2009
Ngugu Wapad
op ha krtpad ver-flentr-
krag, vi dood lat lê
SYFERS
VOLKSBLAD 18/03/2009
75
10ertjies p/m vrkrag
in ons GOUDVELD-streek
“SA DIÉ MOORD-HOOFSTAD”, VOLKSBLAD 07/05/2009
v apart-haat-staat
na reënboognasi-land na
misdaad-coup-d’état
© Bernard Odendaal. Julie 2009
Facebook is ‘n goeie medium om die poësie in klein dosisse aan mense op te dis. (Jammer die rym het my tot ‘n gemengde metafoor verlei!)
Ek glo nie ek sal verlei word tot die sms-tipe digkuns nie. My “ouderdom” tel teen my.
En ek is te lief vir WOORDE!