Poetry Review: An Illuminated Darkness

13 November 2019. Jacques Coetzee is both a poet and a musician. Here he is seen in the recording studio.

13 November 2019. Jacques Coetzee is both a poet and a musician. Here he is seen in the recording studio.

My latest piece for New Frame News is on the exquisite poetry collection by blind poet, Jacques Coetzee, titled, An Illuminated Darkness.

Coetzee’s An Illuminated Darkness, published by uHlanga Press. In poems that range from confessional to conversational in tone, imbued with Coetzee’s signature musicality, the poet portrays an emotional landscape with rich, sensuous detail. His life as a poet, musician and blind man is articulated in fluid stanzas that strike a perfect balance between being reverent and darkly comedic.

“I would read myself out of that place, and into another,” he says in The Steps. The line is particularly poignant, given that the collection is being made accessible to visually disabled readers in a partnership between Nick Mulgrew, of uHlanga Press, and BlindSA.

You can read the rest of the article here. For more information on the collaboration between Blind SA and uHlanga Press, read here.

PublicationMegan Rossblindness, publishing, accessibility, access, literature, literary, literary access, accessible literature, Braille, Braille books, Braille book, Braille production, DAISY, visual impairment, partial sightedness, visual disability, blind artist, blind poet, blind writer, blind musician, accessible poetry, Marrakesh Treaty, Blind SA, Ratify the Marrakesh Treaty, Copyright laws, Copyright, Book distribution, Discrimination, AbleismComment