Whispers of the Soul - Paperback

by Sher Chandley (Author)

I cannot catalogue myself in normal terms because of all the things I've done and places I've seen in addition to the abnormal society that spawned me. I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in the township of Newclare to a rebel father and powerful mother. I grew up in a place where gangsters, drug addicts, intellectuals, artists, and priests all rubbed shoulders. This place, though much changed, has coloured my outlook ever since. I schooled for a long time in the mountains and vineyards of the Cape, from where I explored the natural beauty and wonders of my own country. To this day i have an innate love of nature embedded in my soul. My tertiary studies have explored a vast array of subjects and I have in a hit and miss way ended up as an architectural technologist more by default than anything else. My love for physics, philosophy and history remains paramount. I have been told I am not a bad painter either. When my friend Dr Surreya Mohamed added me to Hafez Poetry site at the beginning of 2018, i had no idea of how poetry would consume me. I had never given it any serious thought and in that sense, I am also a poet by default. In retrospect this is hardly surprising as i am a product of apartheid and its injustices. The result of this is the firm outspoken views I hold against oppression, exploitation, and the abuse so prevalent in the global social fabric. I am also an advocate of environmental issues and animal rights. All the food for relevant poetry. It is difficult in a polarized world; where so few have so much and so many have almost nothing; to displace yourself into the third person and make unbiased observations in truth. In my poetry I attempt to explore the poles of this dilemma and tender a fair smattering of normal poems on love and whimsy. I never discard any experience or learning I have had. If I must describe myself, i am a holistic eclectic. I am an earthling. Give me a certificate for that.