Thank you to Len Verwey, University of Nebraska Press, and NetGalley for this free honest reviewer copy of "In a Language That You Know."

A deep lover of all poetry, I could not help but be in awe and joy to have found a collection of poetry from and about South Africa. I found myself moved by several of the poems found in his pages and turned them over several times. Going back to them a few days and weeks later, searching for a specific turn of phrase and the way he'd expressed himself so clearly the emotions and complexity of his life.

As an addition, I am an AP/Dual Credit Literature teacher, currently teaching British Literature and World Literature. I very much will be adding poems from this into our section on Africa. I think this is an incredibly powerful story, and I believe they will get a lot out of it as well.

I teach a world literature class and we are currently reading postcolonial authors. My students have been delving into the complexities of people who have been belittled and demeaned as they try to find a new identity after the oppressing culture is gone. There are poems in this book that will make an excellent addition to my curriculum. As with any collection, there are hits and there are misses, but overall I am grateful for the glimpse Verwey offers into his life in Mozambique and South Africa.

In a Language That You Know by Len Verwey is a collection of experiences from South Africa. Verwey is a South African poet. He was born in Mozambique in 1973. His chapbook Otherwise Everything Goes On is included in the boxed set Seven New Generation African Poets, and his poems have been published in various journals including New Coin and New Contrast.

Verwey became an adult in an interesting place at an interesting time. His adopted country saw a lifting of Apartheid and the release from prison and election of Nelson Mandela as the country's president. South Africa had a new flag and rejoined the world community. It was a place of dramatic change. In the world picture, South Africa had changed. In the village picture, much needed to be done. 

The poems in the collection are narrative and reflect events in Verways life. He starts early (or even before his life) with in his life in Mozambique and tells of a simple life of fishing and one of poverty.  Young Verway does have great dreams as reflected in "El Bandito de los Nadas" where he is victorious in a most unlikely event.  There is also violence and the threat of violence in real life that is reflected in his writings. The longer narrative poem "An Unchained Dog for Each of You" tells of sadness, reality,  and growing up. "Sunnyside," tells the story of a young couple in a segregated and dangerous suburb of Pretoria and the urge to move to someplace better and the urge just to stay. Not everyone wants to make the effort when they are used to what they have, however little that may be.

Verwey's poetry is interesting in that it gives an African perspective from one of the few developed nations in Africa.  South Africa is the only African G20 nation. In some ways, it resembled the American south decades before.  Although African in fact, it has a message that can be felt or experienced in America.  A collection that shows commonality where we least expect it.

A beautiful collection of poetry. There is a lot to love in these pages.