| Welcome to PoeticRick's Web Page |
| The Poet He is a social commentator. Through poetry he has discover a way of counting his blessing, giving compliments, speaking against injustice of all sorts. Though he did some poetry at high school, he never appreciated poetry then. He however read intensively, anything he could lay his hands on, including girls magazines. He started writing poems when he got bored by science lecturers in Scotland in 1993. The grey weather also spurred him to scribble a few stanzas. Someone recently told me the need to balance the science (Desmond Tutu 2002 Leadership Awards) with the arts. The art is a window to the history, passage of time for any society. Poetry is an art form that from immemorial time was used by man and indeed by Africans to tell stories, praise, complain, and to mock. In Botswana oral poetry dwells much on praise or song. Poems should be used to promote dialogue with other arts form such as music, painting, fashion sculpture and sex because basically, there is could be no art/life without poetry. Though some may allude that poetry records history, it should not be regarded as an old fashion art form, but one that enables society to regain and assert its worth. He likes Barolong Seboni's work. Seboni's poems are simple and easy to digest. An American poet Lance Jeffers' poems inspired PoeticRick a great deal and in particular, 'An aspect of myself' and Depth'. PoeticRick has manuscripts which may soon find their way in your hands. He has recently developed a taste for Japanese shortest verse, Haiku. Enjoy. Immerse yourself in more poems |
| ricky madibela updated monthly Copy right 2007 |
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| Poeticrick is different personalities to different people. He is a son, brother, friend, mentor, reserved, talkative, scientist, and a poet. He has been described as artistic, funny and nice. I am not sure about the latter, because nice is boring. But I know of the four aspects of Poeticrick; the rural boy who came to the city, the scientist and the poet and the writer. |
| The Rural Boy who went to the City Was born in the 1960's in the village of Sefhare in Tswapong area of Botswana to a tall handsome rural young man and to a pretty village girl. It was the year of the great drought. If it was a normal year, it would have been the month when the trees were sprouting new shoots. He never went to a day care center, so coming home from school on the first day of primary school he cried. Seven years later he would cry again when he learnt that Botswana Defence Force officres were killed by the Rhodesian at Letsoma. Ironically, he would never entertain the idea of joining the army, he is sturborn enough to refuse to say "YES SIR" to anyone. As a little boy he helped in family business.......... looking after goats. The best play area was at the foot of Sefhare Hill, a natural play park for village children. During the school holidays he would visit Auntie Diteko and Grand Pa Selalelo. He would ride donkey cart to fetch water and and go to look for cattle. After primary school he went to Madiba Secondary School and in 19983 to Pre Entry Science at University of Botswana in Gaborone. After Part I Science he went to the University of Zimbabwe in Harare where he did BSc in Animal Science. It is here that the idea to do research was born. Through out his life he meet a lot of people from different cultures, learnt a lot, came across his personal crossroads, made stupid mistakes, made brilliant decisions and made friends. But the Poeticric I know has some silent rebel in him. As a human being, he may be complex but he made an effort, a big effort not to put anyone down, demean anyone or look down on anyone. However he believes that Life is about Positive, Negative things, Achievements, Risks and finally being Grateful. Story of my life |
| The Scientist Curiosity on how organisms tick was the motivation for going for science. As a boy, he will catch lizards and dissect them to find what was inside. But he was never to be interested in medicine. May be having witness poverty in the rural areas where he grow up inspired him to attempt to contribute his science to production of food and poverty alleviation. After completing BSc UZ he joined Department of Agricultural Research at Sebele in Gaborone. Mentoring was lacking but he was determined that he will make the best scientist. He went for MSc training in Scotland at Aberdeen University and that was the turning point of his career as he witness for the first time how dedicated scientists take their career. At Rowett Institute he experienced that the making of a science can be painful, means sacrifice, take long hours and can give you stomach ulcer.......... but eventually the feeling of getting that elusive finding can be so fulfilling. Arriving in Botswana was a challenge he was not prepared for, personally and professionally. He thought things will run smoothly like he had seen been done in Scotland. May be that what make us less innovative than the western. We waste time personalising things and defending our tarf. Anyway that was a valuable experience as he went to Publish; take Scientific Visits to Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Cornell University; help form BOTHASTED; join British Society of Animal Science and South Africa Society of Animal Science; and received awards for his work.. In 2001 He joined Botswana College of Agriculture where he lecture animal science. He is currently doing PhD at Lincoln University in Animal Nutrition. Articles and Stories |
| The Writer Because of the injustice in communities, issues that needs to be said, questions that need answers and questions that need to be asked, Poeticrick stood up to put pen to the paper and asked, answered and provoked, inspired, encourage, challenge and critic our society. He has contributed artciles to Mmegi Newspaper, was awarded MISA-Botswana run up journalist of year 2001, is currently writing for Mimimagazine and Botswana Farmers' Magazine. He has recently received an award for presenting a radio show, Global Vibes & Rhymes, on Lincoln University campus radio (Lincoln City FM). Articles and Stories |