War poetry of the Angolan/Namibian Border War: re-membering poetic bodies through textual limbs

Abstract

This article argues for a conceptualisation of war poetry as a corporeal re-membering that encapsulates trauma as literary theme through the ‘poetic bodies’ construct. The ‘poetic bodies’ concept implies that literary language, the physical and psychological body, and the environment interact to create ontological meaning through poetry. Therefore, the discussion takes place within a ‘poetic bodies’ epistemological framework, as it resonates with a South African Defence Force soldier’s (Dawid) poetry of the Angolan/Namibian Border War (1966–1989) within the larger body of Border War poetry. The article also indicates how Dawid’s biographical memory, as captured in a life story is manifested in his poetic expression of psychological re-membering and ‘sense-making’ of wartime experience. Therefore, it reveals how his poems or ‘poetic bodies’ re-member war through word-traces and symbols of physical and psychological trauma, which was triggered by environmental stressors during the Angolan/Namibian Border War.