|
Star Student: Hanneke Strumpher |
|
|
|
Hanneke Strumpher
I have been asked on several occasions to read my poems at social gatherings of the library and during the Potato festival I read four poems at a VLU champagne breakfast. I still dream of one day publishing a book with stories and poems, but as they say, you first have to crawl before you can walk. I have also recently been selected as a new journalist of our school paper, the Babbelbek. During the week I enjoy riding and practising for the next show with my thoroughbred mare, Star Gossip. Luckily I have enough time in between school, music and horse-riding to get some writing done!
My parents, Charles and Sonia, are wonderfully supportive and always encourage me in everything I do. They taught me to love, notice and appreciate all the lovely and inspiring things out there.
|
Hi there to all the other poetry people, my name is Hanneke Strumpher. I am 14 years old and was born in Thrichardt (South Africa) on the 1st of December 1992. I was raised and have been living in the little town of Bethal, in Mpumalanga, on a smallholding. My primary school career started at Marietjie van Niekerk and ended there last year. I am currently in Private School, Hoeveldrif.
My love for writing and poetry started when I was still very small. I loved reading and listening to stories and often made up my own imaginary stories when playing. As I got older I started putting my thoughts on paper and wrote several stories, however my first real poem wasn’t written until grade 6. My English teacher, mrs. Singeling urged me to write a poem and submit it for a poetry contest.
I thought at first that this was a very bizarre and difficult request as I had no real poetry experience. I eventually decided to write a poem about my favourite thing on earth… horses! I am horse crazy and it seemed to me the ideal subject. Thus my first poem, White Mustang was written. It wasn’t as difficult as I imagined, in fact, once I started writing the words just came naturally. I actually enjoyed it! My poem, White Mustang, was selected by the hosts of the competition and published in a book.
In that same year I heard of the Whisper From The Heart Poetry Club’s competition and submitted two of my poems, Lucky little velvet monkey and The last goodbye. Both were published and Lucky little velvet monkey achieved a first place in the junior section. Last year I also sent in two short stories, Free spirit of the desert, which received a fourth place and “Koning van die Koedoes.” I also submitted several poems and the poem Unwanted and Unloved received a fourth place.
At first I mainly wrote English poems, but nowadays I prefer to write in my beautiful mother language, Afrikaans. My writing improves with time and as I grow older my poems tend to get deeper and more symbolic. My latest Afrikaans poem, “Ydel verderfslig”, is about a moth that is burned by the flame of a candle. Later on the proud flame is extinguished by a mere gentle breeze, to reveal nothing but the ordinary wick of a wax-candle. We humans are also sometimes hurt by proud and powerful people, who will eventually be humbled by realizing that they are also just ordinary people.
Some of my other new poems are: Blommewa perd, Roetveld wandelaar, Heer vir my, Hart van ‘n kryger and Horse from the heavens.
|
|
