This is not free verse! A stylistic study of Kezilahabi’s poems.

This article focuses on the question of free verse from an inductive point of
view, moving from the particular case of Kezilahabi’s texts (their structure and style)
to the question of free verse in Swahili modern poetry and its terminology. Thus, the
article overcomes the fixed division between traditionalist and reformist ideas,
which has characterized Swahili critics ever since Kezilahabi published his first
collection of poems, Kichomi (1974). Through the analysis of a few poems (mostly
from Kichomi and Dhifa, 2008), the hybrid, new forms of Kezilahabi’s poetry, aspects
of his poetics, and his place in the history of Swahili poetry are shown.