Seitlhamo Motsapi’s first collection, earthstepper/The Ocean is very Shallow, was first published by ISEA/Deep South in 1995 and was reprinted by Deep South in 2003. Laura Chrisman, in the journal New Coin in 1996, wrote about earthstepper: “A very far cry from official New South African pietistic discourse of reconciliation, this collection brilliantly fuses pan-Africanist militancy, romantic spirituality, and a scathing attack on neo-colonialism in its global and local forms. The political urgency is never compromised by empty rhetorical posturing, or aesthetic banality: this is a rich, experimental poetry, raining down fresh imagery, complex conceits, carefully patterned to produce a volume of striking originality and stylistic rigor. This extremely exciting, multiply resonant and freshly original collection is a highly valuable contribution…”