10 pages picaroon

PICAROON An adventurer or a rogue.

Graham Vivian Lancaster

For Murray The Master The ship has filled its bill of lading Moorings cast free Sailors coiling dripping hawsers Easing her away from the dock With long poles And tiny swirling whirlpools In the green As sails unfurl In cracklings of sepia canvas Feeling hints of waiting winds Beyond the safe landing And she bursts forth On creaking timbers Of a hissing hull Rising and falling Mightily on the swell Of freedom

ALEXANDER HOUSE Incorporating

TRAYBERRY PRESS

L

29 Howick Road Pietermaritzburg 0836388813 Copyright 2011 Graham Vivian Lancaster Copyright 2011 in this published edition ALEXANDER HOUSE All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder and publisher.

First published 2011

ISBN: 9780986983078 Cover design and photography: Graham Vivian Lancaster Graphic design: Maxine Wicks Distributed by Trayberry Book Distributors.

Cell: 0836388813 Tel: 033 - 3427978 Email: graham.l@mweb.co.za

Works by the author: NOVELS:

SELF HELP:

Wind Song Storm Song Strength Of ten Everyone Can Do It Its Never Too Late Surviving The Ladder The Cost Of Money Who’s Shrinking Your Money?

The Happy Customer

POETRY:

Marks On My Soul Gypsey Whale Song Gravel Roads Fledgeling African Ride Moments of Truth Picaroon Rusty Gates Poetry Study Guide

HUMOUR:

Bert and Co. Bert Another Story Nothing For Mahala

ADVENTURE SERIES:

Wild and Dangerous + Study Guide Secrets of the Sea Cyclone Tracy Wrath Of The Gods Dangerous Alliances When The Earth Thunders + Study Guide Awakening Africa Flying With Eagles Over The Edge + Study Guide * The Adventurous Life Of Rory Flint

INDEX 1 2 3

3 4 5 6

6 7

8 8 9 9 10 11 12

13 14

14 15

15 16 17 18

18 19

19 20

20 21 22

22 23 24 25 26

Picaroon Life Path Miracles Light Of Learning Winter Warmth Debi Market Pietermaritzburg Lake Kariba Night Fading Drowning Full Moon Hiding Cinderella Sad Song Poetry Of Public Corrine Longfin Bat Fish Moody Blue Driftwood Beauty Pointless Government Hospital Longing Of Belonging Harvest Yani’s Place Kings Walk Flying Fish Intelligence Oh Mother!

Battle Lost Step Lightly Mistaken Identity Between The Lines Untimely Early Interlude Picturesque Fey Child Mightier Than

26 27 28

28 29 30 31

31 32 33

33 34

34 35 36

36 37 38

38 39

40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

48 49

49 50 51 52 53 54

54

Swordsmith Rivers Will Run A Time For Everything Under Heaven Second Opinion Lady, Lady, Lady Fences Two Plus Two Suspicious Minds Time Surrender Orange River The Devil Works In Darkness Broken Fences My Gift Plus A Little Dark Angel Home To Roost?

Caution Earthquake Facebook Lower Church Street The Quieter Part Of Town The Way It Was Sweet Breath Of Evening Clubbing Seals Late Night Honesty Blame It On The Moon The Walk Insurrection Delirium Survival Essenwood Flea Market Adventure How do you know?

Mercy?

Step Quietly Past 303 Memories War Days

Clothes On The Beach Mists Of Past Returning 57 Hard Earned 58 Echoes Of Emptiness 59 Masquerade 60 Dictatorial Last Word 61 Ismail Wholesale House 62 A Whole Life In Seconds 63 Return To Eden 64 Sweet Fifteen 65 Generations 66 Educational System 55 56

Picaroon Curling eyelashes of an eye Sparkling tiny waterdrop diamonds Prisming rainbow fires In the smiling rays Of a golden sun Breathlessly surfing clouds Like zephyrs riding the ether So high Gracefully balanced On flowing muscles Riding an endless reckless wave Top to bottom Ducking low with the curl Snatching at their hair And a braking hand in the Blue tube wall Bursting out on a blast of spray And up Flat against the face of the world On shivering vapour trails Whiplash roller coaster turns Flinging hissing tiara fans Of gay abandon Floating the high lip Ahead of lacy white milky way Fingers never touching the same heaven Reaching down Cutting blue water of the azure Slicing out our own chunk of life From touch to racing touch Across the ocean sky Round the world Of their dreams

1

Life Path Beneath crystal starry sky One am. bright three quarter Moon path From bare feet Of insomniac restlessness Half thoughts And searching eyes Across silvery beach Shimmering ocean magnificence Past horizon Over the edge Down earth’s curvature To another peopled world Idly wondering why Man doesn’t believe Ships sail uphill, Or is that life’s path, Swimming against the current?

2

Miracles All the times Of endless nights Standing in the ring of fire Without hope Of tomorrow For all the asks That shut demons Out the door And pulled me through; Tonight More than all of those together, A miracle Might be too little

Light Of Learning Why do I search In the light of learning When I know The darkness Imprisons every secret?

3

Winter Warmth – American Pushcart Poetry Award nomination Please donate a Thirty five rand blanket To save a life In freezing winter While the Seven billion rand Moses Mabida White football elephant Stands decaying empty, Or twenty million blankets For half the population Can’t be bought; And the other nine stadiums?

But hey, South Africa has been Showcased to the world As we showed All our detractors ‘We can do it!’

And we made crime stop Beggars and street Children disappear Clean beaches.

For those who Can’t see beyond fanfare We can’t make eye glasses Or common sense pills, But don’t worry The population will Be bankrupted after, So blow your own vuvuzela Huntsmen on apocalypse horses Pin the medals To your inflated chests But be careful of pins, Pricks are dangerous

4

Debi Market Pietermaritzburg Harry Bhai’s Eastern Supermarket Blue sandalwood incense air Spiced with herbs Long silver serving spoons In conically piled Curry powder basins Aromatic reds and browns Tamarind Basmati rice Long grain Tumeric Coconut milk Pickled wild figs Papadums Rose water Brass Hindi prayer lamps Fuel oil Colourful pictures Raj Sita Hanaman, Ornate till ‘chings’ open.

With a gold tooth Brown almond eye smile And a filmy saffron sari; So easily Port Lois market

5

Lake Kariba Night far distant from first world trappings and smog arcane silent primitive deep African skies seared by the milky way glimmering pinprick stars on night black waters shimmering beautiful as the exotic wedding veil of a barefoot desert dancing Bedouin bride

Fading As the shiny unplucked pear Wastes from the tree Dims all beauty More beautiful quicker With certain sadness Of impending loss Fades the molten Coppergold And purple flare path Of the setting sun Into twilit waters

6

Drowning Published in A Hudson View

Early morning rough sea Cold wind lifting Spindrift combs High off unwelcoming breakers Relentless barriers thundering down Warning off foreign entry Boat finally forcing through Lumpy ride across a bumpy Chill bluegreen deep ocean Bailing out into misty blue Unfriendly depths With a sinister icy spine trickle Breathing stuttering Like machine gun fire Gasping foreboding thoughts But still deeper Over the drop off Into the unknown Mesmerised by fate Diving into Frosty cold insecurity Of your veiled blue Frigid eyes

7

Full Moon Hiding Full moon rising Behind naked Winter dry branches Peering like an eye Through pointing fingers And I wonder, Will you ever Wear your honest face To see me whole

Cinderella Mournful deep bell I haven’t heard before Tolling somewhere Down in the sleeping city Peeling across the night Up the hill Through open window Faintly to my restless bed Pondering a question, Cathedral Or City Hall clock While eerie green Hands and watchdots Confirm twelve And once proud Carriage horses Return to gutter rats As I ponder, Omen or question, For whom the bell tolls?

8

Sad Song Beaten down vulnerability Passively hunting A wild chance of freedom Without courage To sever ties alone Searching for a kindly word Friend Place In every caring face Of safe refuge

Poetry Of Public Socialite poetry of public, The only Party name remembered, Quoted with authority Of incorrectness Everyone rushed to buy, No longer to Appear ignorant.

9

Corrine 20th. September 2010

Quiet late night reflections Single birthday candle Bought especially Burning on sideboard vigil Like I said; In the long yellow flame I see your face Watching Watching each other As the special Christmas key ring You made me promise To keep for my Ferrari One day Glints dull silver Unopened in its cellophane box Occasioned from the cupboard And I wonder again, Did you know then To leave a piece of you With me?

And I wonder why your fate Was to die So violently Instantly On the road?

Tell me Corrine

10

Longfin Bat Fish Kind smile Banded in dull Silver and gold With a small scar Of survival On the left side, Dodging photographers Swimming between Gathering divers Singling me out.

We know each other From some other time Passing closer Swivelling eye Watching Closer Looking into my mask Disappointed As I move on; Soul mate, I would stay forever Could I convert But I’ll lose My own world Should I decide

11

Moody Blue From humbleness across town When no one believed, He knew he would Swim the rapids Through rivers of piranhas, Fly his flimsy kite Of paper and string In the face of the hurricane Striving for self beliefs Living the trilogy Of father, son, a host of ghosts Following a guiding star Walking through Memphis While disbelievers Eagerly awaited defeat, Humiliating Government investigation; And missed some Personal turns By a country mile, Following too closely, Caught in a trap of Suspicious minds Through heartache Walking the walk Talking the talk In the footprints Of a mentor king Desperately searching For his own way With in your face determination Of sheer talent None but the staunchest Bigots could deny Like a long stemmed white rose Seeking the sun above the rest

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And planted their flags On top of the world

Driftwood Deep In the maelstrom Flotsam sucking whirlpool Of life out of control, He snatches frantically, A breath, And jagged driftwood Plunging past, Embracing survival With both arms; The only respite Between he And the chance He wished For escape

13

Beauty A jaundiced nicotine sky Age spoiled beauty Coloured red in a corner Of a setting sun Spreading inflammation Across Festering like a suppurating sore Vile as an old woman’s poison Slow brewed from spiteful youth

Pointless Ruminating Red as sunset Lost time Glory days Days opportune Of paradise lost That might be Again; Returned to youth

14

Government Hospital Slow walking Sandal slopping Defeated eye Shuffling people Inflexible to Pedestrian bottleneck To everything There is a purpose, Which purpose hides Sometimes for a lifetime Idling away Unproductive African days

Longing Of Belonging Such longing of belonging Ingratiating oneself Into total submission Of subservience

15

Harvest Teach the children well: Indulged spoiled Grown to adults Living their own Feasting on Everything she pays For love And a guilty debt As she quietly contemplates Life sands Running helplessly Through her fingers Slippery as a rosary Without a prayer As she eats From the rusting Tin plate of loneliness A beggar’s meal Of make believe

16

Yani’s Place In the poorer quarter Behind the shebeen Where police keep an eye And civilised people Won’t go, Yani’s place Membership by invitation Numbers limited Chairs on the lawn Beneath shady trees Professionals Doctors Mechanics Businessmen Farmers Poets Authors Professors Meet over cold beer And sometimes Braaied Xhosa chicken To exchange pleasantries Free consultations Do business Away from East London’s rat race.

17

Kings Walk Cool suburban Sunday breeze Down the avenue Gently rustling Syringa trees Drifting thousands of delicate Five propeller petal flowers The colour of ashes of roses Twirling down round Late afternoon walk Laying the pavement before With a King’s welcoming carpet

Flying Fish Deep metallic blue Silver beneath Breaking free Of ocean swell Gliding Brief streamlined flight Glorious thirty metre dash Like a beautiful poem Aired for the first time Hailed in awe Like bursting sky rockets Splashing down Into anonymity Of a great sea Vaguely remembered

18

Intelligence How quickly The ill thought comments Designer slashes And power plays Turn into Crippling blisters Of the shoe On the other foot

Oh Mother!

In your small hours Of lonely weeping Do you ever wonder, Even begin to realize Your relinquished life Allowed love to slip Through your fingers In your blind Spoiling child indulgence Hands out grabbing That sunk you so low

19

Battle Lost The first good impression Endeavoured so hard To make the second time, Like reclaiming land From the ocean, Might perhaps Gain a little Insecure ground

Step Lightly Shuddering nervous skin Lone Impala ewe Quietly watching Breeze rippled water Now or never Suddenly jumping Four small Splashes of white Pronking high through Shallows between Islands rising out of The lake Somewhere close Beneath the surface Basilisk watching Crocodile eyes Await her slightest hesitation

20

Mistaken Identity Drifting up quickly From deep sleep Incessant whine arrested Lying still Annoyed listening Futilely watching Four grey walls And ceiling In the street light spill Dark bedroom prison Positioning the impending Drifting mosquito attack, Becoming the distant Superbike speeding down The fardistant highway As smiling thoughts Turn to lone rider Helmeted lying low Bright light carving A nightslice Of freedom

21

Between The Lines Blindly trying to read The darkness Of deep denial Between the bright lines Of flashing neon

Untimely Graveside words Kinder in death Might have Given hope Of life in life Buried with heavy thumps Of shovelled soil Hollow booming home On wooden coffin

22

Early Interlude Dew wet knee high Brown winter grass Smelling of dust, Opening like a toppled V From a distant narrow point Of darkness into early light Long lines of barbed wire fence Like threaded strings Of crystal teardrops Brightening as the tangerine sun Rises out from behind the world Peering between the trees Breathing life into Strings of glowing pink Diamond fairy light dew drops Strengthening to red and gold Burning away beneath the day; A gentle interlude passing Along the fence Into harsh day

23

Picturesque Published in Rusty Gates poetry study guide

Rain softly falls On Durban October Jacaranda avenue Thousands of bright Lilac trumpet flowers Tumbling free From trees either side Meeting across Vivid bright tunnel Through overcast gloom; Inspiring musicians To melodious notes Symphonies Of soft rolling kettle drums And violins whispering secrets; Inspiring writers To Intricate plots Beautiful words Heavily waterlogged Plunging straight To the heart Poetic airy wafting Wonderland colour illustrated With soft popping flower Trampled middles Written in black tyre treads

24

Fey Child The day you were born you died I saw and reached out Across the city to hold onto you Bloodied and still To keep you with us And your heart started beating When mine wanted to stop When science had given up But you are me and I am you Forever bound beautiful fey baby Who can’t grow up Slowly my child For you were born older And wiser

25

Mightier Than Flight of Communal voice Roosts Upon the perch Of exiled poets With the people’s ear And mightier Vigilant pen Patriotically grasped In clenched fists Of underground power Stabbing the jugular

Swordsmith Deep thrusts The steel Of youth, Course grinding Wheel shaped, Keenly sharpened Fine whetstoned, Razor honed Leather stropped, Polished vengeful Mirror of Old swordsmith’s Guided anger

26

Rivers Will Run October blood Heated To madness Of discontent Beneath a Sweltering fireball Glaring defiantly Like a guilty eye Backed into A fardistant Corner Hidden In a sky Seared by wailing Chimurenga wives Mothers Pregnant with fearful Tear clouds Bruised Menacing purple Foreboding Thunder drums Weeping hearts On a land ripped In revolution Of revolution And the rivers Will run Chimurenga – revolutionary struggle

27

A Time For Everything Under Heaven Intolerant beach wave Spreading thin Surging through, In small rearing peaks Tripping over Indentations Hesitating Gently ebbing Beneath clear water Transforming Life path Sand footprints Into spongy elongations Restoring Without sign Anyone ever passed.

Second Opinion Wan night colours Silver streaked grey Moonlit cloud Of a full moon Peering From a circled Dusky yellowpink aureole Wistfully watching Like your pensive face From afar, Asking, Everything I ask myself

28

Lady, Lady, Lady Soft searching disbelieving eyes Gasping post passion shocks Little curling breath devils Swirling across smooth dewy skin And quivering muscles Desperate clinging Shiver my memory With rich arrogance Of exotic tales Crowning my queen with gold Rubies emeralds diamonds Wrapping her in royal Jewelled purple and burgundy silks Stolen from fables Of a romantic people Gilded in mythological Impossibility

29

Fences Long barbed wire fence Taut as a company on parade Dividing the land across Like border guards With jagged bayonets fixed Looming suddenly through Early morning mists; Blending on silent command Soldier patrol sinking Into knee high grass Silently watching With psychic survival cunning Copse of trees across Silent wire hung With undisturbed dewdrops Easily mistaken interlude Of peace in a war As they reverse Slowly away From this imminent evil.

30

Two Plus Two Red and gritty As a desert sunset Last night’s whisky eyes Defiantly flashing lightning Thunderous as Hunched eyebrows On a stormy breath Angry with denial, Schizophrenic battlefield Supremacy challenge; Broken record Cracked and scratched Play over and over Shrill songs of protest Beyond reach of my ears; Memories harden resolute Goodbye……

Suspicious Minds Staring eye Secretive squinting Far From a distant Undercover corner Hidden All knowing Watching Bitter Tight lips Confirming Something That never was

31

Time Time of sweet Gentle time With a kindliness Of spring’s Happy flowers Smiling bright faces At the dawn Time of sweet Gentle time With a kindliness Of old man’s Happy reflections Slipping peacefully away From the dawn

32

Surrender Peaceful surrender To content Creeping Through every Soul fibre Caressing fingers gently Plucking heart string Songs Soothing sweet Whispered breath Steamy passion Quivering in an ear Secret With doe eye Love desires

Orange River Wild’s tranquil peace Slowly paddling Orange River Beneath an orange baked canopy And black velvet carpet Studded with diamonds Over crisp camaraderie Campfire nights Of life higher than the sky

33

The Devil Works In Darkness Lashed with salty tears The devil pilots His ugly creaking ship Of destruction Sailing an incompetent Crew of jealous Green eyed monsters Upon a thundering Black sea Of broken dreams This harsh reality night Of stinging whiplash strokes Splitting the backs Of indolent oarsmen, Pull hard you impossible lot Or we’ll never catch up

Broken Fences Gap of knowledge Yawning open Like Broken fence posts Burned in a fire No longer supporting Rusty strands Of sagging wire

34

My Gift Mind pictures Through my World window Of blue waters Rolling in beneath Silver moonlight Balmy ocean breeze Hints of seafood paella Cold peach champagne In long crystal flutes Beautiful times tied Forever in a gilt frame Lovingly placed Beneath the tree Waiting for Christmas

35

Plus A Little Every time It’s time for you to leave Something inside cries a little Something breaks a little Something dies a little And I tell myself A little, plus a little, plus a little Eventually leaves Nothing to lose Nothing to break; Yet somehow There is always a little in reserve Plus a little‌

Dark Angel Gossamer winged Angel of purity espoused Light beyond white I see not Behind this dark angel Purported not to be

36

Home To Roost?

Herd of following sheep Downcast eye Braggart of fools Writhing Snake tongued cowards Shamed to Sulky mouth silence Slithering slowly From a watching world Away This dark night Of incompetence With not a man Of leadership This field of weeds To mow Into some decent semblance Of accountable respectability

37

Caution Selectively picking Life’s harvest From the vines Of plenty, Like soft plucked Harp strings Play dulcet Soothing melodies Without ever The excitement Of rock and roll

Earthquake Praying for deliverance Whilst believing it’s God’s way.

38

Facebook - published in Skyline Magazine I see your name Wonder if you see mine Call up your face, Still the same See your family Girls as beautiful as you And wonder Whether he made you happy, Did he serve with distinction Or find an excuse to stay home, And wonder; When we meet again One button apart By friend request One devil may care Caution in the wind day When the wondering Becomes too much, Will you accept And if we will Or may choose Not to remember Pencil box names Compass point carved During lessons Deep into adolescent hearts, Wearing my watch Guarded tentative Hands touching On the shaded bench After school, And wonder How you went Your way And I mine When war came?

39

Lower Church Street Hot clammy hustle Bustle humanity day Lower Church Street Taxis Trucks Sweaty workers loading Pedestrians pushing between Crying babies Happy toddlers Mothers guiding Wide eyed children Through traffic Hooting Pavement vendor tables Shaded beneath umbrellas Batteries Electric chargers Bottles of Sheep dip Glycerine Battery acid Overstepping litter filth Green moss Of leaky pipes Walking round Missing pavement blocks Open manhole Cast iron cover Sold for scrap Everyone in a shoving hurry Busy going where?

40

The Quieter Part Of Town The quieter part of town Parallel to the main road through Nestles a two sided street Of small old houses And easier life Saving money From living on the hill.

An elderly man With his parrot On a veranda sits Toasting day Into sun burned evening With a nip of brandy And a smoke

41

The Way It Was In the red brick house On the corner Lived a tall man Fifteen years back Eating thirty egg omelettes Twenty five whites Five whole Every breakfast In one sitting Whole chickens With protein shakes Pumped iron And sit ups Early morning Night Sun tanned to coffee In a skimpy Speedo Stage burnished bronze Beneath bright lights Every muscle Oiled pumped Defined Posed this way And that With blue veins Like writhing roadways Glittering trophies Cabinets full And in the garden This evening Shirtless Still tanned to coffee Building a rockery With dumpling muscles Blanketed beneath Fifteen retired kilograms

42

Sweet Breath Of Evening Green tendril climbing Sweet pea garden fence Colour blaze wall of Magnificent Kaleidoscopic flowers Mingling exotic scents Of heady jasmine songs Gently fading grey to Sweet breath of evening Seductively whispering Irresistible love enticements To nectar sucking Hummingbird Moths

43

Clubbing Seals Knife Sharpened quill Innocuous Feather shafted Flights of beauty Drawing the eye From purpose Stabbing Deep enough Plunging recharge From life’s Eternal poisoned Inkwell Guilty Scribbling Spiteful graffiti Words Dark as Dog rabid bruises On innocent Milky skin

44

Late Night Honesty Wealthy Uptown sophistication, Lonely small hours Remembering Climbing ladders From an eye smile word Heady scented Passionate beauty, Wondering why She couldn’t Wouldn’t Come with; Tortured knowing She’s lying Sleep eluded Looking at the Dark ceiling Wishing she Knew why too

45

Blame It On The Moon In sleeping shades Of purple midnight Champagne diffused With dulcet silver tones Of Swarovski misted moon Creating poetry Intricate Licentious Gentle Luscious Ballet Rock and roll Full as lover’s lip strawberries Served in ringing Stewart crystal With slim silver spoons And a goblet Of sultry oak smoke Blood red wine.

46

The Walk It’s the starting out That irks me most Tight muscles And laziness Of other more important Things neglected And then down the hill Gathering momentum As everything loosens up Especially my mind Accepting it has begun And that I have to drag My sorry self back up The hill in Painful expressions Of enjoyment.

47

Insurrection Restless harbour water Stagnant sullen green Buoying up Seldom used Captive promises Idly moored While unfettered Raves the ocean Around

Delirium Seeking meagre shelter In temporary eddies From many churning winds Of indifference and indulgence Uninviting bitter snow horizons And swirling ravens Black Searching for death; I should choose Your winter chill When every season Calls my name?

48

Survival One desperate foot Drags in obedient Submission Past the other Through the sand Into line Stumbling Slowly forward To the Safety of water

Essenwood Flea Market Saturday morning Durban Essenwood Avenue Sprawling flea market Whiling away an hour At breakfast Of avocado pear On thick pumpernickel Making small talk At a foreign table Shaded from early heat Beneath tall luxurious trees Watching people walking by; And I can see your house

49

Adventure Don’t tell me You seek adventure, Tell me you are Young enough at heart To help me Dig out the truck Bogged deep in Okavongo mud, And, still friends With laughing eyes Go to sleep On a can of Bully beef Drink of water Huddled amongst equipment In the back cuddled in Each other’s un-bathed warmth Beneath a blanket Through the Shuddering blue Lightning flashes Black tempestuous night Exploding thunder War dance Canopy drumming Pelting rain; And tomorrow We will try again.

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How do you know?

Every once in a while My sunshine blue life Gilded with Golden sun shafts Punctuates with days Of cold grey, hopeless Harsh black colons: And where to now full stops.

But somehow you feel My distress vibrations Long through cosmos miles Even to the other side of the world And the rescuing sound Of your reassuring voice Restores my focus, Stirs in me symphonies of hope

51

Mercy?

Silent hunt Unfed unborn pups Arrests Great White Mother shark Twenty meters beneath Blue swells passing Sickle fin and watchful eye For half a gill beat hesitates Homing radar Of her hunting craft seeks Fluttering vibrations Of distressful dying Alerted by scents Of wasted blood Drawn pale and thin On south current flowing, Northward points accelerating Coup de grace To untidy death

52

Step Quietly Past Stones lying heavy Like malignant cancers Movement would erupt Foundationed in soil Like gravestones Part buried where they lie Splattered with freckled Rain splashed mud Undisturbed by fear Of some dark Discovery reprisal, Powerful stones Cold and silent Monuments to secrets Better left unturned

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303 Memories Memories Three hundred and three Times thousands Bind us together In a book Of foreverness

War Days Days of laughter Days of pain Days we hold tightly Through sadness, Through rain Some we long for Can never be again, Some we regret And thank God Will never happen again, Days that shaped Our young lives Changed forever; Days that were ours, Still are

54

Clothes On The Beach To water born Returned this Sweltering Friday night From mortal land Intricate of subterfuge cruel with greed Wading single minded with sands of white Swelling between my toes Savouring saline coolness of my birth And on a breath submerge in darkness Closed from ugly polluted minds above To gentle swishing sands and tumbling shells.

Could I breathe of your munificence, Be sleek of hide and shape Radar and eye to navigate me through, Scimitar dorsals rising from deep Like jagged sierras slicing sky Fuse with dolphins surfing peaked crests of Plump marble blue ostrich plumed swells Rolling across rising ocean atolls Where never a boat has been at high Man’s foot never sullied at low Nor has he seen by night or day Never to return

55

Mists Of Past Returning Hanging black sky, grumbling low swollen With angry vapours from oceans risen And jagged forks of cobalt fire fling down Fired from the cannons of wrath Quivering blasts crack the earth Small umbrellas of mushrooms to sprout Beneath leafy mahobohobo trees And pregnant sky waters rupture In great gouts of sobbing silver tears Beating the earth like fists of fury To revive every mother’s son’s Vain freedom quest brutally crushed And the ghosts of twenty thousand Izimbizo Matabele warriors murdered Ethereal on the silver dark of retiring night Rise silent as the early morning winter breath Of patient cattle in their thorn kraal awaiting dawn Headbands of otter and single blue crane feather Skirts of spotted cat and swinging jackal tails Beaded wrists and waists Biceps, calves tasselled white with tails of oxen Stamp free their shackled feet from dust Hissing, hollow groan, clash of rawhide shields War cry of embattled Monamatapa Beginning softly like stroked kettle drums rising Rolling urgently across the granite sun warmed Grave of Cecil John Rhodes Echoing to crescendo through the hills of Matopos Like enraged thunder of a thousand heavens Razor whetted short spear steel Quailing general’s accountable hearts While blood letting awaits painting blades In screaming colours of stinking crimson, Time closes like the hangman’s noose Of guilty rope meticulously braided With dark tyranny threads of thirty years

56

The slip knot finally finds destiny, As surely as the skulking hyena Returns to its sunset lair; The trapdoor of life - waits to fall

Hard Earned There’s something About the smell Of hard worked Sweat Unknowingly worn, That’s More tolerable In honest men

57

Echoes Of Emptiness New brick house, Lime smelling mortar, And vapid itchy eye paint, Without carpets and furniture Echo with the hopelessness Of one sided love: Glazier putty fingerprints Shutting out drafts, Speak in hushed reverence Of someone once alive here, Like tombstones of loneliness Tell of withering emptiness In sinister hollow whispers Of some lingering evil judging, Thousand pinpricks pimpling skin With wafting sheens Of shivering winter, Chase me outside To blue freedom And a high bird In sweet air Hinting of dust And a far off Look of cleansing rain.

58

Masquerade Your beautiful mouth speaks A story; Beguiling me into Deep drowning wide eye pools Edged with wafting palms of Long fluttering lashes, Beckoning me in to believing; While Your hands dance A slow Geisha pantomime Of eloquent truths.

59

Dictatorial Last Word Stage spotlight finger shadows Explaining some far off thing Drawing attention away From some importance To something soon forgotten, Dervish dance mutant spiders Black devils in and out of Yawning curtain folds behind, Scurrying from cover Closer Salivating jaws sharpening Legs tensing in out, Waiting to pounce Darting in as the arm drops Biting his leg With his own poison.

60

Ismail Wholesale House Fresh farm eggs, two yolk jumbos Eastern politics and West, Chilli sauce, honey, chilli jam, State of the government, Cast iron pots and candlesticks Misuse of taxes and funds, Enamel mugs and coffee pots Appalling state of the roads, Big as your hand Starking apples, Price of fuel and groceries, Baking instructions from Firoza Poor road maintenance, Mosquito net, torch and batteries Decaying state of the nation, Fishing rods and tackle Disintegrated railway system, Coffee, sugar and condensed milk Huge trucks jamming the roads, Dish wash liquid and dish cloths Inflation, taxes, government cars, Full basket of shopping, tank of fuel, “Call again,� from Abdoolmuck Cross cultural Stimulating, interesting, necessities.

61

A Whole Life In Seconds Sudden Through green leaves, Branch Inches before my eyes Green snake; Motionless Body erect, Waiting, Watching.

I see Every fine scale, Every Breathing movement Neck heartbeat, Beady eyes Judging the strike, Waiting, Watching; And I; Unmoving, Unbreathing, My life deciding In Two glass eyes, Wait, Watching.

62

Return To Eden Through life’s rocky bed Meanders a cold lonely stream Of suitor lovers come And angrily gone When she was ready Not he, He not she; But indifferent years Of hastiness thought through What might have been, Returns With a slow apologetic nudge At the squeaky hinged fading gate Of memories’ flaking paint

63

Sweet Fifteen Waiting for the lights On the corner I first saw you, Your shy eye corner Followed My shy eye corner Cycling around, You saw I saw With a glimmer of a Young corner mouth smile; A corner of time Stored in the corner Of my mind

64

Generations Cast your mind Back Many years From today, Results I won’t Be here to see, With your child Old as you are now, Remember Your judgement Of critical thoughts, And ask yourself; In her judgement Of critical thoughts, Have I raised A better child?

65

Educational System Tell me what it is You would like me to say of you, In fact please have your speech maker Write down your magnificent sunshine Highlighted in different cue colours of bright intention Of course mentioning – again - your prudence And deep conviction, wisely to use the increased budget, So I might read glowingly of your extraordinary foresight In revolutionary educational change and planning Again At least twice every hour Out loud from the pure white steps of city hall To whomsoever you command to believe; Please: for some little semblance of credibility, Park your magnificent educational budget One million Rand chauffeured Mercedes out of sight At the expensive restaurant where you’ll be lunching.

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