Gert Strydom, 27 july 2012
(after Koos du Plessis)
Oh Lord, when a husband and wife
in love yearned for each other
I was roused out of undetermined rest
and on a day
placed into this dark place to take form
and they do wait
that I appear in a world of decay,
somewhere in Your great unlimited universe.
You who form all things from the beginning,
who also knows everything,
I ask that where You measure out
the punishment of life to me
that You will in great love always stay with us
that You will forget the sins
that we make here as mere humans,
that You touch my parents with great joy.
[Reference: “Gebed van die Ongeborene” (Prayer of an unborn) by Koos du Plessis.]
Gert Strydom, 27 july 2012
(for Lucienné)
Sometimes when I kneel down for prayer in church
she comes with small tottering steps,
folds her two small arms around me
and for moments the prayer of the chief elder ends
when with Gert, Gert she gives a small cry
and her joy cuts through heart and soul.
It’s with a pouted mouth that she sometimes kisses,
looking up with small angelic eyes into mine
when maybe even in heaven there is silence
and for moments I am amazed
when her hand reaches out to mine,
as a small girl sometimes do.
Satish Verma, 27 july 2012
It was coming up, the politics
like dirty sex
in tall Parthenium grass.
The panther was hiding on a steppingstone
watching the hot, field hockey
played with skulls of peers.
Mauled, the peach skin was
entertaining sunlight in
the metaphoric village.
Prisoners of false ceilings,
we sing the anthem with
the crowd of wolves.
Satish Verma
Bunny Crunch, 27 july 2012
Glittering moonlight reflects off the shining grass.
Calm rain glides off the leaves of the trees above us,
Pours gentle mist across my feet.
The warm wind flows through my hair.
Gentle starlight brushes across the shadows
In illuminating waves.
Sweet berries fall around us
From high branches of surrounding trees.
The wind carries new rainbow petals
Brought around the world and back just to surround us.
The chirping birds serenade us with their lullaby,
Later to awake the sunrise.
The fresh rain leaps from the sky onto young perennials.
Gel drips from my damp hair,
Filling the cool air with tropical citrus.
The rain scatters across the shimmering grass.
The wind is a force field
Circling closer around us,
Keeping all the world away.
As close as it circles,
It never comes as close as we are
And the glittering moonlight
Never outshines my smile
Bunny Crunch, 27 july 2012
The fire crackled
Then exploded
Flames circled
Close around me
The new light
So close to me
The shield of heat
Captured the cool
Smoke clouds rose
Dissolving the air
As well as my hope
That I could ever win
I closed my eyes
Felt the heat
Then a rush
Of hope
I took the water that was there now
Spilled it all around
Flames melted into dust
Smoke transformed into air
My hope returned
I just won
The fire was gone
And everything was fine
Don't stand too close to the fire
Everyone says
But I have to
Or I'll never know
How to put it out
When it comes again
Bunny Crunch, 27 july 2012
Rain falls slower than my tears
The night drags on
I lay awake
Breathing nothing but the tears I cry
I gaze at the distant city lights
And all I can think
Is of that day
When I got rainbow hair
But stronger than the rainbow glow
Reflected through my hair
The pain still stays
Grows stronger with every shining tear
That falls
No matter what you do
To try to make it up to me
You can't
No number of childhood dreams
You recreate to be true
No matter every wish you grant
You used to call impossible
You hit me way too hard
When I ruined your car with paint
To love me as much
As you keep telling me you do
No matter how many presents
You give me
You can't make me forget
And I never will
These words, now all you say
I'm sorry, Matt
Even if they're true
Can never take the pain
I still feel
When I think of you
Glenn McCrary, 26 july 2012
We mourn atop skyscrapers
As our forefathers
Mourned amongst baobab trees in Uganda
Because we have been forsaken,
It is judgment day,
And we’re fearful.
Glenn McCrary, 26 july 2012
To cast an infinite chamber
In certain places of the moon,
To twist and to waltz
Till the black night fades.
Then soften at sultry morning
Underneath a baobab tree
While afternoon stroked the horizon lightly,
Lovingly as I ---
A strange yet, delightful vagary!
To cast an infinite chamber
In the beloved areola of the sun,
Waltz! Twist! Twist!
Till the brisk day is done.
Soften at fallow night…
Underneath the baobab tree…
Night stroking gingerly
Lovingly as I.
Glenn McCrary, 26 july 2012
A wild posy
Shriveled and perished.
The evening-warriors chuckled ---
But the day-warriors fussed.
A wild posy
Shriveled and perished.
Glenn McCrary, 26 july 2012
She rises
In the darkness,
This burdened woman
Shrunken by
Weariness and regret
Like a black rose in winter
In the icy rain,
Like a wind-swept rose in winter
That has yet to raise its neck
Again.
Poetry
Prose
Photography
Graphics
Video poems
Postcards
Diary
Books
Handmade
