She was right - 6 Apr'09

She was right
exclaims my dad
to mom and me
his eyes a-twinkle

She was right
City Councillor of old
the feisty Jane Gool
long before careerists
made it into our body politic

She was right
group areas will remain
long after it is gone
from our statute books

She was right
us and them loom
often larger than life
and the classifications
on government forms

She was right
as the ruling party
points our befrocked critic
in the direction of
former apartheid group areas

She was right
as were others warning
against two-staged solutions
to South Africa’s problems

She was right
tribalists now side by side
with careerists and cronyists
neo-revolutionary nationalists
minds still balkanized

She was right
then says my dad

She is right
still
don’t you think

My brow furrowed at our ruling party puffing out its chest in the name of itself, Friday 03 April 2009 onwards.

Did you behave (any differently thereafter) - 30 Mar 2009

Did you give up
an hour for earth
or was it just
business as usual

(none of that save
the dolphins, the whales,
going green planting a tree
hippy kind of stuff)

Did you give up
an hour for earth
with your lights off

And did you behave
any differently thereafter
asks a talking head
from our provider
(laughingly described)

(is life still the same old
programme at your school
the morning transport to work
whatever energy-form it takes)

An hour for earth
was all that was asked
on Saturday past
for today and tomorrow

Are you behaving
any differently right now
for tomorrow
and the day after

Not for any talking head
so-called service provider
or petty political electioneer
but for you

2 hours for earth, done on 28 March 2009, pessimism aside, penned after guffawing at an Eskom talking head on my black and white radio.

I is back (I sigh) - 7 march '09

I is back, I sigh
the culture of I-speak
for I-self, me first
accruing personal I-kudos

I is back, I sigh
in the form of
the demi-god, leader-goat
who speaks for I-self

I is back, I sigh
the individual inside
of the collective
(is I African, Western)

I is back, I sigh
speaking personally
for everyone else
in their name

I is back, I sigh
the eyesore and the id
of the personality
and the cult thereof
is on the campaign trail

I sigh

I sigh at my morning radio, Saturday morning, March 9 2009, from which the I-voice of our anti-apartheid cleric I-speaks in the name of something apparently new.

Never say never - 7 Mar 2009

Never say never
whether you are
in politics or in love
whichever comes first

Never say never
whether you are
a loyal member
of whoever pays you

Never say never
whether you have
congress tattooed
next to your DNA

Never say never
whatever deal
you have bartered
at the public expense

Never say never
here now, over
onto another list
by the morning

Never say never
freedom fighter yesterday
over to tomorrow’s lure
of a portfolio or two

Never say never
as you promise yourself
to the highest bidder
in the name of the people

Correction Services Portfolio Committee hack and ANC MP Dennis Bloem does some verbal gymnastics explaining his change of political blood type, on my afternoon radio, Friday 6 March 2009.

You don’t need to go (to Oxford University)
(24 Jan '09)

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
(an Equal Opportunities employer
you will be pleased to know)
to put bread on the table

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
to know that says he
Julius Malema our defender
to students who lend him their ears

(In fact you don’t even
have to go and study
to protect the revolution)

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
to be a security guard
to defend the ruling party
(from its very own self)

You don’t need to go
to any other place
because the people
will teach you
(about the political economy)

The people will teach you
as they have done Zuma
right here on the ground
(where the grass is much
greener in a BEE-kind-of-way)

Right here on the ground
you can be the bodyguards
(with blue lights a-flashing)

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
just go vote for the revolution
it will set you free

Who can resist shooting off, what with ANC Youth League’s loudspeaker, Julius Malema, shooting off from the foot which is in the mouth, this time at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Bellville Campus (“Students must fight to defend Zuma”, Cape Times, Friday January 23 2009).

24 Jan '09 - They travel at night

They travel at night
in fast cars (windows tinted)
on foot, probably in dark
clothing, these ‘dark forces’
our Youth League loudspeaker
Julius Malema asserts

They travel at night
perhaps its cheaper
even safer somewhat
from the goings-on
the wheeling and dealing
done in the light of day

They travel at night
is his conspiracy theory
equalled only by that
of certain other comrades
who too shoot from their
revolutionary hips

They travel at night
as do the fairies and
the hobgoblins and
all the imperialist-contras
born in the USA

They travel at night
and perhaps one day
might carry off our Julius
whilst his student shock-troupes
are out voting feet-first

Yes, they travel at night
do our dark forces

do the Yengeni shuffle
do the Zuma shuffle
do the Manto shuffle
shuffle shuffle shuffle
do the Julius Malema
rattle your jewellery
(go and shuffle off)

Who can resist shooting off, what with ANC Youth League’s loudspeaker, Julius Malema, shooting off from the foot which is in the mouth (“ANC will not change law to protect Zuma”, Cape Argus, Friday January 16 2009).

Many more Cuba - 12 Jan 09

Many more Cuba
and its example since
there are no longer
any Chés, Mandelas,
Bikos or Sobukwes
to inspire selflessness

Many more Cuba
resigned we seem with
the not-so-free enterprise of
the price-fixing life
of World Bank-poverty
and the oxymoron
of service delivery

Many more Cuba
what with Cuba’s health
and education systems
and their altruism
towards us and others

Many more Cuba
its detractors want
multi-party politicians
and multi-party elections

(this will amply show
the multifariousness of
our collective poverty
in the ideas category)

Many more Cuba
as they celebrate 50
stymied as we all are
by imperialisms-past
and its daily presence

Cuba – the country of beards
we beards looked to the model
we enthused over now forgotten
too conveniently

Many more to Cuba

The Cuban Revolution has outlasted many an American presidential dynasty (says comrade unemployed welder and non-beard Richard Meyer, echoing Raul Castro). Cuba is still alive and well, and so is Fidel. Penned the morning of Saturday, January 10 2008.

Where do you want to be - 6 Jan 09

Where do you want to be
in the life you are in
whether you just have
matriculated or not

Where do you want to be
girls wear blue, boys pink
know your place out there
in the pecking order

Where do you want to be
with your new qualification
at the start of this journey

Where do you want to be
what is your flavour
(not someone else’s)

(A hewer of wood
trapped behind a desk
working the streets)

Where do you want to be
what makes you happy
sleep well at night
(without conscience)

Where do you want to be
how do you get there before
others do (the same as you)

Where do you want to be
what are the challenges
(are they stumbling blocks)

Where do you want to be
what riches will you reap
in the food-chain of life
and will it make you better

Post-matric results, Sunday January 04 2008, what with whosoever out to make a quick buck, a career consultant on SAFM Sunday Morning AMLive tells us that we waste lots of time, money and effort not focusing on what it is we want – we apply for anything and everything, as we want a job and the money and shiny stuff that comes with it.

Smart Girl - 6 Jan 09

Smart Girl
gushes the interviewer
on morning radio speaking
to a high-scoring
rural matriculant

Smart Girl
distinctions in all
subjects she took
including mathematics

Smart Girl
putting paid to
notion about girls
and their place

Smart Girl
well on her way
to a university

Smart Girl
focus, she says
apply yourself, too,
you can do it

Smart Girls
top the matric list
in this province

Smart Girls
applaud them and those
who made it and those
who tried and did not

Smart Girls
at smart schools
with all the resources
at their fingertips

When will all schools
be as smart as them

Post-matric results, Sunday January 04 2008, the SAFM Sunday Morning AMLive show host, babbling animatedly on a bit more incoherently than usual, in an interview with a high-scoring Grade 12 learner from a rural village. In the babble, I caught neither her name, the area she is from, nor the name of her school. Sorry!

You rote me off - 6 Jan 2009

You rote me off
as the bling-bling generation
too much into shiny objects
to concern ourselves

You rote me off
a generation lost, again
to the drug of choice
be it MXIT, tik or religion

You rote me off
united in your ivory towers
coalitions of armchair critics
hidden behind pledges

You rote me off
the OBE generation
the system’s guinea pigs
thinking for themselves

(You rote me off
you who memorized facts
to churn out for your certificate
for the dog-eat-dog market)

You rote me off
(speak when you’re spoken to)

Might I too do that
to you

A quick one (Friday, January 02 2009, after a cursory glance at certain Matric headlines in the Cape Times that carried the results (Wednesday, December 31 2008). My beady eye fell in particular on the page 3 article headlined ‘Support groups urge people not to criticise those who didn’t pass and warn of increase in substance abuse’.

Learning to dance again
(for Ellen Pakkies) - 30/12/2008

Learning to dance again
as a free woman
who has had to defend
her actions

Learning to dance again
because of a son gone
off the straight and narrow
(as we all tend to go)

Learning to dance again
broken in heart
though not necessarily
in mind and spirit

Learning to dance again
judged by people
who do self-righteously
unto others whatever they do

Learning to dance again
amongst the tik-zombies
in all our Lavender Hills
all over the place

Learning to dance again
forced to by a system
that has freed us

But not from bureaucracy
But not from corruption
But not from mediocrity

Learning to dance again
since we are free
though not from ourselves

Tuesday, December 30 2008, motivated to penning something for Ellen Pakkies, the mother convicted of killing her tik addict son, Abie.

If he was a girly
(10/12/08)

If he was a girly
I mutter after-the-fact
maybe even remorsefully

If he was a girly
the thin, pale duke
a musician a-begging

If he was a girly
just got out of jail
we imprison musicians
(we imprison minds, too)

If he was a girly
at the end of it
our 16-days ritual

If he was a girly
who might have helped

Might I have
unemployed as I am

Fobbing off a hungry musician’s story, on Cape Town station, Tuesday late
morning, 9 December 2008

Once were warriors
(sent on 10/12/ 2008)

Once were warriors
commanding respect
long time ago memories
now faded into by-elections
many misdeeds of the present

(revolutionaries seen by day
to be marching and flag-waving
woman and child abusers
under the cover of night)

Once were warriors
freedom fighters and
of the downtrodden people
selflessly representing

Once were warriors
in your own image
now you demand
blind faith and loyalty

Once were warriors
Once you were
Once you
Once

Tired by one too many of ANC head-of-something-or-the-other Carl Niehaus on my radio, the night of Tuesday 9 December 2008

Imagine a Collective Future (sent to me on 10/12/2008)

Imagine a collective future
sardine-squeezed in economy class
Metro train rush-hour home

Imagine a collective future
might I broach the subject
to a dead beat tired traveller
popular education or seminar-style

Imagine a collective future
actually meaning something
here in a crowded cattle truck
in standard grade English

Rush-hour home
Sardine-squeezed into
a collective future

Imagine - can you
Imagine - have you
Imagine - do you

Wondering to myself, train-bound home post-1630hrs, Thursday November 20
2008.

------------------------------------

Imagine a Collective Future

Making the Invisible Visible

Making the invisible visible
like we tend to at times
of national political holidays
and 16 days of activism

(We break the silence
empower, wave our banners,
give voice then go back
behind our defences)

Making the invisible visible
a new third world consciousness
of cell phones and the daily fix
of television and tabloid news

Making the invisible visible
reflecting on the experience
Paulo Freire no longer the flavour
of this month or even last

Making the invisible visible
engendering popular education
emasculating its male bias
like her-story and history

Making the invisible visible
in social (even socialist) movements
the itch of popular education
too embarrassed to be acknowledged

Making the invisible visible
the struggle is over
the struggle is done
(why read or write)

Or have we all been done over

Trying to return to the source: not to Cabral or Fanon, but "Gender in
Popular Education - Methods for empowerment", a Centre for Adult and
Continuing Education (CACE) / Zed Books 1996 publication (edited by Shirley
Walters and Linzi Manicom).

----------------------------------------------------

Imagine a collective future

Imagine
a collective future
a future collective
a collectivist future
(as once envisaged long-past!)

Imagine
nothing to kill for
nothing to die for
even no-one to die for
not even an ideal

Imagine
no country
no borders
no nationalities

Am I a dreamer
Am I the only one (left)
Are we the only ones (left)

Might you join in
Might others join in
Might the world then
live as one

Taking creative license with John Lennon's "Imagine", which I almost always
turn to (on my turntable) for inspiration especially when the imagination
runs dry. Hippy that I am!

You can’t leave the youth out (for Nokonwaba)
(sent to me on 10/12/08)

You can’t leave the youth out
of our South African life
whatever it is you do

You can’t leave the youth out
whether you are electioneering
every 4 or 5 years
(to prove we are a democracy)

You can’t leave the youth out
of the popular education process
you are reflecting on
(whether it is history or herstory)

You can’t leave the youth out
neither can you do that
to our young women
(before or after 16 days)

You can’t leave the youth out
lest you want to be left behind

Inspired to put pen to paper while imagining a collective future, Monday-Tuesday November 24-25 2008, with young Nokonwaba reminding us that we can’t leave the youth out.

Keep you proper (and fit,

in the national interest)
(sent to me on 09/12/ 2008)



Keep you proper

and fit, even,

in the national interest

(and not the nation’s)



Keep you proper

on the straight

and the narrow



Keep you proper

tell no lies

in your own interests



Keep you proper

for country, king

and party too



Just keep you proper

and fit and regular

at the end of 16 days

of anti-abuse activism



Just keep you proper

keep your clothes on

so that your legacy

needs no airbrushing



Just keep you proper


penned Tuesday morning , 10 December 2008, after NPA head is found to be unfit.

----------------------------------------------------------

This is not a great time ( sent to me on 08/12/2008)


This is not a great time

says our male TV presenter

(broad-shouldered of body)

during 16 days of activism



This is not a great time

talking about human trafficking

here and everywhere women

and children are to be



This is not a great time

as it is that time of the year

when the poor and downtrodden

lively up themselves



This is not a great time

to be reminded of the world

and all its ills we experience

out here in Africa



This is not a great time

as many turn religious

commercially and otherwise

to celebrate once-off rituals



This is not a great time

to have a panel discussion

on human trafficking now

or during our 2010 World Cup



This is not a great time

broad of shoulder orthodox

of moral viewpoint

the timing is not right


When is the time right

Amusing myself at the comment of Morning Live’s male, during his panel discussion on Human Trafficking, 8 December 2008.

-------------------------------------------------

DK - sent 06/11/09

Not now (darling)
(we have a headache)

Not now darling
we have a headache
a little hiccup
(says some hack)
of national proportion

Not now darling
we have a headache
if you get my meaning
and its not gone missing
this time in translation

Not now darling
we have a headache
might be open
to interpretation
(Brazilian soccer-style)

Not now darling
we have a headache
until after the World Cup
a first here in Africa
(dark as it apparently is)

Not now darling
we have a headache
and must look beyond
local is not so good
just right now

Not now darling
we have a headache
not able to be fixed
by a home-grown brew
(even paying them less)

Not now darling
foreign aid will save us
and we’ll be better (off)
next time around

New Bafana Bafana
coach, Brazilian World Cup winner Carlos
Alberto Parreira, is back, through our revolving door, no doubt
passing our former Brazilian soccer coach Joel Santana,on the way in or out, depending what way you look at the state of affairs, Saturday morning 24 October 2009.

-------------------------------------------------

I’m no lady (I’m all woman)
sent on 06/11/09


I’m no lady

I’m all woman

Gaye Davis jests

on SAFM’s The Editors

(all women on the show)


I’m no lady

I’m all woman

responding to the

3 ladies on the show

(a man-made observation)


(He does the mumbo-jumbo

by saying he is blessed

having these women

on his morning show)


I’m no lady

I’m all woman

if you can tell

the big difference

(sans any gender testing)


I’m no lady

I’m all woman

as we go along

into the 16 days ritual

of anti-abuse activism


I’m no lady

I’m all woman


For how long

this wisecrack

in women’s name


With the ritual of 16 days of activism against violence against women and children upon us, SAFM’s The Editors guy-fellow Elvis Preslen shoots himself good-naturedly, Sunday morning, November 1 2009, as he has done throughout August Women’s Month, in his many manly attempts to contribute to gender parity; this Sunday claiming to be ‘blessed’ by having 3 ‘ladies’ on his programme – Gaye Davis, Kim Cloete and Ferial Haffajee.