Today, distracted by two kiting birds,
I thought of you, I thought of you in words.
I thought of spending afternoons with you,
undressed, sunk into pleasure. At the coo
of "pleasure" in my secret inner ear
(my back convecting, sure that you were here),
my mouth came open at my body's arc,
an evening primrose, flushing, sensing dark,
and all at once my exhaled breath became
that incantation of my days: your name.
That incantation follows me to sleep:
tonight, distracted by my fingers' sweep
among my body's secret slubs and burls,
I thought of you, I thought of you in worlds.
© Hannah Louise Poston
31 March 2009
30 March 2009
Blogging security
Poéfrika: Ten-Minute Creative Writing Exercise | Buy Cheap Adobe ...Today a Google alert for my own blog brought me the above bit. I have of course muddled up the URL, which ended with a dot cc. Anyone have any idea how they do this? I mean, how they get Google to alert me on this with a search for Poéfrika? And can anything be done against it?
By admin
A weblog of creative , Africa-inspired writing. ... See what you can produce with a simple set of writing prompts and ten minutes of your time with this creative writing exercise inspired by Rita Dove's exercise Ten-Minute Spill. ...
Buy Cheap Adobe Discount OEM - http://spqravcqe.co.cc/
Playlist on "Africa is a country"
LINK: http://theleoafricanus.com/2009/03/28/playlist-rethabile-masilo/
Sean at Africa is a country has graciously published a playlist of mine. Take a look; I hope you like it.
Sean at Africa is a country has graciously published a playlist of mine. Take a look; I hope you like it.
Ten-Minute Creative Writing Exercise
If you think you don't have time to write, think again. See what you can produce with a simple set of writing prompts and ten minutes of your time with this creative writing exercise inspired by Rita Dove's exercise "Ten-Minute Spill."
Write for ten minutes, incorporating a common proverb, adage, or familiar phrase ("between the devil and the deep blue sea," "one foot in the grave," "a stitch in time saves nine," "the whole nine yards," "a needle in a haystack," etc.) that you have changed in some way, as well as five of the following words:
hill
apricot
fist
stone
bleat
cousin
turn
lick
[Attn: I've changed the first seven words that appeared in the original prompt; only the last one is unchanged]
Don’t worry about creating a story right now: just focus on following the parameters and writing for your ten minutes. Write down whatever comes into your head without worrying about whether it’s good or not. You might surprise yourself.
Write for ten minutes, incorporating a common proverb, adage, or familiar phrase ("between the devil and the deep blue sea," "one foot in the grave," "a stitch in time saves nine," "the whole nine yards," "a needle in a haystack," etc.) that you have changed in some way, as well as five of the following words:
hill
apricot
fist
stone
bleat
cousin
turn
lick
[Attn: I've changed the first seven words that appeared in the original prompt; only the last one is unchanged]
Don’t worry about creating a story right now: just focus on following the parameters and writing for your ten minutes. Write down whatever comes into your head without worrying about whether it’s good or not. You might surprise yourself.
[seen at Pivotal...]
28 March 2009
Matthew Shenoda's "A Prayer for My People"
That one day
we will wish
to be nothing more
than what we are.
That we will see
within ourselves
the liberation of nations, of concrete.
That we will understand
the inevitability
in the lines of our hands...
[continue there...(has audio)]
we will wish
to be nothing more
than what we are.
That we will see
within ourselves
the liberation of nations, of concrete.
That we will understand
the inevitability
in the lines of our hands...
[continue there...(has audio)]
27 March 2009
Site: African Heritage in Classical Music
Here you will meet 52 composers, conductors and instrumental performers - Africans, African Americans and Afro-Europeans. Many are alive today, but one lived 500 years ago! These artists are unknown to most of us, yet are so numerous this site can present only a fraction of them.
They have made enduring contributions to Classical Music. Several have composed, conducted and performed Classical Music. Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) of Guadeloupe is one of those multi-talented musicians. Cuban classical guitarist Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) is another.
Over 100 sound samples can be heard at the Audio page and at the biographical pages. The links at left lead to a Black History Quiz covering everyone profiled at the site and a Guest Book in which you are invited to leave your comments.
[continue there...]
26 March 2009
Charles Simic on Writing Poetry
A few things to keep in mind while sitting down to write a poem:
- Don't tell the readers what they already know about life.
- Don't assume you're the only one in the world who suffers.
- Some of the greatest poems in the language are sonnets and poems not many lines longer than that, so don't overwrite.
- The use of images, similes and metaphors make poems concise. Close your eyes, and let your imagination tell you what to do.
- Say the words you are writing aloud and let your ear decide what word comes next.
- What you are writing down is a draft that will need additional tinkering, perhaps many months, and even years of tinkering.
- Remember, a poem is a time machine you are constructing, a vehicle that will allow someone to travel in their own mind, so don't be surprised if it takes a while to get all its engine parts properly working.
23 March 2009
Rita reading
For those within driving distance of Bloomington, Rita Dove will be reading here on Wednesday. I plan to be there.
[by Land Mammal...]
[by Land Mammal...]
21 March 2009
'Sacrifice' at Harlem Stage
Composer-violinist Billy Bang and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa were deeply impacted by their military experiences during the Vietnam conflict, and both have created works that poignantly engage those experiences.
On Wednesday, April 1, these two artists will collaborate on Sacrifice: Meditations on the Vietnam Experience at Harlem Stage.
[continue there...]
On Wednesday, April 1, these two artists will collaborate on Sacrifice: Meditations on the Vietnam Experience at Harlem Stage.
[continue there...]
American sentence: "Dissent"
girlcott: deprive your boyfriend of sex till he buys you a diamond ring
20 March 2009
Teen students recite rhyme
There were eight contestants, three rounds of poetry. Stewart saved "If" for last. His voice boomed and fell, turning tender on the poem's final words, "You'll be a man, my son." His classmates - 50 of them - hooted and clapped, and a student from Dubé's school muttered, "He's fantastic. He's going to win."
He did - along with a girl from Mainland Regional High School in Linwood who offered a tear-provoking reading of "the mother," a poem about abortion by Gwendolyn Brooks. The two will compete, along with four students from central and northern New Jersey, in the state contest tomorrow in Trenton, where poetry will - for a few hours, anyway - be alive and at center stage.
"People who say poetry is dead are dead wrong," Stewart said. "Look at Maya Angelou. She's still doing her thing. There's a whole culture of poetry underneath our feet."
[continue there...]
He did - along with a girl from Mainland Regional High School in Linwood who offered a tear-provoking reading of "the mother," a poem about abortion by Gwendolyn Brooks. The two will compete, along with four students from central and northern New Jersey, in the state contest tomorrow in Trenton, where poetry will - for a few hours, anyway - be alive and at center stage.
"People who say poetry is dead are dead wrong," Stewart said. "Look at Maya Angelou. She's still doing her thing. There's a whole culture of poetry underneath our feet."
[continue there...]
18 March 2009
100% Honest Day
Honesty is the best policy. Yeah, right. Tell that to... too many names pop up at this. Never mind it, though. Let's play at being honest. 100% honest, this very Saturday. What with it being the first day of Spring and all.
I will be celebrating Norouz that day with family, eating Adas Pollo and drinking a nice red. Why not Australian Shiraz? But never mind that.
For Saturday, 21 March, place the Honesty badge in a post on your honest blog. By so doing, you will be inviting your honest readers to ask you an honest question each. And you swear by the skies of thunder that you will reply honestly.
Your fans are honest and good and knowledgeable enough not to ask unanswerable questions, of course. I will certainly place the badge in a post on Poéfrika, so come by and ask away. The askee has two "passes" ("no comments" in bloglese). If you can badge up a post before Saturday, by all means do so. That way we can all dream questions up, ha ha ha!
Dana did this last year and passed the torch to me. I'll be handing it to someone else for next year. Ha ha ha!
I will be celebrating Norouz that day with family, eating Adas Pollo and drinking a nice red. Why not Australian Shiraz? But never mind that.
For Saturday, 21 March, place the Honesty badge in a post on your honest blog. By so doing, you will be inviting your honest readers to ask you an honest question each. And you swear by the skies of thunder that you will reply honestly.
Your fans are honest and good and knowledgeable enough not to ask unanswerable questions, of course. I will certainly place the badge in a post on Poéfrika, so come by and ask away. The askee has two "passes" ("no comments" in bloglese). If you can badge up a post before Saturday, by all means do so. That way we can all dream questions up, ha ha ha!
Dana did this last year and passed the torch to me. I'll be handing it to someone else for next year. Ha ha ha!
15 March 2009
14 March 2009
Being all right with one's wealth
Happiness Index is the title of the four-part work he’s readying for Voices in Motion, Bodies That Sing, and although it doesn’t borrow directly from African music, it’s definitely inspired by the time that Hannan has spent in Lesotho, where his wife, Dr. Karen Stancer, mentors health-care workers dealing with AIDS.
"It’s, like, the poorest country in the world, with every problem that entails," Hannan explains, in a separate telephone interview. "But the thing that really struck me from being there is that people are no more or less happy or no more or less complaining than anyone I know here."
Inspired by their resilience, Hannan has composed a suite of four discrete songs. One is based on an unsettling conversation he had in Lesotho, during which he was asked if he "was all right" with the western world’s wealth.
[source...]
"It’s, like, the poorest country in the world, with every problem that entails," Hannan explains, in a separate telephone interview. "But the thing that really struck me from being there is that people are no more or less happy or no more or less complaining than anyone I know here."
Inspired by their resilience, Hannan has composed a suite of four discrete songs. One is based on an unsettling conversation he had in Lesotho, during which he was asked if he "was all right" with the western world’s wealth.
[source...]
13 March 2009
Oxford professor of poetry & Poetry laureate
The two most important positions in the British poetry establishment are about to be filled - and it looks likely, for the first time ever, that both incumbents will be women.
An announcement is expected in the next few weeks on the poet laureate to succeed Andrew Motion when he steps down in May. That same month, an election will be held to find a replacement for Christopher Ricks as the Oxford professor of poetry - a position held, variously, by Matthew Arnold, WH Auden and Seamus Heaney.
[continue there...]
An announcement is expected in the next few weeks on the poet laureate to succeed Andrew Motion when he steps down in May. That same month, an election will be held to find a replacement for Christopher Ricks as the Oxford professor of poetry - a position held, variously, by Matthew Arnold, WH Auden and Seamus Heaney.
[continue there...]
12 March 2009
10 March 2009
Reginald Shepherd Memorial Reading
With readings from Timothy Donnelly, Marilyn Hacker, Timothy Liu, Kevin Prufer, Evie Shockley, Susan Stewart and Yerra Sugarman.
Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7 PM
New York University, Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
58 West 10th St. (between 5th and 6th Avenues), NYC
A beloved and admired poet, critic and teacher, Reginald Shepherd (1963-2008) inspired many with his passionate commitment to poetry, an art he viewed as inextricably connected to history, politics and everyday life. Raised in housing projects in the Bronx, he went on to publish five collections of poetry, two anthologies and a collection of essays, Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry.
Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by Poets House and the New York University (NYU) Creative Writing Program.
[source...]
Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7 PM
New York University, Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
58 West 10th St. (between 5th and 6th Avenues), NYC
A beloved and admired poet, critic and teacher, Reginald Shepherd (1963-2008) inspired many with his passionate commitment to poetry, an art he viewed as inextricably connected to history, politics and everyday life. Raised in housing projects in the Bronx, he went on to publish five collections of poetry, two anthologies and a collection of essays, Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry.
Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by Poets House and the New York University (NYU) Creative Writing Program.
[source...]
9 March 2009
The end of love: meme
Hi, friends,
I enjoyed this poem today, and wanted to share it with you, by way of a meme. A technical meme, so to speak. There is only one question, but please provide two answers. The question is, "What makes this poem work?" Okay, other ways of asking the same question: Why is this a good poem (if you think it is)? What does the poet depend on to communicate? The answers shouldn't be like "because it talks about love" but more like because she whatever (uses what strategy? Gimmick? Tool?). We're looking for something without which Jill's poem would be less. OR, just tell us why you like/dislike the poem. But afterwards, please be kind enough to tag two other poets, so that we may continue to learn. And as I'm the initiator of this meme, I have the exclusive right to tag more than two poets.
:-)
A toi!
I would like to tag:
I enjoyed this poem today, and wanted to share it with you, by way of a meme. A technical meme, so to speak. There is only one question, but please provide two answers. The question is, "What makes this poem work?" Okay, other ways of asking the same question: Why is this a good poem (if you think it is)? What does the poet depend on to communicate? The answers shouldn't be like "because it talks about love" but more like because she whatever (uses what strategy? Gimmick? Tool?). We're looking for something without which Jill's poem would be less. OR, just tell us why you like/dislike the poem. But afterwards, please be kind enough to tag two other poets, so that we may continue to learn. And as I'm the initiator of this meme, I have the exclusive right to tag more than two poets.
:-)
A toi!
The End of Love
She remembered the day they had met
when they were young and different,
and she probed that moment
as she did all things until she was exhausted
by the what-if and whatnots and what would come to pass.
She saw her entire life pass
into all the objects in the house,
and she was reminded
of the familiarity of a full life as she had lived it:
the symmetry of color, of shapes so perfect
you didn't want to touch or disrupt
the arrangement; the orchestration of their bodies;
how they had grieved,
the quiet distillation of his essence,
filling her house with breaths
so unlike her own.
When it happened, it came as something inevitable,
without expectation, without notice,
with a life and force of its own,
changing everything, even the quality
of air they had grown to depend on,
and they hadn't known how to stop it,
and then she knew it wasn't the end,
it was only the beginning.
© Jill Bialosky
I would like to tag:
8 March 2009
Woman, are you crazy!
GOD LOVES LESOTHO
Author: Teresa
Filed under: Uncategorized
Saturday
Mar 7,2009
3/7/09
Today we had the privilege to speak at a church called River of Life There is a group of ladies who are called “Women in Evangelism”, who have been praying for their country for quite some time. When Jennifer shared her dream with them, they were moved to tears at the reality of how much God loves them. He loves them so much that He sent someone from across the world to tell them that He hasn’t forgotten them.
Isn’t it amazing that He would go to such great lengths to let them know He hears their crys? If you have ever thought God didn’t hear you, this is proof that He does. There is never one prayer that goes unheard, one tear shed that He doesn’t see. I am so moved by the fact that our God is never too busy to know exactly where we are and what we need.
Tomorrow we will be at the largest church in the country, where Jennifer will be speaking to the congregation, and I will have the opportunity to speak to the youth of the church. I am so excited to get to impart to them the importance of their generation to this country.
The whole country has such a pattern of immorality, hopelessness, and poverty mentality. This generation has the ability and the chance to change and make a difference, if they will rise up to the task. It won’t be easy, but it has to start somewhere. I pray that something I say will motivate them and stir up their hearts and give them the courage to be different.
[source...]
Is this person crazy or what? Is she talking about me and my people when she says, "The whole country has such a pattern of immorality, hopelessness, and poverty mentality"? What immorality? What hopelessness? What poverty mentality? Stay in a poor country and see how long you last. What's a poor country?
It's a country where the rains don't come and the earth is as hard as baked clay. It's a country where an epidemic is on the loose, in this case AIDS. It's a country that has been destroyed by a number of other things, among them bad politics, and a legacy of colonial rule. A poor country is a country where you survive only if you have hope, and if you do not succumb to what you call the poverty mentality. We have not, and that's why we're still alive on this baked mountain. And if it's not baked it's frozen.
"He loves them so much that He sent someone from across the world to tell them that He hasn’t forgotten them."
Are you out of your mind? God's love for my people is evidenced by the fact that Jennifer went to my country and shared her dream with us? Are you trying to insult our intelligence or what? I, too, have had dreams about America and Americans. If I travel to your town and share these dreams, and tell you I'm doing so as proof that God loves you, what are you going to think?
"The people of Lesotho have many resources but don’t seem to know how to put them to work. They have fertile land, cattle, water, diamond mines, etc., but they don’t have the mentality of making life better for themselves."
[source...]
Stuff like this pisses me off. They have fertile land. Soil erosion has taken away our fertile land, the one that remained after the English had given most of it, along the Mohokare River, to the Boers. In order to win our fertile land back from the elements, we are going to need resources and practically no other big battle (poverty, AIDS, drought, bad governance, etc) to fight. Our country is criss-crossed by dongas and rocky terrain, and they have fertile land?
We have water and diamond mines, that's correct. But have you ever done the math and determined how much of the revenue from these actually stays in Lesotho, for the Basotho? That's one of the big battles I mentioned above: bad governance. In your country, eight years of bad governance brought you to your knees, and you were already a strong economy that had resources and a vibrant financial life. Eight little years was all it took. And now the whole world is gasping.
No, it has little to do with whether or not we have the mentality of making life better for ourselves. That's an insult to our humanity and to our intelligence. And I demand an apology. It sounds to me like you see yourself as the all-knowing messenger sent by God to uplift this poor people that doesn't know how to care for itself, that is immoral, that is heathen, that doesn't know how to talk to God properly. We knew how to talk to God before your nation was born. If you want to go to my country to help the poor, by all means do so, but go with a spirit of respect and siblinghood. God doesn't love other people more than others.
Consider yourself lucky to have enough money to eat and to educate your loved ones properly -- do not think this is because you know how to talk to God, do not think it's because you're less immoral than others, do not think it's because you have the mentality to make life better for yourself. You were born into it, and someone else wasn't. If you had been born in a poor country into a poor family, you'd be poor and probably sick. As I respect your people, I want you to respect mine.
Komunyakaa's "Tree ghost"
I close my eyes & can still see
the three untouched mice dead
along the afternoon footpath.
The screeching nest is ravenous.
The mother's claws grab a limb.
Now, what I know makes me look down
at the ground. I can almost feel
how the owl's beauty scared the mice
to death...
[continue there...]
the three untouched mice dead
along the afternoon footpath.
The screeching nest is ravenous.
The mother's claws grab a limb.
Now, what I know makes me look down
at the ground. I can almost feel
how the owl's beauty scared the mice
to death...
[continue there...]
7 March 2009
Peace my heart
Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.
© Rabindranath Tagore
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.
© Rabindranath Tagore
How to write about Africa
Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.
In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn’t care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.
[continue there...]
Generously brought to my attention by Deb, the poet.
In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn’t care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.
[continue there...]
Generously brought to my attention by Deb, the poet.
5 March 2009
James's "The Book of Night Women"
Marlon James’s latest novel, The Book of Night Women, opens with an immediate ominous vibe as a much-too-young 13 year-old child dies giving birth to a green-eyed daughter (Lilith) in a dirty, old shack. Merge this unfortunate beginning with the hard living and harder dying on a late 18th century Jamaican sugar cane plantation populated with slaves named after characters portrayed in Greek tragedies and James delivers an intense novel steeped in history, mystery, with a touch of mysticism.
[continue there...]
[continue there...]
Look, Listen and Decide
(by Teboho Mahapa)
God gave us eyes to see,
To watch every step we take
To see everything around the world
To look and avoid bad things coming our way
Here is a message for you good parents
Let us look after our children,
Let us take care of our beloved children
They are the gifts that God gave us
Look how beautiful our children growing up together
They will bring the greatest changes in our land
If we stop poisoning their minds about the past
The past is the past, will never come back
Listen to the wind of advice
Asking you rapist to stop
You are destroying the future of our children
They are the Mandela’s and Suzeman’s of tomorrow
Ssshhh…. Listen to the cool wind of truth
Asking you cruel parents to stop abusing the children
They are the future of the world
The pillars of tomorrow
Wait a minute, listen to the wind from the north
Advising you to play safe
Aids generation must end now
We need a free HIV negative generation
When sleeping around please decide
Condoms are the key solution to safety
Aids will kill you parents
And leave your children behind as orphans
Please good parents let us decide correctly
The future of our children is in our hands
Whatever we decide
They must come first
Look, Listen and Decide
Kyk, luister en besluit
Bheka, lalela bese uthatha isiqumo
Tadima, mamela o nto nka qeto
The future of our children is in our hands
Die toekoms van ons kinders is in ons hande
Ikusasa lezingane zethu lise zandleni zethu
Bokamoso ba bana ba rona bo atleng tsa rona
© Teboho Mahapa
To watch every step we take
To see everything around the world
To look and avoid bad things coming our way
Here is a message for you good parents
Let us look after our children,
Let us take care of our beloved children
They are the gifts that God gave us
Look how beautiful our children growing up together
They will bring the greatest changes in our land
If we stop poisoning their minds about the past
The past is the past, will never come back
Listen to the wind of advice
Asking you rapist to stop
You are destroying the future of our children
They are the Mandela’s and Suzeman’s of tomorrow
Ssshhh…. Listen to the cool wind of truth
Asking you cruel parents to stop abusing the children
They are the future of the world
The pillars of tomorrow
Wait a minute, listen to the wind from the north
Advising you to play safe
Aids generation must end now
We need a free HIV negative generation
When sleeping around please decide
Condoms are the key solution to safety
Aids will kill you parents
And leave your children behind as orphans
Please good parents let us decide correctly
The future of our children is in our hands
Whatever we decide
They must come first
Look, Listen and Decide
Kyk, luister en besluit
Bheka, lalela bese uthatha isiqumo
Tadima, mamela o nto nka qeto
The future of our children is in our hands
Die toekoms van ons kinders is in ons hande
Ikusasa lezingane zethu lise zandleni zethu
Bokamoso ba bana ba rona bo atleng tsa rona
© Teboho Mahapa
4 March 2009
3 March 2009
Ahmed Barakat's "A small word"
I am going to the market
Please wait till I come back
You can wash your clothes if you get bored
And if the door disturbs you
Take it off
And put anything in its place
Please don’t leave your face inside the mirror
And then quit by the window
Don’t commit suicide as is your habit
But
Wait
For me
Till
I come back
© Ahmed Barakat
Translated from Arabic: 2004, Norddine Zouitni
[source...]
Please wait till I come back
You can wash your clothes if you get bored
And if the door disturbs you
Take it off
And put anything in its place
Please don’t leave your face inside the mirror
And then quit by the window
Don’t commit suicide as is your habit
But
Wait
For me
Till
I come back
© Ahmed Barakat
Translated from Arabic: 2004, Norddine Zouitni
[source...]
2 March 2009
Isobel Dixon's "The buried butterfly"
My iris purple skirt—
its silky swish—
was packed at first for partying in
but then the destination changed:
I checked in for a flight
towards his final journeying.
In that petal furl, with a beaded
butterfly to curb its wrap,
I helped to carry him,
a coffined husk,
across a patch of rocky ground
to dusty burying.
At last, a rest for him.
For me, the hollow pit of grief,
a body's emptying.
In a new uncompassed north
I dug a hole beneath a tree,
through softer soil. For memory,
these seeds: a bauble
and a photograph, snatched flowers,
the match's halo-ing.
There it must lie still
no longer winged:
just a scatter of beads melted
in the earth, and a rusted pin.
© Isobel Dixon
[source...]
its silky swish—
was packed at first for partying in
but then the destination changed:
I checked in for a flight
towards his final journeying.
In that petal furl, with a beaded
butterfly to curb its wrap,
I helped to carry him,
a coffined husk,
across a patch of rocky ground
to dusty burying.
At last, a rest for him.
For me, the hollow pit of grief,
a body's emptying.
In a new uncompassed north
I dug a hole beneath a tree,
through softer soil. For memory,
these seeds: a bauble
and a photograph, snatched flowers,
the match's halo-ing.
There it must lie still
no longer winged:
just a scatter of beads melted
in the earth, and a rusted pin.
© Isobel Dixon
[source...]
1 March 2009
Does Africa respect its writers?
Those with the ambition and talent to become authors are in a tiny minority in any part of the world, but should we be doing more in Africa to encourage such aspirations and to pay more respect to our great writers?
[continue there...]
[continue there...]
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