Goodbye My Little Go-Kart

I am turning into a mawkish person, childishly
sentimental – or have I always been like this -
I do not like change, my little car is too small
we have to say goodbye to the go-kart I love
so much, heartbroken over my nifty, zippy car
too impractical, Nici wants to take her big
alarm clock and teddy bears on holiday

I want to bring back shells from the side, hubby
wants to pack indigenous plants, there goes my little
dinky toy car and I am sad, maybe a few tears shed
in private will release the pressure in my heavy heart
Joseph cried resounding sobs in Pharaoh's palace, I shall
follow his example, Biblical history inspires me
if not always for the right reasons

Goodbye to my little go-cart, your mawkish owner will
miss you, fare thee well, I loved you so much, always
felt adventurous racing about while singing at the top
of my voice - Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam and
Unto Thee Oh Lord

- Now an ice-cold white predator with a cavernous boot
is waiting in the garage to swallow my self-confidence
when I cannot see over the dashboard to drive...

Wordsmith [wsmith@wordsmith.org]
Mawkish - adjective: Excessively sentimental,
especially in a childish manner

Sacred Feeling Of Dutiful Stupidity

Blessed all my documents with required
indication they exist, entered them into a
list without deleting calculating codes
indicating page and word average on
a daily basis

It is an abomination when a paper is left
without official identification, date of arrival,
date entrusted to my loving care, date sent
to production line for standardization, date
returned to client, date saved by e-filing

Data entry into calculating lists is my
favourite activity, the 99% black matter of
the universe consists of invisible background
administration, the big bang leftover radiation
germinating new procedures

In every unfolding moment of life-sustaining
time I joyously treasure each document, a
sacred feeling of dutiful stupidity permeating
everything, I have no existential fear while safely
ensconced in a web of official lists determining

every moment of my being, each step I take
as a calculation automatically carried out by
artificial intelligence of Excel documents
humans will never feel abandoned again
in a lonely malevolent universe

With artificial intelligence plotting their life
course for them!

On A Bright White Beach

To my great chagrin I have to admit
the only person who made use of
Tiaan’s hospital bed was I, the sorely
tried mother, when hubby found my
black humour and attempts to look at
the bright side less than savoury

I gave up and stretched out for a needed
rest in that emergency room where people
with short-cropped hair walked up and down
while all the rest stood about, looking forlorn
and staring into the distance - I am sure I
did the looking forlorn extremely well

In the X-ray department I paged through two
magazines intended to alleviate the boredom
of a rich, bored, pampered, idiotic woman
with so much time on her hands that she
crochets covers for her water tumblers
embroiders her handbag

Pasting beads and gift paper on tissue boxes
and wastepaper baskets, makes idiotic dishes
for superficial friends who arrive en masse
and hang around on a windowed terrace
looking out on a bright white beach, men
wearing blinding white suits

All hanging around sipping blue concoctions
that look extremely unpleasant and suspicious!

Theatre Of The Absurd

No need to visit a concert hall
to experience theatre of the
absurd; went with Tiaan and
broken collarbone to hospital
emergency

They monitored vital signs to
ascertain he was still alive
we went into a small ward
waited for a nurse to put his
arm in a sling

Another hour - doctor arrives
sends us to X-rays, an hour
the process is done, an hour
and doctor sends him home
with pain medication

Another wait for a check-up
appointment, in the end, I
the sorely tried patient’s
mother, collapses upon his
hospital bed…

Spy Girl Of Highest Principle

Life is really getting better and better
as seen in the entertainment industry
James Bond has been replaced by a new
nerdy hero who stands for integrity in
everything, big-time cons hang on to
family values

The main spy is a girl of highest principle
we delight in watching this series, replacing
the old blasé and immoral James Bond who
believed the end justifies the means, the latest
pantheon of hero’s believe the means becomes
the end, therefore

They always act with deference to love and loyalty,
popular culture is a clear indication of what people
do to create a better world, leaving intellectuals and
academics behind, entertainment follows where the
people lead, now I dream of being a character in the
new series

Filled with new ideals!

Practicing Being A Queen

Reading the greatest love story ever
elevates my mind and gives me such
high ideals, I float about the house
smiling lovingly at the kids, insist on
giving Tiaan the odd hug, hugging Nici
constantly, imagining I am as good and
kind as the heroine

Since we imitate those we read about
especially those we admire, it is just as
well to choose great examples to emulate
you can be so glad you are far away, you
would have received your share of godly
hugs, poor Martin ducks and dives all the
time to stay clear of my tentacles

He claims he is busy and in a professional
mood - while I am practicing being a queen!

Miraculous To Be Here

We are a production line, difficult for me
to learn how to become a brick in the wall
learn to live 1984 without original thought
no innovation, following procedures, trans-
lation as automatic, for every term there
is a context-based rule

Translation principles are inviolate, cold
menacing words without rhythm, rhyme
or melody rendered in a prescribed way
though painful working in line, I am staying
the course because I love my colleagues
as friends, try to fathom their pain

Official group effort produces standardised
translations, if government officials cannot
accept that, they cannot stay in production
Simone Weil stuck with her factory job, I am
trying the same though my over-active mind
causes me pain

The friends and life experience I have gained
give meaning to life, it is worth all sacrifice to
learn how to socialise, learn loyalty and trust
to some it comes naturally, it cost me a lot
of sweat and blood, it is miraculous to be
privileged enough to be here…


George Orwell: “1984”

http://www.rivertext.com/weil2.html

Simone Weil was born in Paris in 1909
into an affluent close-knit family. She quit
teaching to work and live for a year at the
lowest level of the French factory system –
as an unskilled woman worker. She did
piece-rate factory work and because she had
poor manual dexterity and an over-active
mind she could not work efficiently enough
to pay rent and buy sufficient food.