Hard-Working Bureaucrats [REVISED]

After talking about my sister’s Gatsby wedding
and sending my nephew inspirational quotes
on fatherhood, I’m bored - and there’s a text to
translate line by line; it’s warming up outside -

I’ve had my fun, bought a Mandela poster and
pink rose for the study at home, now headache
interferes with my ability to concentrate - after
a block of swiss chocolate and eating a packet

Of cheese-and-green-onion popcorn there’s no
turning back - even my miracle herbal tea can’t
stop this descent into Milton’s Paradise Lost; I
have been reading the meaning of periwinkle -

Littorina littorea, sea snail in vibrant violet blue -
the Snow Queen blue I had tried to bring into
my work-station and deposited on my son’s bed
in a beautiful violet-blue blanket: the very same

Son who kept us awake last night, running with
the dogs noisily while his parents, hard-working
bureaucrats, unsuccessfully tried to sleep - no
wonder I can’t keep my eyes open any more…

[30 September 2014]

Own Tribal Group [REV.]

I have such senseless work on my desk, an
analysis of the wrongs in the Congo and its
natural resources lost to the First World - I
still hear a Congolese General, a winsome
young man of twenty-four years - claiming
war is necessary & they’ll persevere, I still
find claims on the Internet that third world
countries made ungovernable is the best
way for crime to hold sway

And I still remember Congolese members
of Police claiming women should have12
kids at least - and then lament women are
not active in corporate environments such
as here in South Africa; how to make time
between labours and another baby to feed
I‘d like to know - if Congolese attitudes do
not change, I can’t see how they can bring
about peace, insisting only their own tribal
group should be governing…

[29 September 2014]

Frozen On The Threshold [REV.]

Our restlessly xenophobic Security Head locked
my drawers - that was in the office where he can
neither prevent nor solve crimes - so he justifies
his existence by victimising easy prey like me, a
mere language practitioner. Like our police, who,

Scared of real crime, persecute private citizens
for minor offences while taking bribes - already
recruited by the big, bad guys; like government
departments where chiefs pocket public money,
order little bureaucrats to account for each cent

Cutting funds for service provision - then go off
spending the now available money on meeting
and eating - all kinds of hedonistic fun and not
heeding a need for strict stoicism and spartan
sacrifice - only ever experiencing immediate

Gratification of sensory desires, so any future
must take care of itself while they live in super-
large Zen-Buddhism’s now; Heidegger dancing
for joy to see how the African continent applies
Phenomenology – little did he realise Africa

Would be his most devoted fan in the end - and
Nietzsche must be holding lectures in the sky
about his Wille Zur Macht being a guideline for
South Africa, the youngest imitation democracy,
where the African locusts are happily united in

Appropriating and destroying everything created
& usurped by Colonial Powers; Africa’s purpose
is a return to their roots in a continuous present
tense, living an eternal Arab Spring that never
blooms into a Democratic African Summer - so

The Tibetan Prayer Wheels can turn adding to a
reservoir of time while Africa stays frozen on the
threshold of life in an insatiable desire to devour
itself before anyone else can do it to them again

[29 September 2014]

Eternal Silence

Been on leave for 3 days - saw elephants, giraffes
and hippopotami in their natural state, floated in a
splash pool - like a mermaid - to escape dry heat
and even drier trees as well as grey elephant grass

Enjoyed freedom to be bored and think my own
thoughts, now back in reality and being assured
my conversation unwelcome unless I stick to the
list of acceptable subjects – well, with emotion

And sentiment forbidden, I feel more depressed –
but in no way can express this; after unpacking I
came to the study where strings of sea-shells and
rose perfume await, pink flowers against curtains

Imitation dewdrop strings in transparent enchantment
against the windows, a pink fairy on a tree stump and
sliver glitter on white scarves reflecting the light ever
so slightly, two miniature mermaids in Delft blue on

A mirror, an elf with purple wings and another fairy
restored after breaking both her legs; thus the effect
of curtains in brown and beige negated I can rest my
mind in my own lair – yes, I feel negative and shall

Drink herbal tea to improve and yes, a throbbing head-
ache is developing so let me attend to these and stop
feeling like a martyr - and preserve the eternal silence
that keeps everyone happy in my vicinity…

Lost At Sea

We are leaving on holiday and Quasimodo has
taken over, my hunchback is the result of over-
eating, the mirror reveals swollen eyes and face
I ate party food the past weekend – but why do I
have to resemble a codfish or halibut?

And I feel so frustrated - what on earth is wrong in
my subconscious because in reality everything’s
fine - I made my peace with being unbalanced - I
used to think– but now I’m not so sure, why should
Quasimodo take over at a time like this?

He looks terrible in my clothes and I feel terrible with
his mind, all messed-up and lost, wish I could regain
my own mind - lost at sea and I’ve lost the frequency
to make contact with it…

Simply Is No End [REV.]

Happy co-existence is based on universal
respect anchored in full freedom to learn
personally - no force-feeding of inherited
concepts nor deification of ideas; peace
requires only one thing, sharing freedom
to investigate everything using our own

Utility criteria - not whether something is
true, or impossible to prove, but whether
I’m empowered to do what I choose; thus
awareness of loving & intelligent energy
is enhanced & vitalised such it agreeably
reinforces mind, body and spirit

This curriculum of freedom & respect will
be effective when we have fun living life as
a journey where ideals are but stops along
the way of inspiration & delight; there simply
is no end to consciousness as electro-
magnetic energy which will forever

Be aware - spiralling into eternity…

[22 September 2014]

The Whole Wide World [REV.]

While Spanish Harlem plays I know everything is
fine - like Spiritualists say; I feel in control washing
and cleaning in the kitchen holding life in my hands,
conviction’s bright in sun dancing on net curtains,
happiness is the process of polishing all surfaces,
and packing away extra cutlery

Anxiety threatened reading Sunday’s news until
I remembered nothing’s ever gone wrong - from
isolation with threatening ideals of sad and lonely
excellence; we now mix the dreams of all peoples,
it is the legacy of our beloved Madiba - Mandela,
opening an isolated group, the only white tribe

Of Africa - subdued by past colonial regimes - to
the rest of the world, teaching culture is nought,
it’s the heart and mind that counts; now we share
gems  inherited from fiercely fighting forefathers
who lost their independence in uprisings against
the Cape-Dutch & Britain in 2 decimating wars,

In the understanding we cherish as we send our
children to all nations; after two hundred years
of isolation leaving us without a fatherland - we
represent Africa - and we share our treasure of
wisdom with the whole wide world…

[21 September 2014]