My Life Is Charmed [REV.]

Second day without the medication and hallelujah,
I can see; so-long-out-of-focus eyes made me feel
like a blind and useless person, couldn’t read well
enough to interpret terms and lines - as such I felt
unwelcome in the office as affected vision made it
impossible to think coherently –

Today I felt like a new being, safe in my own space
where work made sense; it was beyond description
trying, unable to see the text, to translate - - surely
hell on earth, now I’m a justified human being with
the right to a job- I hate medication that makes me
blind, it’s too overpowering - as if I’m a

Criminal posing as translator; the only way to deal
with it is to be a spy doing reconnaissance with a
fake crutch, actually a gun, moon-boot filled with
killing devices; relating my fantasies to people in
the lift and when they laugh uproariously it seems
my life is charmed…

[30 October 2014]

Lifted Unto Heaven [REV.]

Even ifI’m not the most brilliant person
I have ever met - and why should I be,
what difference would it make to me –
content in the ice-blue square of cloth
stretching from me to my screen, to my
right pink roses in a vase complemented
by a place-mat in a periwinkle blue

To my left silver glitter on purple wings,
a silver mask and white flowers, Villette
recreated with Charlotte Brontë posing
as "Lucy Snowe" on the glass rectangle
of imitation ice, fairy and snow flake on
a coloured stone - my new white kettle
elevated to the table

Lifted the plug up to my desk & covered
it with small roses to pose a real fire risk
I secretly hope - interesting to find out; a
flower basket in front of yellowed autumn
leaves, a bright green cloth covering the
cooler, notepaper with Marie Antoinette
and parasol, walking her dog

One large transparent rose next to a text
on fragile countries while I surf beyond the
multiverse by means of the web, I love my
little paradise where the song is clear; my
injured foot feels better and I’m humbled
by providence for bringing me here even
though frustration will interfere

And pull me down, the wonder of it all lifts
my soul, with the Moonlight Sonata playing
in my ears I’m lifted unto heaven…

[30 October 2014]

Rest In Peace [Rev.]

I have my new James Bond movie role
down pat, I’ll be the old crone acting as
Doctor No’s disciple; so when the bullet
is fired to kill the invincible James, he’ll
use me as a shield

As his enemy is readying to fire, ‘Sean
Connery’ James will first see all in the
mirror, turning me to take the full blow
while he bows low & flees this venue
on his way to tryst with another Lady

Fair; then using my crutch as a gun to
slay the bandits - James will run off to
more adventure, romance, a deep-sea
dive, another life, blowing a gracious
kiss to my body deceased

And thus I shall then rest in peace


[Original:]

I have my new James Bond movie role
down pat, I'll be the old crone acting as
a disciple of Doctor No, when the bullet
is fired to kill the invincible James, he'll
use me as a shield

As his enemy is getting ready to fire the
first Sean Connery-James will see all in
a mirror and turn me to take the full blow
while he bows low and flees the venue to
go for another tryst

With a lady fair, after using my crutch as a
gun and shooting the bandits, James will
blow my dead body a kiss and run to more
adventure and romance, another deep-
sea dive, another life

While I shall rest in peace

Death’s Embrace [Rev.]

There is so much I don’t know and can’t
do & learning it is boring, I would rather
gouge out my own eyes & then run my
head into a wall - leave reality to go to
an astral dimension with new horrors

Reading emotionless, boring lines with-
out relief; scrying endless paragraphs
without intense passion and feeling is
being buried alive, I look at legal lines
as they should have been, realise that

Reading cardboard sentences & feeling
inferior is all that’s left in my future so I
pray for an immediate death - long as
my family’s financially secure the rest
does not matter at all while being in

Death’s endless embrace…

Identify New Perspectives

To be extraneous at work, listen to voices
proclaiming the overwhelming amount of
work, knowing I’m the cause of my own non-
participation, see my inability to string vivid
sentences in legal parlance as I translate
into Afrikaans, knowing I contribute nothing
to the excellence produced in the assembly
lines - is unnerving, especially when

Checking my own work and losing faith in
everything I said, changing every sentence
until a mutilated document bleeds profusely
in front of me – my spirit failing until I read
the encouraging words – tell the story of your
life as you want it to be – meaning I should
tell of my strength, enthusiasm and delight
in little things, the beautiful prospect of

Contributing to solving the civil service fragility
in African states, my determination to stream-
line every sentence, my dream of writing some-
thing stirring to energise my compatriots, to
pinpoint problems and help solving them or
identify new perspectives and indicate new
leads to create a new form of being where
individuals accept they create their own

Worlds - and can change them also

[29 October 2014]

A Spy Novel

Reading a Second World War Spy Novel,
each time a likeable character dies, a hot
flush of angered annoyance stops me and
I throw the book aside to stumble back into
reality with unfocused eyes - feeling bitter
about such an unjust course of events

What a waste of feeling, spending energy on
fiction: shamanistic  reading - thus feeling too
much in reaction to the images conjured in my
mind - ideas with a life of their own - what an
impediment, to think I spent my youth reading
books instead of living unrestricted and free

Oh well, without Internet access thus unable
to correctly check my translation, I’ll continue
reading as the worst of these reactions is over,
easily evoked emotional turmoil is the bane of
my existence and a huge drawback, even plain
conversation can present all kinds of pitfalls

I wish for a children’s book or a humorous spoof
like changing a cat into a superman to fight with
a phantom then lick milk in smart society; these
happy images shall replace all the dark feelings
engendered by negative incidents marking my
my physical life - I’m always busy rewriting

The Chem In my head, the thoughts and feelings
that guide every step…

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

Nearly reached the end of my book on the
Second World War, a spy overwhelmed by
the odds and finally giving in to his feelings
just to be betrayed by the woman he loved

She never gave him the chance to redeem
himself; she was in the wrong, as a spy he
was habitually fearful and only killed when
he had to save his skin for serving his own

Country of origin - but this foolish woman
chose her boorish, nasty husband to him,
she owed the spy so much, yet preferred
to sell him out, no respect for the softer

Sweet side of his psyche, she owed him
her allegiance after all he’d done for her,
yet preferred to judge him, though should
have judged her own countrymen; this is

The reason I don’t like reading the fiction
concocted by authors who don’t want to
redeem fallen characters - it could have
been a new start for the spy but NO

It became a tale of deception, the spy
killed again and suffered her rejection

A Zulu Kingdom [REV.]

A country destroyed before by the moral bankruptcy of
a totalitarian regime’s stupidity committing suicide as
their “Reigning Party” was held more sacrosanct than
the happy co-existence of nations within its borders

After their ignominious political death, a depleted legacy
was bequeathed to Mandela’s ANC before his memory
was besmirched, his reconciliation wisdom rejected in corruption and immoral, unlimited plundering

Today this country is an autocratic Zuma-Zulu kingdom
with henchmen destroying the beauty and wealth of the
breathtakingly beautiful land - repeating the totalitarian
history of treating subjects as puppets to bow under

Such primitive kingship without insight or understanding,
oblivious to the need for employment, creating a welfare
state without providing good schools, taxes seen as the
personal wealth of the Zulu King, his many wives & kids

State funds irresponsibly depleted by the locusts living
under an uninformed reigning corps unable to learn and
bring wise leadership to government; a lost corps which
contains the seed of its own destruction - their end

Will come when suffering subjects reject the yoke of the
marauding, greedy fools failing to fathom what corruption,
equality, human rights and democracy mean, believing a
‘free market’ the equivalent of slavery legitimised …

A Mirror [REV.]

Why is it some try to pull the wool over our eyes,
abuse people to the face expecting them to buy
into the game, acting less respect, consideration,
claiming the term ‘love’ used accords freedom to
insult - adding they believe once it is bespoke -
people then forfeit right to privacy, but no right to
withhold privilege to whoever uses it?

It’s good to know that the world contains all sorts,
everyone’s free to decide where they will fit and
what is thus described is fun; the speaker made
what he means easy to understand as he loudly
proclaimed himself simpleton, demanded people
accept him when the word love is used even if
he has such bad manners, breaches etiquette,
destroys all possible rules of protocol

Rational people will turn away, find others they
can relate to, it’s a clever test helping observers
decide who they are seeing in this mirror held
up to them - when I saw the distortions I had to
laugh, turn away; the speaker claimed affection
for people calling them fools & spitting on ‘em,
surely a spoof unless the speaker’s deranged,
in which case I’ll not wait to see the tragic end…


[ORIGINAL:]

Why do some try to pull the wool over our eyes,
why abuse people to their face and expect them
to buy into the game, acting without respect and
consideration, claiming that using the term ‘love’
accords freedom to insult people, adding they do
believe that once the magic term ‘love’ has been
spoken it is a token people forfeit right to privacy,
no right to refuse privilege to whoever uses it?

It’s good to know that the world contains all sorts,
everyone’s free to decide where they will fit in and
what is described above is fun, the speaker made
it easy to understand what he means as he loudly
proclaims himself a simpleton, demanding people
accept him when the word love is used even when
he has such bad manners breaking etiquette while
destroying all possible rules of protocol

Rational people will turn away and find others they
can relate to, it’s a clever test helping observers to
decide who they are looking into this mirror held up
to them - when I saw the distortions shown I had to
laugh and turn away; the speaker claimed affection
for people while spitting & calling them fools, surely
it’s a spoof, unless the speaker’s deranged, in which
case I’ll not stick around to see the tragic end...

Mud Of Deception [REV.]

The scammer took an article about quantum
physics, married it to home-spun spiritualism
based on superficial, misleading perceptions
of what is possible and why, then filled it with

Idiotic pedagogical lore in a sales pitch selling
“Belief In Belief to Grow Rich Easily”, a con to
gullible marks saying Thinking they can do &
have what they want - buys it, & by the way

“Start contributing to get this wonderful news
out there” - this salesman believes he can get
money for nothing by exploiting stupid people
yet he’s been unable to transform himself into

A good author nor has his belief in belief been
able to change him into a person exemplifying
with integrity ends do NOT justify means - but
then, why would he seek moral improvement

When wanting to make money for nothing by
exploiting anyone dense enough to fall for his
tricks? He doesn't add a clause you won’t get
what you wish for if its not right for you - as

Decided by salesmen who want you believe
angels grow from sows - while standing by as
graphic illustrations of pigs who never change
into anything as they revel - rolling in the

Mud of deception…

[26 October 2014]


[ORIGINAL:]

Angel From a SowA money-making-scam con took an article about
quantum physics, married it to some home-spun
spiritualism based on a superficial and misleading
understanding of what is possible and why - then

Filled the piece with idiotic pedagogical lore in an
awful sales article, selling “Belief In Belief to Grow
Rich Easily”, telling gullible idiots just by “Thinking”
they can do and have anything they wish for - and

By the way “Start contributing to get this wonderful
news out there” – this salesman knows he can get
money for nothing by exploiting stupid people - yet
he has not been able to transform himself into a -

Good author nor has his belief in belief been able to
change him into a person with integrity - who knows
the end does NOT justify the means – but then, why
would he want to seek for moral improvement when

All he really wants is to make money for nothing by
exploiting anyone dense enough to fall for his tricks,
he forgets to add the clause that you won’t get what
you wish for if it is not right for you - determined by

Salespeople who want you to believe you can grow
an angel from a sow while standing there in illustration
of pigs who never change into anything as they revel
while rolling in the mud of deception…

[24 October 2014]

Masochistic Punishment [REV.]

Motivation, inspiration lost, moon-boot
animosity towards box underneath my
desk serving as the throbbing,  injured
left-foot rest, did my best, yet haven’t
kept my head - feeling overwhelmed

My beloved document lost its allure in
a war for comfort, work station’s a mess,
kettle short-circuited, dirty mugs and cups
proclaiming me a hobo in a dirty den - I’ll
have to clean up before I can work again

Now its been done; the offensive footrest
box got worse and the black moon-boot
sock still escaped purgatory but I breathe
in peace now while venting my frustration
WHY did this thing ever happen to me

One guru complacently declares I did it to
myself as a deserved form of masochistic
punishment for my sin of judging another
person - without knowing anything about
them, unaware of the log in my own eye

While focusing on an imagined splinter in
the eye of another, whose life is not mine
to judge - and I’m sorry...

[23 October 2014]

Hark Unto Her History [Rev.]

Incautiously moving things about - taking
down a miniature mermaid she breaks; I
keep broken figurines zealously as they
have symbolic value for me: just as life

Breaks us where we’re rigid & unbending
so we can increase in strength, choosing
to grow more beautiful OR become bitter
and vindictive - my figurines illustrate this

Allegory in the way I fix them; I glued her
upper part to her fish-tail today & returned
her to the goblin, pink fairy and miniature
mermaid companion - the pink fairy has

Been broken also - I added glitter where
she’s been patched and there she shone
brighter perfectly illustrating how we can
increase inner beauty from our wounds

Or choose to grow bitter in disillusionment
when using false expectations, based on
symbolical and interpretative fairytale and
allegory, to make sense of inter-subjective

Experience; my little mermaid turned out a
fragile, ethereal  beauty becoming a willing
illustration of courage and strength - -  for
everyone ready to hark unto her history

[20 October 2014]

Camouflage Me

Enthralled by programmes on aquatic life -
sun fish swim upside down when they wish,
camouflaged rock-fish precision-jump thus
devour prey at lightning speed; you will not
stop to listen to my aquatic praise-song

Your Holy Grail quest is fixing and currently
the lawn has your attention  - while I stare at
aggressive rock crabs, elephant fish & coral
reefs called ‘rainforest of the ocean deep’ &
island chains covered with breeding polyps

A whale is a swimming compass travelling
with accuracy, seeing salmon carried up-
ward by spiralling air currents to conquer
waterfalls, macaw apes eating sea-weed,
the colourful mantis shrimp with great

Ultra-violet light eye-sight; the variety of life
astounding - like the flashy Spanish Dancer
sea slug; my torn-ligament foot in the heavy
Moon Boot forgotten in brilliant camouflage
explained by the Chladni vibrations within

The environment shaping the colours and
patterns of plants & animals, here’s hoping
that my vibrating world will camouflage me
as Pea-Blossom with wings to fly outside &
experience nature’s enchantment myself

[19 October 2014]

Fools Like Me

You reached the end of your nursing skills,
one request too much, a damned demand
and you’ve had enough - from now on it is
doing things myself though you berate me
when I move too much since it will stymie
improvement of ligaments - yet

No offer of help is made, while you were out
I moved about on a chair - now you’re back,
determined to be the provider but cursing as
maintenance jobs go wrong, you love in your
own way and it requires me to be indepen-
dent hobbling about on a crutch

The heavy moon boot in place changing my
left leg into a dead weight - BUT your finer
qualities outweigh your inability to have
sympathy with the injuries suffered by
clumsy fools like me…

[18 October 2014]

Moon Boot Love

Watching TV like a zombie, can't make
sense of this event, this accident with
badly torn left-foot ligaments, grade 3
the radiologist said; now I'm the proud
possessor of a moon-boot imprisoning
my  foot, a device from hell indeed - last
night I couldn't sleep - this heavy thing
making me a throbbing prisoner

I took the boot off, bare foot elevated
on pillows without blankets felt cool &
no swelling this morning - my beloved
insists wear the boot or it'll be surgery
to fix ligaments: perched on the couch
throbbing moon-boot-leg in the air but
after loosening Velcro straps this pain
subsides and the zombie's watching

TV again, safe in a moon-boot cocoon 
trying to find the happy mental channel
filled with love and peace, preparing
for non-physical by grooming my mind -
testing whether golden love bubbles to
the surface, yes, it does, I can trust
all I love, the universe in my head
will always exist, leading me

To my loved ones right after death…

Beautiful And Clever

Beautiful And Clever [Rev.]
America protects its freedom beautifully, such
as the freedom to employ uneducated people
as chattels when they are properly informed,
'Working in this slaughter-house means YOU
will be slaughtered, sharing the animals fate,
fair's fair" if these sheepish people still prefer
jobs in stinking death-dealing assembly lines,
it was of their INFORMED choice

Freedom's defence allows people rights to
exploit each other, spurn unsafe work places
aware what happens there, free to PREFER
starvation to maiming and death; as long as
desperate illegal aliens will work anywhere
at a small wage, knowing full well risk and
injury will be their end, they only earn while
working and that's it - finis -

Employers should be free to shoot injured
workers & dump them in mass graves so
they won't become a burden to themselves
or anyone else - freedom is being free of
problems - since Americans can have as
many guns and ammunition as we please,
we should shoot whoever gets in our way -
let me sing the joys of freedom and plead
for more, to shoot all idiots injured in the

Assembly line, remove them from the gene
pool so we become free to let only the
beautiful and clever procreate!

Open Slaughter

Found a website explaining problems with
American slaughterhouses America the vile
whose politicians, their wives & the biggest 
companies profit by subjecting powerless
workers to inhuman conditions, ensuring
through legislation workers sign waivers to
renounce all rights to medical attention

Slaughterhouse companies covering up all
accidents, big-wigs destroying the humane
businesses - now assembly-line work means
one person doing the same thing repeatedly
until they drop with permanent aches, with
injuries - sharp knives and saws wielded by
tired assembly line workers; staff turnover:

A new workforce each year as employees
succumb to fumes washing bloody tanks -
the assembly-line never stopping and the
carcasses coming even when the slicer with
an electric saw falls as his platform crashes -
no legal protection, America-the-vile, using
capitalism to deny trade unions, growing rich

On the toil of the weak; immigrants, illiterate
and powerless - American legislation's evil
where slaughterhouse cost is concerned - Is
Africa so much worse when the wars are openly
fought - not by exploiting workers until they
drop with injuries, but in honest conflict -
corruption in civil service SO visible, NOT

Protected and hidden by American laws which
favour politicians' profit, owning a stake in the
slaughterhouse companies - why complain when
South Africa's President Zuma says "corruption"
is a Western concept applicable in the Western
paradigm only - because it's true, American laws
are more corrupt than African potentates are

In seizing power: While America hypocritically
poses as human rights defendant then ignoring
violations in their own country - as long as big
slaughterhouses make a profit and they have
enough meat to eat - ignorant of the fate of
those forced to lose their health in producing
it: the grand cut or a hamburger on the grill…

[14 October 2014]

Wearing a Quiff [Rev.]

Wearing a quiff - quite by chance, hairspray
and wet hair combined Forming a cowlick at
the sides - with allergy-red cheeks I look like
a third-rate performer in a sleazy vaudeville
company - resembling a clown when I smile
with a face puffy from eating chocolate and
eating slabs with divine caramel fillings, so
good it makes me fly - though I crash down
with a loud noise & my colleagues lose their
hard-worn poise and rush to see my demise
as I sit in misery - not actually, of course -

It is a scene in my Civil Service Opera which
has already deteriorated to a vaudeville also
my scenes are macabre, phantasmagorical:
civil servants in masks chasing each other
citing statutes with lugubrious faces, getting
ready to slaughter each other with axes, then
turning en masse running outside to terrorise
ordinary citizens, demand extortionate fees
for the privilege to breathe, a street of people
running and screaming, save us from these
Civil Servants foaming at the mouth while

Blubbering about Regulations, Decrees and
Laws, demanding that we greet each other
in Fanagalo or Esperanto, ipso facto - any-
thing but your mother tongue, Arabic will be
fine and Chinese will do, Chinese too - as
long as nobody understands you - then the
demented Civil Servants fall down, the spell
that held them in thrall broken while the evil
Dr No bursts into devilish laughter - I don’t
know what happened to this poem, let me
continue translating and return to it later,

Maybe the quiff’s affecting my senses…

[14 October 2014]

Content With Small Things [Rev.]

Central air-con replaced by the buzz of a
myriad mobile units & the heat is  intense,
spraying water and enjoying the soft mist
of coolness, the advantage of buzzing in
the open-plan office is immense:

 Its rushing sound like the gentle surf of the
sea muffles other human noise, I no longer
need a screen of super-loud music to drown
out the drone of a harsh voice - I’m starting
to like all my colleagues – there’s hope we

Might be in a ‘comprehension gestalt’ where
we shall realise our Oneness with Everything;
well, this is debatable as Seth’s visions sound
like fantasy - do we really only focus on every
Xth moment in material reality while our

Consciousness continuously traverses infinite
dimensions and our awareness keeps turning
like a gyroscope constantly moving through All-
That-Is, yet Ego only knows small units of time
in order to be content with small things-

At this point Ego forces me to stop looking at
Infinity and return to my translation of pain in
the Congo; wish I were there to find solutions
to their immediate problems - now Ego gets
angry: PERFECT words are waiting to be

Found like abandoned pearls, polished and
presented in context; no golden rings in pig
snouts allowed where meanings as precise
as perfectly straight lines between concept
and symbol is created, no matter what else

Happens in different planes; I sigh, Yes Master,
Thy will be done - then brighten up: only for as
long as my mind’s in this plane, I believe we’re
travelling through MANY planes at once & my
mind’s gyroscoping freely - far from Thee!

[Illustrations: Gyroscopes] 

A Spartan Study [Revised]

I relinquish the study without regret, or
not much; the bare, dark wooden tops
& ochre curtain’s scene lightened only
by seashells hanging in the window -
you happy in clean, minimalist space

No scattered scarves, draped runners;
I moved my pink flowers, figurines and
cut glass crystal - my favourite things -
away for your convenience, you allow
me a red chair & computer; I said

I prefer watching TV & seeing the sun
in the garden while I type, determined
not to be miserable in a -bare study in
brown; watching: Season 12  “Strictly
Come Dancing” my distinct advantage

You prefer silence in a Spartan study

Forfeiting Their Right [Rev.]

As I read the history of the Afrikaans tribe in
Africa my ideas came full circle; they’d fled
colonial power & survived British wars just
to turn into bullies - submerging Africa in a
hundred years of their own, worse than

Slavery, suppression - forfeiting rights to
custodianship of freedom given the non-
respect revealed for human rights of other
races, they were spared a bloodbath by
Nelson Mandela & ANC; African leaders

Today need hurdle 500 years of colonial
oppression & 100 years of intense hatred
against them; where can their integrity &
intelligence derive - where should they
obtain land & possessions: the previous

Regime’s men appropriated farms, built
railway lines to their own production units -
today they complain about Government?
What did they do to prepare our brethren
for governing this country - where are the

Colleges to teach African students about
public service and moral integrity, all they
ever saw were human-right infringements -
an immoral State taking everything away?
Boer British concentration camp survivors

Showed no mercy to African peoples, yet
were forgiven - let them help bring about
a new age instead of condemning growth
of our stumbling, beautiful democracy…

Chained To Confused Statutes [REV.]

Fictional employees feasting on public funds
in failing fragile Africa - at least our database
is stable; I’ve never entered Charlotte Brontë,
my nostalgic doll, nor Jane Austen, my sweet
doll, nor a Snow Maiden figure, Snegurochka
she is called, very recent in the fictitious cast
of characters in my head - nor the loveable

Little Alien Pest hanging from rafters above -
nor any others who spend time with me in the
office, i.e., the 2 miniature wooden dolls - as
government employees; - my confident stride
stalled by a litany of ills besetting government
service in the Congo, my heart bleeds, how to
reform a Public Service of officials left to their

Own survival devices for too long, fabricating
cases as they were paid so little if at all - how
to coax them to relinquish & suffer even more?
I can’t fathom how to save a country from itself,
wish for a way to help them without hurting the
fragile cadres chained to their very confused
and broken old statutes…

[10 October 2014]

Those Knowing The Drill [Rev.]

The question is - can a yodeller be a government
employee, a troubadour in the ranks, on the stairs,
in the open-plan office - combating noisy auxiliary
personnel conversation? And the answer is - yes,

me - I’m that yodelling troubadour who practices
on the stairs, sings in an open-plan office, throws
caution to the wind & matches rising noise levels
with a rendition of “Yo-de-le-di-da-dil-dee” - plus

the hiccupping that’s part of its charm, or its lack;
they can film the National Language Service with
confidence as we’re noisy, happy & dedicated to
deliver hi-quality, correct, checked & researched

work merged with proven texts for Government
Departments - our loud discussions of weddings
disrupted by 3-year-old toddlers and my beloved
being unloving without intent and the dire lack of

three quotations for a sworn Chinese document
ought to be as interesting as nonsense I see on
sitcoms, no fear of boredom or repetition, we’re
original enough in complaints about half-yearly

assessments when we’ve been given but three
documents to translate, it will keep audiences
fascinated - so, let me stop right here, this will
bore quite a few I think - especially

those knowing the drill…

[10 October 2014]

Love To Be Here [REV.]

Fairy wings and a glittering white mask,
many hues of roses pink, my Charlotte
Brontë doll with her gentle expression
sitting against a background  blue cloth
next to my computer with shiny crystal
string draped over her head and she has
her own table, a sea-horse and milk jug
in a Mad Hatter underwater scene

Mugs of hot chocolate sweet - now to
waken with black bitter coffee, this is
paradise reading documents on failure
in fragile Africa which inspire dreams
of a new dawn, African tribes meeting
500 years ago and today we unified as
one in various shades, from hot copper,
orange and pink to creamy chocolate

Variety is our joy and our camaraderie
overcomes problems eventually - thus
I love to be here in an open-plan office

[6/10/2014]

Fragile African States [REV.]

What a beautiful word ‘fragile’ is - fragile
states are delicate, breakable, precious;
objects to be treasured, to be loved and
cherished - applying this exquisite term
to unstable African states touches me, I
see Africa a lonely and beautiful queen
on her throne abandoned by vassals for
lack of information & integrity, her state
rooms falling to waste

Her beauty lost upon herself since all her
mirrors are broken; her treasure chest is
bare, Princes come from afar to fight the
Dragon of Desolation and War keeping
Africa at ransom, but her minerals are
plundered by criminals who feed the
Dragon to keep Africa weak and the
Princes of Peace are destroyed
by invading hordes like these…

The Beckoning Top

My new colleague perplexed as I jump for joy,
singing happily on completion of my document
– but you don’t like translating, she accuses;  I
explain I hate climbing the mountain, getting
caught in brambles of dissonant meanings

And meandering pathways without rhythm
leading me astray, but once on the top I love
the view, the feeling of accomplishment, the
happiness of having made the trek uphill and
not faltering along the way and rolling down

Telling her I love the life I hate to live - she’s
quiet, doesn’t make sense – it’s just as I say,
I love the final outcome though I detest the
anxiety as I stumble and slide my difficult
emotional way to the beckoning top….

[8 October 2014]

Become a Sphinx

Feeling terrible, having coached my nephew
to be positive and enthusiastic about his new-
born daughter, then the olive branch torn from
his hand and crushed underfoot - his suffering
shock and post-traumatic stress because of the
contrast between his positive expectations and
the cold reality of a half-crazed shrew screaming
at him as if she’s demon possessed

His sensitive heart broken; but with Leo Buscaglio
I recommended to take the risk to love, even love
too much, though taking risks brings such heart-
ache - now I wish he’d rather become  a Sphinx,
ice-cold, untouched - to think all his pain caused
by love, he offered compassion and she spat in
his face – now my heart is sore, feeling his pain
and sharing his sorrow tonight

[7 October 2014]

Wheat, Sugar And Caffeine

Playing dangerous blood sugar games,
whole-wheat rusks with hot chocolate –
vision affected, drooping eyelids and head

A quick-fix with black, bitter coffee lasts only
a minute before symptoms of apathy and
catatonia return, another cup of coffee

To combat veins in head contracting; yesterday
I fled this scourge by eating in a restaurant but
being served blackened bacon and tepid chips

Prevents me from going back there, thus I have
this great war against fatigue in my little world,
reminds me of *Good Omens’ enormous halo

Keeping Adam’s world safe - I rejoice in mine,
having a small place of earth to love and cherish
is a privilege second to none, my inner sanctuary

Held in equilibrium by books & theories reworked
in the light of new ideas; is most accessible when
I’m in my special place on earth – hoping my

Work-station, another haven, will help me steady
my spinning mental gyroscope after these games
with wheat, sugar and caffeine…

[7 October 2014]

[* Terry Pratchett]

A Different Kind Of Life [REV.]

My text’s a menacing threat - each time I
open it my head shrinks & my brain flees,
yet I’ve researched everything, looked up
every term, analysing synonyms - even
searched identical lines on the Internet

When reading sentences arrhythmically
phrased to convey fact, my heart stops;
seeking a guru’s help: “Be spontaneous,
use old words in new ways to free them
from their frozen and limiting effects

Weave sentences another way to open
hearts, don’t cater for the mind” -What
is to be done, I’ve got it all wrong given
my phrasing like iced lead – after trying
to follow rules I feel like a rotten fool

Although my text isn’t spiritual, neither
is it a ringing success of the intellect, to
me everything sounds wrong – all of it,
how can I switch off feeling, bury ME
to see whether these terms are true?

I wasted my youth wearying my eyes
by looking at words in books instead
of contemplating the joyous aspects
of creation, how to carry on - we all
grow old in the new Millennium

MORE intellectual work is required  -
but I dream of a different kind of life…
 

Punctilious And Solicitous

Quietly woven into the mesh of cable web of my
daughter’s headphones, recovering from shock
- discovering how few documents were received
recently, I should be redeployed as tea-girl – the
only job I can foresee – combating memory of my
lack-lustre offering of coffee at a meeting with our
professor while still a student in residence, fifteen
different kinds of mugs collected from everyone,
some cracked, some too small –

Made me fear mental incompetence, that I  was
a lackadaisical person with no future, yet I got a
distinction in that professor’s subject: philosophy,
weathering that storm gives me confidence that I
shall weather this one too - I only hope wearing a
tea-girl’s uniform and smiling at the Department of
Art’s Minister & other supreme officials, brings job
satisfaction, offering fine porcelain cups arranged
beautifully on a neat tray without spilling –

Becoming a clone of Hercule Poirot*, a perfectionist,
punctilious and solicitous….  

[* Hercule Poirot – character created by Agatha Christie]

Keeping Your Integrity [Rev.]

Your team losing to another, work pressure
increasing - lucky translator me, I’ve only to
study and ingest texts on the administrative
problems of Africa while YOU have to deal
with HUGE amounts of money & decide on
a budget for your new company

Then you’ve to contend with feral shark’s
whispering, “Let’s do a deal, we’ll give you
what you want - new members and new
victims - on condition you hand over your
jobs to us; we’ll expedite the duties easily,
you’ll quickly be rich, we just hide fees &

Membership, we’ll declare a few see, so
you’ll profit while the rest lose - but they’ll
be losing to YOU, so it’s no problem” - the
many nights my Beloved’s kept awake by
temptations offered in the wild by weird
strangers: My Love, keep up the fight for

Your employees and their dues; I’m proud
to be part of the team you’ve launched, may
you please win in this game by keeping
your integrity

Independent, Free… [REV.]

Finally found the perfect final scene where
Chiaki says you wander away then wander
right back again, he’s saying it to Nodame;
what a wonderful declaration of love, both
angered, growing furious enough to fight
aggressively - then everything turns right
back to perfect again

Nodame playing Mozart using “Twinkle
twinkle little star” to illustrate his style - just
as my eldest brother did when presenting
melodies on show at school; then I did not
know that this was an old practice trick by
agile performers to show off their skill - I
only knew anything my brothers did

Was wonderful and the feeling of delight
on listening to them – the gods in my little
childhood world -never went away; I can
still remember real leather smells when
I opened their book-cases to read their
prescribed books; I envied them as
my twin sis and I lagged behind,

Because they already were where we
wanted to be - independent, free…

[3 October 2014]

A Private Wonder-world

Tonight in the fine company of my porcelain
figurines brought to the study and ranged
around my computer amongst fine crystal
containers, the music of Nodame Cantabile
playing through my earphones, rosy flowers
and pink scarves for ambiance

Two miniature mermaids carrying urns, another
pair slightly larger, one mermaid playing violin –
she’s a symbol of my sis, the other mermaid
seated next to a light-house – a symbol of me,
all indolence – fairy folk on the window-sill, I’m
wearing a pink top to blend in while staring

At the windows hung with crystal strings, sea-
shells, small pearls; my favourite porcelain doll
with fairy wings wearing a white flower wreath
draped in shiny pink silk - I feel like a small
creature in a secret underwater cave, a private
wonder-world of music, colour and words…

[3 October 2014]

Gerhard Knight - ‘n Vader Se Gebed

Hi Kayley
Nou het ons ontmoet en ek het jou in my hart gevind
Jy is pragtig, betowerend, ek weet jy is my liefste kind
Ek wou jou in my arms neem - maar iets het my gekeer
Kom ek erken iets aan jou - dis vir my die eerste keer -
-    En daar is so baie wat ek nog moet leer!

Die tyd sal kom - ek kan nie wag nie -
Dat ek jou kan omhels in al jou Prag
Ja, wat ek gesien het op daardie dag
Was 'n Ware Klein Engeltjie van Bo
My hart juig omdat ek altyd in jou glo!

So vriendelik in jou soete, liefste glimlag-lig
Glansend in porselein skyn jou  gesiggie fyn
Dis waarom ek huiwer om aan jou te raak
‘n Lomp, dom man is bang dat jy sal breek
Weet dat liefde vir jou my hart verteer 

Ek bring my dank vir jou Prag-Ma vandag!
Sy't lewe geskenk aan my Mooiste Meisiekind
Mag sy geseënd wees, omring deur die liefde
van jou Vader, jou Boeta en klein Liefling-JY -

En ek bring hulde aan jou Ouma - Dankie Ouma
dat jy die hele pad met Ma en dogter gestap het
(Ek het nog altyd geweet jy het 'n Awesome Ouma!)
Ek kan sommer sien - groot bederf is aan die kom -
Geniet dit my liefsteling, my eersteling, my hartedief

Van hier af wil ek jou verseker dat jy wel 'n Pappa het
Hy gee waarlik om, wil jou leer ken, koester en liefhê
Die afstand is moedswillig*, maar Pappa en Mamma
sal alles nog uitstryk, altyd eerste na JOU belange kyk

Binnekort leer ons twee mekaar baie goed ken, my lief,
Nou bly jy in Moeder se bekwame sorg, my Liefsteling
Hiermee jy is op die beste plek waar jy ooit kan wees!

Jy, moederhartrowertjie, bly by die heel beste Mamma
in die hele wêreld - doe-doe my diefstetjie -

Weet verseker Pappa stuur jou sy liefde elke dag - en
Elke nag as slapenstyd nadertjies bid hy vir jou, klein

Lieflingkind, dat die Hemelse Heer jou veilig sal hou - en
al is pappa nie naby nie, bly jy vir ewig binne-in sy hart

Baie Liefde - Van Jou Trotse Pappa

[moedswillig* = aspris die woord gekies omdat by kindertaal pas]

[Geskryf deur Gerhard Knight]

[02 Oktober 2014]

Africa-the-Mermaid-Princess [REV.]

Africa is depressing says Alet - sadness in
her eyes - well, yes - but Africa is beautiful,
a sleeping mermaid without a soul who can
only get one when doing an unselfish deed
like sacrificing a privilege; Nelson Mandela
sacrificed his life on Robben Island and thus
Africa obtained a soul, but then an Evil Fairy
slighted during Africa-the-Mermaid-Princess’
christening, put a curse on her

When Africa entered capitalistic free-market
democracy a Chinese dragon burst forth and
burnt her mermaid-tail; a Russian bear took a
bite out of her wings; this Mermaid had wings
even before she got a soul - and Arabs came
with swords in scabbards, suicidal firebombs
and cocktails-Molotov nearly destroying the
flying African-Mermaid-Princess - but she
only fell into a hundred-year sleep

Now Africa is waiting for a Prince to fight his
way through the thorns of proliferating Congo
wars covering the sleeping African-Mermaid
Princess’ continent - to kiss her back to life,
then Africa’s frozen-Arab-spring with eternal
cherry-blossom-sleep, shall resume and we
will become a flying Mermaid-Princess-with
a-Soul bursting into bloom, entering a most
exotic summer here on Planet Earth!

[1 October 2014]