Frankenstein's monster...

Brutal imaginings
make their way into
my consciousness.
Sensation reverberates;
Blinding, Putrid, Bitter.
A final clang signals the winding hour;
I turn to clay; grey and cold.

The villain that hovered
as an image,
a formation of
words
and paper,
a scrawl of ink and graphite,
and yes,
someone elses dreams,
dashed-

Is a fluid vision;
a Flesh and Bone
Reality.

I feel like Frankenstein.
Please hold the champagne, though.

A lump born in the throat
falls into the
ulcer-ed pit,
heaving with
the knowledge.

Realisation
sinks
in:

So,
They do exist.
Beyond
my Wildest
Imagination.

i got a tan. well done!

i got a tan. on a roadtrip.

im tired.

tired of these

and those.

but super-exhilarated

super duper so

because the view,

the sun, surf and sand

the company of loved ones

and the faces met

were all

so...

exhilarating

:)

Lunch with Kathy & Ms C

These interview sessions are taking me down a path of memory recollections that lead off into some of the darkest sinews of the human mind. Most of them are rooted in conflict and struggle; some thrived on tiny snippets of hope and almost always thirsted for compassion. Of course, there was very little to be found.

Ahmed Kathrada was tried along with hundreds of others in a time when treason was almost a buzzword. Today we sat down to a feisty curried lunch after he recounted the details of some of those proceedings; and the strategic mindset of his senior, Maulvi Cachalia, during the freedom struggle. But the moments I found to be most profound of these recollections, would have to be the close to thirty years spent in jail; and the criminal record for life, that disallows entry into a country like Canada.

The archives of memory and history twist with far more complexity than nature's vast DNA, and yet they need to be unraveled...
Ideals still need to be purveyed and protected; hope still gleams for many in an effort to not succumb to despair; and the quest for survival still a more than valiant struggle that keeps us in the depths of the quandary, hard at work.

But then there's that cloud of depravity; the winds of apathy churning sandstorms around us, blinding.. misleading... and allowing only thuggery to show its face.

About those ideals... What were they again? All evidence lost that there were men of steely character who fought in blood and sweat and tears and more blood. Ruling party or not, politics is a strange-ish game of umbrella morals and scattered corruption beyond the reach of the greater scope of an organisation.

Will the Emperor be found unclothed? Whats the vote?

Load Shedding: Unburdening the Burdensome

I am currently staying in the town in which I grew up, Pietersburg, now known as Polokwane in the Limpopo Province.. and will stay for the duration of the ANC conference. This should be a pretty interesting sight, for the stream of events might very well take place under a clump of trees in broad daylight, and should any of the events be drawn further into the night, then the use of incandescent candle light will be the welcome glow of favour. No, not because the Limpopo is out in undeveloped bushveld Africa; its not. Polokwane obtained city status well over a decade ago. And with its sprawling platinum mines and booming industry, may be ranked in relative good stead with the rest of developing South Africa. Including, when one takes into serious consideration, the constant excuses for power outages- the states belligerent wailing about not being able to adequately measure the growth needs for electricity and what not. When I drove out of Johannesburg on Monday morning, Classic FM's traffic report informed that major power failures would ensue in and around greater Johannesburg. Everyday of this week already, power cuts have swept through various areas of Polokwane at different times of the day in a kind of wave taking bites out of normal work and private life. Traffic lights have become makeshift, ingratiating fourway stops with road rage rising to boiling point. The main roads and pathways have been dug up in morse code style trenches in order for the local municipality to try to ascertain some reason beyond Eskoms load shedding, for the pandemonium. Geysers shiver in the midst of spluttering computer systems, residents of offices and homes are trapped safely behind their electric palisades and security companies are rushing about to install long-life battery support systems for now defunct alarms. Frozen foods defrost beside what was ice cream in insulated cabinets quickly transformed by lack of power and the blazing heat, from icey cool refrigerators to hotboxes. And the media carry sing-song reports of times and durations of the outages, as matter-of-factly as weather reports! A day in the life. Rather gruesome, down here at ground level. Welcome to South Africa!

Water, Water, EverWhere...

"Water, water, everywhere..
And not a drop to drink!"
The words quoted, not my own
rang in the ears of
a mind mesmerized by the
sight before my eyes..
Taps undone to reveal
a gushing gurgle,
muddy mass and mangled mush:
my nose takes in the
waft of wormstew,
and then nothing!

Nothing.

Water wisdom lostand my thirst unabated.
This is the legacy that awaits
us who have been carelessly wasting the
everyday blessings
and earthly joys that Nature has dished
upon silver platters and crystal flutes.
Drinking up on Imagination and Delirium
can do much to nurture the lanky souls;
But what of the lot of barely blossomed bodies?
Theirs is the thirst and quench that loves rivers promise;
not to be held, just dreamed and yearned for.
Theirs is the Ultimate Delusion.

Want not? What a waste!

NOTE: A few days every month, I have the opportunity to travel to and live in a little city in the Limpopo Province, and for the last two weeks or so, much of the population has experienced water shortages due to the extensive drought session affecting us. In the past, we have had water restrictions imposed in order to control the usage. At the moment, resource has been shut down for days at a time. At some point, even opening a tap has revealed a tragic mush of muddy, murky undrinkable stuff. Thats the best way in which I can describe it. And the string of worded beads above is my little way of measuring the experience. The good news though, is that Today, we had rain! The Almightys blessings are upon us. Alhamdulillah!

Heres wishing you Love and Water..

Shafinaaz