The Banquet

For some people
love is delivered
fresh from the oven,
aromatic as a prayer,
to be consumed only
after a ritualized
washing of hands.
Others meet God five
times a day:
each time they are hungry
God manifests on a plate
to fill them up.
This banquet is beyond religion,
more personal than breath,
universal.
The spent soul is replenished
through the echoing chamber
of an empty, grateful body,
each of its cells saying
repeatedly
thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.


Poem "The Banquet" from 'The Everyday Wife' (2010) by Phillippa Yaa de Villiers.

songs of time and travel

We're a bunch of Idols' fans... So we were watching the Indian Idols on television, and the song from the movie RACE played at some point. And my brother in law remembered Malawi. Yes, it was the Malawi soundtrack :P (We went off to Malawi in March for my brother's wedding).

Especially Pehli Nazar. We had a CD in every car after that. In my brother's car, in my car, in my brother in laws car, in my sister in laws brother's cars. You get the sense of it. Dad had a CD in the home entertainment thingie. It was all over the place. So much so that some of the songs still remind me of my ride to work along the M4, the look of the ocean (remember, I learned how to s-l-o-w down so I could enjoy the view) and navigating the twisty ride along Ridge Rd, of course. Come rain or shine, RACE was a permanent soundtrack for weeks after the Malawi trip. I had the best of the collection. Abdur Rahim made certain of it with the added remixes and whatever else he could find to download ;)

This year went by oh-so-quickly. (Well, come to think of it, so did 2007). Sometimes I feel dizzy just thinking about it. But the songs remain. We heard some other songs today. Songs that remind us of other travels. Like Cape Town. And India. And Egypt. And London. Lol. Oh yea... Kelly Clarkson, Roxette, Savage Garden, Natalie Imbruglia, Enya, UB40, U2!!! A maze of hindi soundtracks stretching the imagination from Yeh Shaam Mastani to Teri Deewani.

There are songs that remind us of childhood. And songs that remind us of school. And songs that remind us of bittersweet days of uni. Awkward moments and exhiliarating moments. Songs for rainy days and songs for scorching summer. Moments in freezing cappuccino drugged days, and moments of hearts gladdened by the quality of togetherness. Some songs played on the Hiveld graveyard shift, others in peak traffic. Oh there are those peak traffic songs for sure! Those save sanity at the bleakest moments. Or they perpetuate insanity enough to survive the chaos, especially when power failures threaten any remaining sense of humour.

Its so easy for something you can't live without to become second rate trash. This goes for songs and dresses :P

ridge road, ukzn and first years like me

After aeons of time, I am a first year at university, again. As of Monday this week past, I have ambled into my new post as lecturer at UKZN's Howard College with much amusement and comforting ease. Aside from having to painstakingly negotiate the undulations of Ridge Road that threaten to bite bits off of my car every now and then, and course packs that need pulling together and outlines for course material that glaringly require my every attention, the embrace of the oceanic air all around me and the reminder of it's promise of feel-good energy from my office view of the harbour, have me in the most wonderous of spirits.. yes, I miss home somewhat; family, friends and Johannesburg traffic share the beat of my heart and the flow of blood in my veins ;) drama aside though, I have in my entourage the writer's soul and the creative spirit of the painter. And together, we plan on turning the next five or six months into quite an adventure of colour and metaphor! Life's fiction, sure.. but it's time to turn it into a movie. And I know for certain Whose got my back! The Writings on the Wall.. :)

Here's to the spirit of enthusiasm and the lure of all things magical!

Shafs

waiting to be born...

I dont attempt to write poetry all too often. Except at times when something lurks inside me, threatening to burst me at the seams. Sometimes it induces nausea, sometimes feels like theres labour pains to be had. (with all due respect to mothers, since i'v not actually experienced labour pain).. anyway, so i feel like that tonight. its just after 4am. i'v had a long day. and sleep evades me. no power naps. no snooze-on-the-couch-with-the-telly-on. no daydream moments in gross neglect of the books. just lots of hours in my day. and i'm still wide awake. and theres a huge family luncheon tomorrow through which i will be my chirpy self, belying the lack of slumber and theta dream state..

and yet, theres this baby waiting to be born..

what is this ..
this feeling erupting from deep within..
this restlessness..
this living moving ocean inside,
causing havoc with the simple body..
attached to soul and its meanderings of little understanding..
this unnamed thing..
waiting to be set free..
waiting to guide this wanderer..
waiting..

why, i think this thing is me!
having being found,
waiting to be born.
again and again.
just as He intended.
rejuvenating the spirit,
renewing the mind and
refurbishing the inner workings
of muse and matter.

indeed.. this thing is me :)

Shafs wants to Sing!

Yes, just as the title announces, Shafs wants to sing. I want to learn how. Or I feel I can, just would love to polish the vocal volitions to a range of singing potentialities. And sing. To my hearts content. Or something thereabouts. Oh how I wish that I could sinGg! Sigh.