For me, Christmas is a reminder that Love came down. Love got its hands dirty. Love got involved. Love interrupted the normal flow of things. Love reached out specifically to all of those that society, culture, religion and government pushed to the sides. Love allowed itself to be interrupted while on mission. Love called out injustice. Love refused to accept the status quo. Love turned over tables in the face of greed and extortion. Love [...]
The other day i tried my hand at a kind of spoken word piece with the title, 'i don't hate my skin' which you can watch over here. But i thought some of you might appreciate having a closer look at the words and here they are. i don't hate my skin - by brett "Fish" anderson I don’t hate my skin. The thought seems quite ridiculous. How could I possibly hate something [...]
For some reason this stuff seems to be on my mind. The other day i wrote a poem called 'Whiteness' which you can read over here. And i have a piece that i wrote when i was helping out with an exam the other day while waiting for my learner to write her paper. Which i haven't looked at again, but similar theme. And then i was working on this piece. i would love to [...]
I am whiteness I will not condescend to your infuriating attempts to single me out as the single biggest cause of all your problems I am whiteness You had better believe that everything I have is due to hard work and persistence After all, the silver spoon in my mouth that I was born with had ugly flecks of bronze all over its handle Who in their right mind would be satisfied with that? [...]
When i was living in Americaland for three years, i came up with a series of You Tube videos that i called 'Dangerous Things You Can Least Expect' in which my alter ego, Brad Fish, would take a topic you would not normally consider dangerous - like ice-cream or camping or violins - and explain why it could be seen as a 'Dangerous Thing You Can Least Expect'... i was Suzelle DIY before she was [...]
My friend Thandi Gamedze is an exceptional poet and wordsmith and her 'Dear South Africa...' comes in the form of a poem Beloved South Africa, I bless you to let loose the oceans of tears that you have carried, and cry For your sons that have been trodden down and stripped of their dignity And your daughters that have been raped, abused and dehumanised For your fathers that have turned to unfeeling stone, under weight [...]
Will i see you today? Behind your skin? Through a hastily rolled up window and averted gaze at a traffic light? Over that high and mightily barbed wired electricity-generating fence? Through the veneer of your class distinction? Peeking nervously out from behind that oh-so-hipster handlebar moustache? Through the tears? Behind the laughter? LOL Will i see you underneath the weight of those plastic environment-destroying bags? On the other side of that quinoa-and-lime salad wrap? Behind [...]
We had a dream our lives would be... So different from this hell we're living So different now from what it seemed, Now... Life... Has killed The dream... We dreamed... The dream to some it seemed started in '94 as lines of voters snaked around fields Filled with the anxious anticipation of first-time voters eager to claim their rich inheritance Before the years were peeled back to reveal that perhaps the vote was all [...]
If I stay out in the sun long enough Can the red hide the pain of past injustices? If I poke my head over an electrified walled property on the slopes of Camps Bay Will the green be enough to disguise my own wealth I struggle to even keep track of? If I host a sad movie marathon with tales of war, missed out romance and dying people Might the blue cover over my own [...]
If you are looking for someone who actively supported apartheid You will always be faced with a quiet room The sudden hush of the crickets who rapidly flick their eyes around the room Desperately hoping somebody else will claim responsibility for that one For a new nation to be born out of the ashes of the old one Something needed to die Systems, structures, attitudes and behaviours… “Even words?” The fifty-eight year old [...]
