i was recently introduced to the Poetry of Shiksha Dheda, who i stumbled upon on the Twitterer. She graciously offered to send me a copy of her book, 'Washed away' and i offered to share a little bit of her story here. Her poetry is definitely worth a look and i hope a number of you will buy her book, which is available online. But first let me allow Shiksha to introduce herself to [...]
One of my favourite people on the Twitterer [and i do have a lot, but this one stands out] is my friend Ekta Somera. She is both an exceptional talent who has released a book called 'Made in Poetry' which i reviewed over here, and a second book, Twenty-Two, which i am still to get my hands on. But also finds the time to design, collaborate on and release The Paper Trail Literary Journal, [...]
This morning i got a little inspired and wrote a poem on the Twitterer that goes a little something like this: WE BUILD A COUNTRY we build a country not by voting or protesting or even trying to hold leadership accountable although all of those might be important and deeply necessary rather we build a country by showing up actively loving our neighbour (All of them!) building bridges and longer tables! = [...]
The first time i met Ekta Somera was on the Twitterer [as @madeinpoetry]. The second time was in a mall in the Chatsworth Centre Mall after she had just been finished being interviewed for Sunrise FM radio.Ekta very wisely brought her dad with her [cos you never know with meeting strange old white men who you connected to on the internet]... and i brought my mate Dreadlock Mike [cos you never know with meeting strange [...]
i was the casual victim of a stoning today... started innocently enough with one elder tossing an underhanded pebble defensively at me which i might have easily been able to brush off and go about my day as if nothing significant had happened... but then a single solitary rock came flying silently almost out of nowhere taking me quite by surprise knocking me off my feet and wounding me quite significantly (if [...]
black lives hater? black life shatter! break lives: master? broke lives: martyr? all lies matter! small lies matter? all lines matter. aligns matter.. align mantra... all in may turn later = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [To read the best poem i have written in a long time, called Just Us click here]
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = [For another poem titled Assumptions, click here]
A black man and a white man Step into a room together And ever so carefully Peel off their skin Folding it neatly Over the back of a chair Before taking a seat Directly across the table from one other Staring deeply into the other's soul A blood sample is taken from both men Two vials of the deepest red Placed on the table in front of them Followed shortly by a set of [...]
i wrote a poem this morning considering how the same words coming out of different mouths can mean a variety of things. Different worlds, even. [For another poem i wrote a while back on 'Whiteness' click here]
You don't like my hair "It's kak!" you say And i feel so fortunate That you stopped by here today You see i really didn't know, that i had "Antifa Hair" And it's only cos of someone nice like you who shows they care So many other passers got distracted by My pursuit of Justice that they missed that speck right in my eye But not you, no, you boldly logged on And [...]
