Direction of Fish / Rigting van Vis

In March this year I was part of a colloborative exhibition/show in Parktown, Jhb. The fellow artist was sculptor Coenie Strydom. He assembled 18 of his ceramic and cement sculptures for which I wrote 18 complementing poems. Here are two of the pieces >

rigting van vis I

vis-kop-en-vin wys die rigting aan

waar ons heen moet gaan:

na die water-katedrale

waar ongehoorde liedere

deur wier en alg breek

en die water-hamonieё

my lyf be-vin

en my ge-aard-heid

distilleer tot

hierdie nuwe

vis-bestaan

-

direction of fish I

head and fin of fish show the direction

in which we must go:

to the water cathedrals

where unheard songs

break through moss and kelp

and the harmonies of water

re-fin my body

and distil

my being into

this new

fish existence

rigting van vis II

soos katedrale-klanke
klink die see deur die holtes
van die skeletale oorblyfsel van
vis
roep sy oogholtes hunkerend
na die nat glimmer vinne
wat eens die soet smaak van die getye 

geproe het
-

direction of fish II

the sea sounds like cathedral timbres

through the cavities

of the skeletal remnants of

fish

the hollow of his eyes calls longingly

to the wet glimmer fins

that once tasted the sweetness

of the speed of tides