moenie wegvee!

ek verpes dit wanneer mense alewig 
hulle monde afvee wanneer hulle eet
waar jy kyk is servette en hande wat 
ongesiens die selfbewuste monde
probeer skoonvee en bedek 

jirre, kan monde, kenne en wange 
nie net vir daai etende oomblik
vol krummels, 
vetspatsels en taai druppels
vertoon watter fees dit is 
om te eet
om te verlustig aan kos wat 
tong en maag so vervul?

frummels en stukkies wat
om mondhoeke kleef is
niks om voor skaam te wees

moenie wegvee
moenie afvee!
behou al die joviale tekens van 
hierdie bevoorregtelike smullery

verander

ek wil die styl van 
my digterlike uitdrukking 
verander
is dit moontlik? 
dit is moontlik        ja
herformuleer die wyse hoe 
jou gedagtes uit die tonnel syfer
probeer nuwe taktieke
en slinkse kat-maneuvers
verras jou pen
laat hom dink jy lei hom
na die punt wat 
hy verwag jy hom heen gaan lei
en dan
skielik
verander rigting
sodat die pen nie 'n idee het
hoe jy hom so vinnig uit
die groef gelig het nie 

not looking into a glaring smartphone

just sitting and paging randomly through magazines 
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
lounging on a beach chair looking at everyone else
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
waiting in a queue and chatting with a fellow queuer
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
eating a sandwich and staring into the void of a quiet moment
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
lying on your back an staring into the ever-changing clouds
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
going into the loo and admiring your inner thighs
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
having tea with a girlfriend and showing her your knitting
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
disappearing into the hallway fixing a stray hair
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
walking between the car and the shop and looking out for a trolley or basket
and NOT looking for your glaring smartphone
climbing into bed and musing about your accomplishments for the day
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
sitting in the backseat of a car and counting trees and lamp poles
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
watching a film and enjoying the full gamut of the plot
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
cooking with a handwritten recipe
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
finding a new place in a dog-eared map
and NOT looking into a glaring smartphone
fuckit return to your own mind space
those exquisite imagined spaces
dream out loud again
feel timelessness
make your own visions
do not feed so passively and lazily on the visions
fed to you by your glaring smartphone

die geskenk

ek het 'n visioen gehad van
'n gedig oor die lug
die wonder-medium waardeur 
ons beweeg en asemhaal

in ruil vir die geskenk van lug
sal ek 'n gedig daarin plant

met tong, lip en tand 
stoot ek die metafoor uit my brein
en plant dit reg hier tussen 
die paar suurstofselle

wanneer mense hier gaan verby loop
sal  hulle onbewus die metafoor inasem
hulle longe sal nie weet 
wat hulle getref het nie!

in elke gewrig van hierdie gedig

'n veerkragtige spierkragtigheid
sit in elke gewrig van hierdie gedig
mag die rymelary se gimnastiese vernuf
deur die nate van beperking breek

goue lig

digter staan in die Karoo se sonsondergang
met kop agteroor gegooi en mond wyd oop
sodat die goue lig 'n vlietende vers
teen haar verhemelte kan ets

forever sitting on this seat

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

 - Bob Dylan

photographer: Keran Elah

chairs are known to be sedentary and stationary
quiet in rooms 
staidly placed around tables
so sedate and composed in corners and along walls

but no not this chair
it takes me to the fields
through barbed wire and mist
it carries me over all the dreamscapes 
i have ever imagined
and makes me break out in full-throated song

mary mary quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
with silver bells and cockle shells
and pretty maids all in a row

on chairs that climb to heaven
with tiers one plus seven
will my mind go
where the winds most high blow?

mary mary quite unordinary
your moods as the seasons will vary
often hiding away from too much talk
she would rather in her green fields have a walk

mary mary quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
with silver bells and cockle shells
and pretty maids all in a row

faint tremors i feel in the wood of this chair
it feels like it wants to take me somewhere
perhaps there where earth and heaven shall meet?
then i will remain forever sitting on this seat

photographer: Keran Elah

fonolisasie

jirre dit vat fokkin dissipline

om nie die foon tot in

my slaap vas te klem nie

kolonisasie is nou

iets van die verlede

make way for phonolisation!

god, red ons van hierdie uitsuiging en uitbuiting!

die kolonie van die foon neem oor

tentakel teen een rampspoedige spoed ons koppe

wat makeer ons dat ons so ‘n noodsaak het

om vasgegom aan hierdie siellose

platvlakkige vierkantigheid te wees?

vandag ag ons

ons onafhanklikheid

en vryheid so hoog

maar sonder wapen, woord of geweld

ruim die skynbaar skadelose skermpie van die foon

enige outonomie eensklaps uit die weg