Friday, 24 June 2022

Nog twee Tankwa gedigte

net ek en kilometers klipland
laat die digkuns van klip
my wakker klap!

* * *

die stilte druk hard
teen my ore en lyf
ek druk my ore diep die vertes in
ek wil soveel van die niks 
deur my troebel holtes laat syfer
en suiwer

Thursday, 23 June 2022

geharwar

ek beur deur die dik geharwar van
die inkonsekwensie
van woorde

Wednesday, 22 June 2022

tuit

my pen se ore tuit
gulsig om elke lettergreep in
die wind op te slurp
voordat hy in sy besinning
begin vas-ink
vers-sink

Tuesday, 21 June 2022

Twee Tankwa gedigte

ek laat die porieë in my siel
wawyd-oop waaier
laat hierdie groot stilte
hierdie groot landskap
my deurweek

* * *

en die son skuif horison toe
die woorde steek vas
soos dons tussen die doringtakke

Monday, 20 June 2022

skin of my poetry

write through the doubt
the losing of faith and mind
write the goosebumps back
into the skin of my poetry

Sunday, 19 June 2022

son

in die son is waar my vel sin maak
klip water wind gee 
my vel 'n gevoel van tuishoort
maar o, dit is die son 
wat die sintaksis van my sintuie herrangskik
en nuwe toortonnels uitdelf
en die oorlewingsdrang omskep na 
oorlewingslus

Saturday, 18 June 2022

know

do not give up or dismay
the little wisdom you acquired yesterday or 20 years ago
always keeps on growing and expanding
and one day your lucky stars
will shine over you like
that beaming star
over the Wise Women's horizon
and you will know
what you have always wanted to know
and know gladly what you feared to know
and unknow what fixated your brain
into the abyss
and unknow the inadequacies 
you thought you knew well
but which was not from knowledge
but gutless and irreverent delusion
so please, do not give up or dismay
the little wisdom you acquired yesterday or 20 years ago
will always keep on growing and expanding
and one day your lucky stars
will shine over you like
that beaming star
over the Wise Women's horizon

Friday, 17 June 2022

Scaramouche

my vers voel dikwels soos die flopnek Scaramouche
trots en parmantig wil sy haar kleure en sjarme afwys
maar dan kom Harlekyn en boks haar nek- en neuswerwels los
dat alle drome van digterlike transendering
uit haar oë spat en in die stof tot in die verdrietige nietigheid
w e g s y f e r

Thursday, 16 June 2022

deflated

some people live like
deflated tyres
sloshing over the gravel
loosing grip 
and just do not feel the ochre beauty
of the soil under their feet

Wednesday, 15 June 2022

poorte van die digdom

om deur die poorte van die digdom
te loop met parate oë
vlymskerptong
dawerende voeteslag
om solied my staan te staan teen
die alewige gemarsjeer van die pedante

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

dive

the vertigo in my head 
spells a melancholia
that wants to dive itself 
dry 
in the wild 
entanglement 
of 
the ocean

Monday, 13 June 2022

seekat

i

soos ek klavier speel verander my vingers in
die pote van ‘n seekat
my vel flits kwiksilwerend in kleure wat
flambojant vlamme oor die klawers verf

ii

en skielik word my hart die pylende lyf van
die seekat wat oor jou vel
dartel en suier
suier
suier
die einste kleure en teksture van jou vel en
wese aanneem
ah as my hart jou seekat kon wees
sag en suierig in my liefde op jou sit
saamsmelt in jou lewensvorm
en niks of niemand my daar sal afpluk
en onder die vergrootglas van die wysneuse
oopspalk nie

Sunday, 12 June 2022

Lara Kirsten on piano

I am reminiscing on past concerts. I performed the last concert of my program The Resonating Pulse at the Tatham Gallery. I fondly remember this poem written to me that day by poet Bruce Haynes.

She sat, fingers pulsing the keys
Of a Shigeru Kawai piano
Bathed in the natural light
Of Pietermaritzburg's Tatham Art Gallery
On an October afternoon
Brown hair cascading down her back
With a feral intensity
She told us about playing piano in a sandstorm
In the Tankwa Karoo
At AfrikaBurn
I realised then
That Lara the poet-pianist is
Part landscape
Part human
Some indomitability of spirit
Some surge of will
Some vast dry landscape living through her
Weathered orange rocks and hot sand
And, above it all
A charged electrostatic sky
A promise of rain.

 - Bruce Haynes
October 2018

Thursday, 9 June 2022

ek wil

ek wil 'n gedig skryf wat soos 'n harts-
verrukkende akkoordprogressie
deur my siel sal breek

Sunday, 5 June 2022

ride like

ride like the powerful surge and 
swell of the white-foam breakers
cycle dance think write play
into the exquisite pull of the ocean

Saturday, 4 June 2022

Through Lara's Gift

I want to share a poem - for a change written not by me - but by friend and fellow-poet Bruce Haynes. He wrote this during a recital I gave of the 10 Pieces collected in the EUSA album by Yann Tiersen in 2017. This week the poem has been calling me again. 
I have such fond memories of that performance in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal. 
I have read it in subsequent performances of these pieces. It never ceases to pull a few gasps from the audience.
Bruce, this poem keeps spreading its ripples. 
Thank you. 

Through Lara's Gift

I wondered then
At the spread of pattern
The melodies mimicking
The sea
Bird cries
The song of rock
Surf spray
Small spreading leaves and tufts of grasses
An orchestra of wind
Pebbles tides           waves.
Horizons.
That Yann Tiersen's pattern
Of sound through time
His sculpture of crying notes
And scales. His tides of melody
His currents of music and soil
Slowly building over time
His springs and storms and rains.
And silence.
That this pattern
Could hatch itself on the ledge
Of a piano. And spread its wings in a heartbeat
Of fingertips. Of muscles dancing in prayer.
That an island
Could live like a sob in my chest
A migrating bird
Criss-crossing the world to nest between pianists’ fingers.
I can only lie prostrate
Before the algorithm of evolution and whisper
It works
Let it spread.

Poet - Bruce Haynes

Written during the performance of Yann Tiersen’s EUSA by South African pianist Lara Kirsten

Thursday, 2 June 2022

dig voort!

in my woord 
soek ek dikwels 
'n mooi akkoord
daai klinkende soort 
wat in die oor hoort
en omskep word 
in 'n rype vrugteboord 
en onverstoord 
enige gedagte van self-moord
wegwys na die poort 
van die vakansie-oord

bind die woord 
al singend om  
my stem-koord
en dig voort!