THE RAPED FUTURE

i am the raped future
look at me and you will understand
see the deep physical scars
inflicted on me by political thugs
the psychological scars of propaganda
the past and the present raped me
i am the raped future
now standing at street corners
facing shocking unemployment levels
waylaying travellers by the roadside
driven by need and not greed
selling pounds of flesh in bars and brothels
languishing in putrid prison cells
i am the bruised and battered future
eking a living on south african farms
vainly evading violent arrests and detention
waiting and waiting for deportation at lindela*
back home to face naked brutality
hoping that one day the sun will shine

* a prison in south africa.illegal immigrants arrested in johannesburg are usually held at lindela while awaiting deportation.

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION POEMS

THE MIGHTIER ONE

someone forgot to tell the emperor
maybe someone misled him
could it have been his obduracy
all that raving and ranting
then the basics were abandoned
that the pen is mightier is known
in the beginning was the word
the donkey jaw bone came later
the sling and the stone too
the gun can never be mightier
who led the emperor into this abyss

THE GREAT BETRAYER

that bitterness is understandable
that betrayal is quite apparent
then you ran with the hares
and hunted with the hounds
the opportunist you have always been
those accolades they showered you with
the medals they pinned on your chest
the overlord they turned you into
the leopard had not changed its spots
you had taken the thirty pieces of silver
a perpetual guest at their banquets
those high sounding titles they gave you
those trinkets that blinded you to our suffering
today you drag us along into your schemes
still you pull wool over our eyes
your self preservation becomes our business
not all fall prey to your machinations
those machinations will not hold sway

VANTAGE POINT

the podium

the pulpit

pedestal placing

warped ideas

demagogues at it