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

QUESTIONING NON-INTERFERENCE

how long shall you stand there
stand there with folded arms
stand there in deathly silence
there with your caged pity
seeing the father next door turn monster
taking his wife for a punch bag
feeding his children on dog shit
making them drink his alcohol laden urine

EXORCISING THE DEMONS! poem 1 killing season poem 2 repeat performance 3 no part in the charade

thugs at the helm
spattered brains
deaths at the door steps
the sadism everywhere
murder in the air
rising waves of brutality
deserted homes
fires gobbling up homes
those wailing souls
in the steel grip of evil
evil seemingly triumphant
killers on the loose
fatal scythes everywhere

a real possibility

the same sad somg

new singers on stage

exhibiting the scars

claiming saviour status

mercenary tendencies ahead

champions of our struggle

claiming those privileges

forsaking the greatness

forsaking lessons in humility

to desecrate that blood

to give the devil pleasure

to appease the vampires

to steal from the poor

to find pleasure in pain

these fingers shall bear no stain

the stain of the blood

the blood of my slain people

TWO POEMS COMPOSED 21 AND 22 JUNE 2008 RESPECTIVELY

politicians and priests

the dominance submerges discussion
that elevation to the podiums
the raping of the mesmerised audience
those that submit to your machinations
listening to your befuddling poly-tricks
listening to your self righteousness
politician and priest cast in the same mould
thriving best where fear spreads
but listen now to this ant voice
that ominous warning: beware the ides of march
that myth of your invincibility shattered
king owl's horns exposed for what they were
that folk tale still holds that lesson

VICTIMS

driven by dreams of egoli

that place of elusive gold

that place of the elusive rand

driven from the burning home

evading the murderous gangs

evading the man eating crocodiles

the real possibility of drowning

scavenging for an existence

still chasing after those illusions

jumping from the frying pan into the fire

the shacks razed to the ground

the gruesome deaths in the ghettoes

the victims of the victims

the real foe remains unscathed

like amoeba the poverty multiplies

THE DECAPITATION

to you i would come
just for a pinch of salt
that mirth across our fences
today it's all gone
gone like dew in the morning

to me you would come
no fire in your hearth
today my home to the ground razed
trapped in the fiery inferno
the wailing of my children