20 May 1994

Found this written in one of my diaries today and reconnected for a moment with my 20 something life.  This was written after listening to a radio broadcast on the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa.

Lives torn apart by mortar

suffering unimaginable.

I sit in my room, safe with my cat

and listen to academia dither.

While the anguish of the victims

seeps through the airways

demanding retribution thither.

Should the multitude of if’s and but’s

win the day?

or will the passionate pleas

sway over the middle way

transferring each persons cup of pain

from one to another.

Where does the horror begin

and will the sorrow ever end.

There is the dawning of a new beginning

dearly fragile,

I want to store it in my womb

safe from destruction, away from the ruin.

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Monday Poetry Train – Anticipating

A  haiku for today –

I wonder what’s next…

waiting around the corner –

Anticipating!

Go catch a ride on the Monday Poetry Train

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One Single Impression – What’s it like?

Our beloved Prince, photo by Richard Dove

What’s it like to be under thirteen?
streaking past the kitchen window, you shout
“run, run the Buffalo are coming!”
most of your life spent running about.

Dashing  under the office window, you shout
“I’ve caught the Kangaroo which ran from the Zoo!”
most of your life spent running about,
multiple lives, lived each and every day

Catching the Kangaroo which ran from the Zoo
with feet barely touching the ground you explain
multiple lives, lived each and every day,
of your companions – ‘dirt and sweat’ you don’t complain

With feet barely touching the ground you explain
your latest LEGO contraptions which defy adult imagination
sweat and dirt, your constant companions, only complain
when in the plastic pool you declare, let’s make a whirling motion

Your latest LEGO constructions which defy imagination
spread like a creeping colorful fungus over the house
you declare, “lets make the water whirl in manic motion!”
what’s it like to live under your skin?

The prompt this week at One Single Impression is What’s it like? click on the link to go over for a most enjoyable visit.

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15 Words or less – photopoetry

This week Susan Taylor Brown is hosting 15 Words or Less…it’s a great photo, easily stimulating one’s imagination. Head on over and join in…everyone’s welcome.
Here’s my contribution.

Hard stone curves
merge with nature
pallet of blues and greens
mimics soft peacock feathers

A poem by Richard and Jacqueline Dove.

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Peacock-feather-effect
burglar bars
looking on the bright side of life

A poem by me
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Close up of peacock body feathers by Richard Dove

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One Single Impression – Word

“How do you spell teacher?” she asked.

T-E-A-C-H-E-R

She’s dropped devil

I notice.

“I called her devil teacher”  she’d said.

The teacher that taped their mouths

for talking and required a kiss

to get to the bathroom.

I’m glad I’ve helped redeem

such an important word.

For the past two weeks I have included the daughter of a friend in our homeschooling endeavour,  after things got really bad at the school she was attending.  She  decided to call me  ‘teacher’ despite the fact that we were  on familiar first name terms.  I’ve noticed my own children choose to call me ‘teacher’ at times.  A lot of meaning packed into a word.

For more poetry  and writings for  the prompt – word, and a vibrant on-line community, go along to One Single Impression.

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Poetry Friday – The Baobab Tree

The Baobab Tree , Lake Malawi, photo by Richard Dove

These photo’s taken on a recent trip to Malawi inspired a hunt for a poem about the Baobab Tree which I found here

Come with me, to the Baobab tree,

To the Baobab tree, where eyes

will shine,

And hearts will leap

And feet will dance

And hands will touch

In one-two time.

Come with me, to the Baobab tree,

To the Baobab tree, where tears will dry,

And lips will sing

And hearts will breathe

And feet will dance

In one-two time.

– Julie Redstone

The Baobab Tree, photo by Richard
Dove

The round up is being hosted by Lisa Chellman at under the covers. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared this week.

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Monday Poetry Stretch – Outside my window

I have had very limited internet access this week, both because I’m homeschooling on full throttle again with the presence of a friends child, and because my broadband connection’s slogan of the week has been, ‘limited connectivity’. However I quickly popped in to check out this week’s challenge for Monday Poetry Stretch. And it’s to write about something you can find or see outside your window! My heart did a double skip as one of my favourite things about my life here, is what I get to see outside the windows of my slither of an office. Because our house is raised, my office which is more window then wall, feels a bit like a tree house, guarded as it is by four friendly Mango trees. So I went haiku crazy. Thanks Tricia, at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Outside my window
four Mango trees sit waiting
to show juicy fruit

Outside my window
happy, yellow marigolds
shout and wave at me

Outside my window
fish arrive upon men’s heads
in leaf covered bowls

Outside my window
spunky, groups of school children
make their own new way

Outside my window
a towering Cathedral
sings with bells and drums.

Outside my window
a candlelit procession
enchants us watching

Outside my window
beautiful variety
walks by and is seen.

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One Single Impression – One Word

The prompt at One Single Impression this week, thanks to Jess, is One Word.

Omnipresent
Neverending
Embracing

Wonderful
Obedient
Redeeming
Deity

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

Easter play in Quelimane

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Monday Poetry Train

Here’s my first post for the Poetry Train, departing Monday – a Haiku inspired by a journey across central Mozambique and Southern Malawi to a Lake.

Been on a journey
re-found some lost perspective
horizon gazing.

Lake Malawi, photo taken by Richard Dove

Go enjoy the poetry ride at Monday Poetry Train.

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C.O.R.A – Diversity Role Call

B-E Susan at Color Online  has challenged me again.  Here goes. My poem is by South African poet Lindiwe Mabuza called To Quincy. I chose it  primarily because sadly (perhaps disgracefully) my bookshelf is bare of  poetry by South African women, so I had to google. I like it for the imagery of its first eight lines which I can relate to. I like it because though this is part of my African heritage I cannot relate to (ancestral connection with Quincy), I can picture the “waves upon waves of liquid joy”. Which I have been part of for other occasions, such as the day the ANC was unbanned, the day Nelson Mandela stepped out of prison after 27 years and we took to the streets.   It also made me think about my own ‘unbreakable bloodknot’  to the British Isles which I’m still figuring out.

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