November 04, 2006

What's it all for?

I want to write funny poetry
Stand up comedy poetry
The kind of poetry that brings tears to your eyes and makes your stomach hurt
The kind of poetry that has you sitting in the fourth row
To the side in the hope that my eyes won't catch you
And the words won't speak to you

I want to write movie scene poetry
The kind that speaks to you in moving picture and sound
The kind that has you pondering the hidden meaning when the words have long been spoken
Or dazzles you with words that explode, crash and burn without CGI and any other digital endeavours that may mislead the eye

I want to write poetry that puts Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh to shame
As the words splash a multitude of colour on your mental canvas
Poetry that reaches into your chest, grabs your heart and squeezes it gently

I want to write poetry to dance to
The rare kind that has you bobbing your head to melody only you hear
Shaking your ass and tapping your feet to words that breath rhythm
The kind of poetry that mixes breakbeats with symphony, laid beneath a voice that sings straight through you
As opposed to at you

I want to write early morning poetry
A mantra that brings peace calm and hope
Meditation poetry for the mystery of sunrises
When the world seems clean and peaceful for one short, colourful moment
The kind that makes you feel whole again
And closer to heaven than life in the womb

I want to write cosmic poetry
The kind that traces the rims of the moon's craters
Kisses the stars and basks in the glory of the sun
The kind that orbits randomly between planets,
Even Pluto, despite the demotion,
And rides on the winds of meteors
As they journey through galaxies
In search of their final resting place

October 31, 2006

shadow talking

darkness is the light
it leads me to moments of silence
where truth resides

the daily cacophony
blinds the mind
to what lies in the residues of essence

the winds howl songs of confusion
the sounds of the city deafen
the sights are burdens
tattooed on the hearts of children

time never stands still
laughter is a rarity
sanity is a luxury
hope is the sole provider
dreams trusty companions
sleep infrequent

happiness comes only to those who find silence in the shadows

October 26, 2006

closed doors

talk to me
tell me of the winds
and the stories the whisper
tell of me of the words
silence speaks
words that i do not hear
they carry your thoughts
though they remain hidden from me

share with me
allow me a glimpse to the space
beyond your pupils
where your truth resides
allow me moments of clarity
dialogue to replace our parallel monologues
we can only be we with we
instead of the you and i
we seem to languish in

all i ask for is you
please let me in
i'm tired of knocking

October 24, 2006

I can't think

I hear gunfire
When the lights are out
When the streets are dark
When all sleep
I hear gunfire
It rattles within my skull
Blinding
Deafening
Unrelentless
Gunfire

October 23, 2006

Lost words lack destination

Lost thoughts resurface
Lead us to old truths
Create ripples in today's reality
The past is no longer what it used to be
The future is a place of fear
Where madmen roam beyond their politics
Dreams and ambitions are not the same
It is the ambitious who weave their darkness into the fabric of this world and the next
The dreamers are content to exist in isolation travelling between the 4th and 5th dimensions
But never the first
There is a fine line between poetry and sermons
Although poetry seeks no worshippers
The words mean the same
It is the speaker that brings down the walls of insanity and defines their truth
These words have no destination
They meander through the tentacles of life seeking the words that have come before
And have long since faded into the libraries of time

October 12, 2006

The end of silence makes no sense

We leave traces on the stars
Traverse galaxies randomly
Hitchhiking our way between meteorites

When I sleep the possibilities are infinite
Deep in fantasy, I awaken to reality

Which is truth?
The world behind my eyes
Or the world before them
We live in life's emergency room
Bullets pockmarking the walls
Battlefields are whenever we want them to be
And, often, where we least expect them to be

I hide behind words
And pray for a brighter tomorrow

October 05, 2006

Poetry

Poetry is ...

....... the carving of flesh from the bones of angels
...... moving parts of the mind rattling hollow
...... children laughing at silence
...... moonbeams caressing a lover's brow
...... murder by random words
..... the sound of stars breaking
...... the warmth of a womb
...... nails being pulled with a pliers
...... your first kiss
...... a dying breath
...... passion undefined

October 03, 2006

Bird in the hand

The answers are in the silence
Listen to carefully
And they'll pass you by
Excessive thought births a vaccuum
It is in the doing that we truly live
The heroes of this reality are the trees
The birds linger and are given life by the wind
Beneath the soil is truth
Between earth and sky
We live in an illusion
I know why the caged bird sings
She recognises our common capitivity
Within the bars she is truly free
While we are imprisoned in the city
Long, cold, damp streets and alleyways
Lead us willingly to the comfort of purgatory
We prop ourselves us with caffeine in its various forms
Death comes to us all
Our clotted blood thickens within dried veins
The maggots have gone on strike
The quality of feed has diminished
Who knows what you can catch from the polluted dirt
The cynic is reborn

I don't want to

I have stood on the precipe
And laughed into the wind
I have dance on the edge of a razor
And conversed with the dead
I run on the cliff's edge
With utter disdain for the rocks below
I have lived and loved
I inhaled and exhaled
I have done it all
But I am still young
The future is a meandering road across uncompromising mountains
The future is a thought lingering in the back of your mind
The future is not worth living for
Only today matters

October 01, 2006

Anonymous

Fresh water
Broken laughter
Spirited souls
Hopeful minds
Distant eyes
Tearful memories
Never-ending stories
Wide-eyed fascination
Wanted dreams
Walking dead
Reborn children
Fearful containment
Slow death

Hi, my name is Kojo
And I'm a junkie
I suckled the white princess' dry, powder-filled breasts
Together we gave birth to smoke
And my impeding death
But she loves me no longer
And I can no longer fulfil her desires
Ours is a story that has come to an end
And now I stand before you
With drifting heart
Broken thought
Mindless hope
Blank dreams

September 25, 2006

Blue

Lady sings the blues
Beneath blue skies
The sun's rays dampened
by the blue tinge in her eyes

The piano man hunches uncomfortably
Over the black and white keys
The piano whispers history's cries

The sax player curls into the sounds
As the sax wails
Melodic storytelling of a history of pain

The drummer lazily beats on the drums
Arms too tired to lift
Heart too heavy to enthuse
The skin of the drum sag
Like the wrinkles on a worn t-shirt

And the lady still sings the blues
Death can be short and painless
But sadly the reaper is otherwise occupied
And is taking is time
So the lady sings the blues

September 22, 2006

Beef

On hip hop landscapes
The residues of gunfire
Linger behind every word spoken

Within the towers of its origin
The shallow speak loudest
Flagbearers for the true remain silent

Heightened awareness breeds focus on self
Definition of wealth is in building of self
We create beef where there is none
The wretched scramble for crumbs
Devour each other blindly
Blinded by the minute

September 20, 2006

word speaks

i am the last word to be spoken
when the earth implodes
sucks the humans to death at its core
i will be the last thought
the final state of existence

when their lives flash before the collective eyes
when the sins of their fathers, and their fathers, and their mothers, and their mothers
come home to roost on the volcano's edge
when regret clogs their arteries
and they dream of taking it all back
i shall be the last word to pass their lips

i take no pride in this knowledge
i do not preen or gloat or swagger
it gives no pleasure and no satisfaction
i do not linger in anticipation of that moment
when i am spoken in truth
when all that i am
and all i represent
is whispered to the heavens
in the hope that i shall bring hope
in the wish that i may somehow fulfill the last wish
in the belief that the mere mentioning of me
shall reverse centuries of action

i do not pride in all of this
it gives me no pleasure
to know that i shall be on the tip of millions of tongues
as mankind slips brutally into nothing

i am the last word to be spoken
i am .......................... MOTHER
the last word that will ever be spoken

My rabbit hole

My word is my bond
Fuses me to the thoughts I speak
On the page lies my being
Schizophrenic and contradictory
I mirror the ramblings of my mind
Man is judged by his action
And my action is word
So shall I be judged by word rather than action
I exist at a fraction
Of my potential
My stupidity often rears its cobra-like head
But my word is my bond
So I follow its footsteps across the page
And pray for ambiguity between the lines

September 18, 2006

How high

Faceless man paints murals of heroes on suburban complex walls
The nameless and the soul-less collide on street corners
Brought together by weed smoke
Class barriers crash under the weight of cravings
Natural viral metaphors swim their veins
Multiple blessings born out of living in theory
The practical enactment of blaze is hazy
Truth is changing into reality in a phone booth

September 14, 2006

Animal speak

I have tasted her
Run my tongue across her heart
Suckled passion from her mind
While she raked her nails up my back
We have lost ourselves in turbulent rivers
Caught our collective breath on the edge of waterfall
Drowned in the silence of our moment

The boundary between love and lust is thin
We traverse it easily
Finding comfort in the sounds we create as echoes
There is that moment when we are submerged in the rawness of our coupling
We embrace it and each other willingly
Knowing that we shall slip back across to love's nest
When we are satisfied

The creation of perfection is not in the perfect romance
But rather in the ability to give ourselves freely to each embrace
However we decide to define it

September 13, 2006

Broken love

Give me a word, any word
Something to entice the muse
She's been difficult of late
Teasing me with residues of inspiration
She pecks me on the lips
But holds her lips tight
Not allowing me even the slightest taste of her breath

Share a line, any line
Something that will ignite her passion
Warm her blood
Dampen her soul
And loosen her spirit
We were so close once
Our skins had coccooned to enclose the two of us in beauty
We were inseparable
And I had every thought, every emotion and every poem at my disposal

I suspect she is seeing someone else
I have suspicions that her lips and arms and heat are now for another

Give me a poem, any poem
Mine seems to slither to a stop
Even before I begin

September 12, 2006

Wordplay

Temperature's rising
And we reach across the city
In anticipation of what's to come
The words we speak are practice strokes
We tease each other playfully
Without bravado or doubt
Ours is a dance we have danced many times and still we never tire
We hear the same drum and move to the same rhythm
Which is the work half done
All that's left is the manifestation of pleasure

September 10, 2006

ge inspired

when she cries
the tears sing lullabies down her cheeks
she is a similie in love with ideas
and when they kiss
they kiss so deeply
metaphors get jealous
envious of their passion

it's still early days
their moments are passionate
and there is still much work to be done

in another lifetime
she was in love with adjectives
they lived on blue lines
and dreamt of creating beautiful language
theirs was the birth of romanticism
but adjectives had an unholy alliance with nouns that couldn't be broken

and now similie has found comfort in the arms of ideas
and only time has the answer to the conclusion to this lyrical saga

September 07, 2006

?

Random words
Alleged poetry about poetry
Thoughts give birth to more thought
Recycled for mass consumption
The wordsmith becomes voice of the masses
And his words are silenced
Consciousness is unconscious of self
Humanity's travails distract from true purpose

Please step aside for the hearse
It carries the body of a poet who died of hunger
Homelessness is the destination of the pure
They seem so sure

Keep it real
Stay true to self as long as we define that truth

I've stopped thinking about the meaning of life
It makes my head hurt
I've taken to eating dirt
Brings me close to my nature
We shall find a home in the soil one day
Even those who get burnt
Everything ends up dust
A smoother derivative of what we have created out of dirt

It's been said that sleep is the shadow of death
Let me succumb to the shadow's warm embrace

September 06, 2006

Words are hard to come by

It is in your silence
That you live your truest moments
Creature of glances and sighs
I hear the words in your breaths
The rise and fall of your chest
The twist of your lips
The gentle thoughts of your eyes
It is in those
And your silence that we find common ground

September 04, 2006

Just another

This is just another love poem
Nothing too deep
Nothing mildly intellectual
Just a regurgitation of chest pains
The nice kind
The kind that seems to rise in the company of her

This is just another love poem
About lips, and hips, and trembling
Lots of trembling
The nice kind
The kind that seems to precede climax

This is just another love poem
About want, desire, need
It consumes, embraces, engulfs
And I bleed tears of joy
It is a poem about me and her
And what happens when we are together
And how we feel when we are apart

This is just another love poem

September 01, 2006

Alphanumeric

Poetically inclined
Mathematically defined
Word plus word equals truth

X is the unknown

Inquisitive minds diminish with growth
The teenage years are humourless
The adult years are colourless

Word times word divided by truth equals life

We are stuck on a leaking raft miles
From sanity's shore
Kicking at shark fins with our bare feet

Word minus word is a vacuum where thought floats freely
Its randomness is just that
Random

We infrequently dance in tandem
Most of the time we stumble in opposite directions in search of the same rhythm

The square root of word is infinity
A times word plus b times word equals x is the unknown consequence of truth
Childlike reflection of laughter

In the beginning of the word
And on our death beds
The last breath shall be in word

August 30, 2006

In cold blood

Blood runs cold
Clotted and thick
Drops splatter onto the tiled floor
Squeezes between the unseen cracks

They reach out with fire
Burn the bridges of humanity
How easy it is to take a life
When life's meaning is lost
In the cracks in the universe

Yet they speak like we do
They laugh, they cry
They bleed and once they dreamed
But we stand poles apart
On the edge of extremity
The uninhibited and the inhibited
My blood runs hot
And theirs is cold

August 29, 2006

Unspoken letter

You and I exist in the wind
It carries our unspoken
It whispers our silences
It is the only place
Where we can allow our desires to flourish

We have reached a state of turmoil
That has become natural
Our lips speak untruths
While our silences shout what is real

We are drifting aimlessly
Because we fear definition
Once the truth is spoken
It takes form
And we cannot allow it to take root

August 26, 2006

Cause & effect

What's ur cause?
Do you bleed tears in the face of poverty
The skeleton is children breathing death
As life leaves their bodies prematurely
Mothers powerless
While their souls turn to dust
And their hearts break with every laborious cry

Are animals ur thing?
Have you protested against whaling
Cried when your favourite puppy died
Taken comfort in a purr against your ear

Or is global warming what burns indignation into your spirit
As your fellows pursue their selfish purpose without thought for the inevitable extinction of our species
Glaziers melt and drown cities
The earth opens up and takes back what belongs to her

What is your cause?
What tragedy bleeds ur heart?

August 24, 2006

We lie together

She idly pours herself over me
Oblivious to the intensity of the simple act as I bend into her
I feel her fill all of me and I return the favour
We drift rudderless feeling our way over the waves of a turbulent ocean of desire
We have become every song, every poem, every manifestation of erotic thought
We have become every illusion and every fantasy as we realise the silences that precede acts of lust
We have turned our backs on society's political correctness
And colloborate in a duet that celebrates the physical and spiritual
Untainted by romantic notions of love

Have you ever your heart stop at the moment of climax and touched the heavens, even for a moment?

The spirit returns to its place amongst the stars before being jolted back to this physical reality
In that lies the beauty
Love, at that moment, is a mere after-thought that we bask in while sharing a cigarette
Or simply catching our collective breaths

Without lust
Can love
Make a home
In our consciousness

She sleeps
And I follow closely

Is there anything sweeter
Or more perfect
That this moment?

August 23, 2006

The future is reborn in our hearts

These are the end of days
When his children shall scour the earth
Crawl from the cracks in the earth
From deep within the core
The angels of hell are scaled
Fire-breathers, demons of madness

These are the end of days
But god's angels man the gates to humanity
They are the keepers of dreams
Watchers of god himself
Because we are created in her image
An image defined by the individual we

These are end of days
The battle has begun over deserts
When it should be fought in our hearts
The illuminati has redefined our futures
Taken us to the precipice
And violently whispers us over the edge

These are the end of days
These are the end of days
The future lies in our voices, in our hearts
And in our pursuit of truth

The end of days shall end
And we shall return to the beginning

August 22, 2006

Visual Fantasy

The eyes are windows to eternity
Reflections of infinite dreams
Lived in fantasy
How beautiful they are
Speaking in truth
When the lips speak detours

Our souls peer from behind them
While we attempt to guard our fragility
Our pupils expand and contract
When we least want them to
And so we hide behind man made shields
Afraid that we shall reflect truth always

August 21, 2006

Addiction

Her eyes speak volumes
The depth of passion
Vibrates beneath her skin
Her lips tremble
When we touch
As she mirrors the murmurs of my lust
And moans a collective sigh

We are piano keys playing harmoniously
We are every instrument played
We are every song sung
We are a duet between lovers

She exhales into me
Her breath leaves a residue of passion on my tongue
Before tracing my insides

I crave her like cocaine

August 20, 2006

Unplugged

He sings the words I wish I could speak
This son of warring factions
Perches himself on the face
Inhales the best of two worlds
And spits out a spiritual truth

There is nothing greater
When your unspoken words
Come back at you on wind
They dance between the spirit's strings
Take ownership of your heart
And send you flying into yourself

You drown in the waters of his song
His fingers play your soul like an acoustic guitar
His voice carves truth into your skin
His heart is yours, speaking on your behalf
You return to silence because any thought you speak will be inadequate
Instead you listen to him speak your words
Instead you let him unwrap the petals of you
And lay you bare before humanity

It is possible to love spiritually
The physical an inconvenience you do not allow yourself
It is possible to transcend the trivial pre-determined ideals of human ego
It is possible to be engulfed by that which is born of another man or woman's mind
Without expectation or demand
It is possible to be in love with music
And those that give birth to it

(Wrote this while watching Lenny Kravitz Unplugged. My dream is to write a book filled with poems about my favourite artists. Those who overwhelm me and, often, silence me with the beauty of their creativity. Those who speak my words when I am speechless. They are so many: Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Terence Trent D'Arby, Seal, Carlos Santana, Darius Rucker, Bob Marley, etc. There are artists I enjoy, but there are also those who engrave their words and sounds on my heart.)

August 17, 2006

Frenzy

My Development has been Arrested
So I travel Lyte
In search of the Lost Boyz
There were last seen in between the 2nd and the 3rd Bass
Puffing on a phat Mary J

Big Daddy is in court as witness for the trial of the year
Kane killed Abel and figures its no Biggie
He's Notorious, sees himself Smooth
Never been out of jozi
But reckons he's got peeps in Boogie Down

Meanwhile these thoughts weighing me down
Just plain Heavy, like my friend Darrel, but we generally just call him D
He into sound EFX

It's raining and the hail coming down like Ice Cubes
Was feeling Brand Nu this morning
So so def jamming to Dre on my walkman
I'm a Brat, this I know, oh so Grand
But my baby cares for me
We spend our weekends
Picnicking under a cypress tree on the hills of the city

The years have slipped by

August 15, 2006

The muse

Her eyes reflect the sunlight
Blind passers-by with their fury
Her lips twitch
Words caught between her teeth
Fire seeping from her lips

They carved her infamy in the walls
Spoke her secrets in dark alleys
Whispered her madness behind closed doors
Yet she heard every inference
Inhaled every whisper
And she has come to enact her revenge on their souls

Every artist,
every poet,
every musician,
every singer,
every being that dreamt of lying in her arms shall perish at the flickering tongue that she wields

They feigned to speak for her
History shall be reversed
And perceived beauty, and word, and rhythm and harmony shall be made right

She has returned to where it once started to start things over

August 13, 2006

From light to dark

The purpose of life is to end
The count down to darkness
Is the waiting room
A state of limbo
A temporary construct
An artificial lab
An experiment with no conclusion
Other than death

Real living starts beyond the here
Real life starts in the after
In the space between death and birth

The space between heaven and hell
Is all an illusion
A metaphor in which we inhale breath's likeness

Await true birth when that breath leaves our bodies
Only then shall the answers come
Because everything that has a beginning must end
And in that end, we are reborn
To start all over again

August 10, 2006

grammatical error

i was born a metaphor
incomplete, not quite whole
like august wind
like summer's heat
like a crooked street
like a butterfly in heat
like a heart off-beat
like a dream unlived
like lessons unlearned

i was born incomplete
like a metaphor without an end
like a random thought
like an error disrupted
like - like - like - like

i exist on the edge of a razor
standing on the outside
speechless, depleted
silently evicted

i hide myself behind cracked mirrors
my laughter echoes like a desert winds
undressing the trees
and stroking their limbs

I thirst like a hole in the ground
beyond the earth's crust is lava
crystals of unformed diamond
the grime of a dying planet
drains me of bodily fluids

i worship at the feet of druids
and priests and new age do-gooders with flowers in their hair
equal opportunity generation
misguided ancients
i am a manifestation of their nightmares
built on fading dreams

i am like a metaphor soon to be complete .........

August 09, 2006

Gunpowder

I have lived lifetimes
In a single breath
Traversed the galaxy
With the force of spirit
Danced with angels
In the afterburn of breaking stars
Breaking as in b-boying
The stars break out into head spins, pop-locks to the sound of a meteor's beatbox
The number one contender for planetary MC is blood red mars
Warrior god spits rhymes like no other
Pluto to cold to get fired up
And venus too hot
With enough love to light up a room
Next week
We're having a poetry slam
Coz too many poets sound like failed emcees
No props, just lines, rhyme and reason

August 08, 2006

Orgasm

A subtle twist
A delicate sigh
A gentle smile
A sensitive laugh
A dreamy look
A creamy kiss
A moment becomes eternity
Snapped back to a moment
When eyes open

Drown in infinity, birth child
Ours is a pre-contracted meeting

When the stars collide
They burst into blue and green flame
When we touch
We match that flame
Burn holes into the core
Refill the gaps
When we touch once more

A single-minded existence
Leaves trails of lust of your skin
We are love
We live it
We breath it
We manifest it
But not right now

Let us not defame this pure moment
With love's distraction

August 06, 2006

Plough the seas

The monks are humming
Ancient gothic incantations
In praise of a medieval god
The imman speaks an alternative truth
Calling all to prayer from a distant tower
The priest wraps him-self
In the symbols of his calling

I do not pray
God and I conversate till late into the night
Debate the relevance of it all
And the meaning of truth
We pass a goblet filled with spirit between us
Sip the light that is life
Drink the waters of sanity

Come with me, my child
Let me show you the edge of hell
So that you may see my beauty

I respond, I have lived it already
Show me beauty
That I may ingest the stars
And inhale heaven

I have tried to meditate
But my mind saunters down the alleyways of reality
Never giving me a moment's respite
I was born of fishermen and farmers
Colonial blue collar men and women
Who sought not meaning
But relevance
They dreamed not of control
But positive influence
They did not hold down
But gave wings to the wind
And sent their children soaring

And I am one of them
Their children
I carry the fire of their pain in my belly
Suckle on their laughter with my pores
I taste the yam, cassava and okra in their smiles
I sip their sauerkraut, eisbein and wurst from their smiles
They often interrupt my conversations with god with smiles
Ancient voices that channel wisdom
Down my ethereal umbilical cord
Often she watches from god's side
Never speaking, just smiling
Dreams infused
Eyes amused
Languish in truth
Eyes tortured
Spirit abused
Will we ever be together?

Collateral Damage

Rebirth is a burden
We remain ignorant to
In the resurrection
We fall short of perfection
Random imitation
Of a god we don't believe in
Shades of brown
Tales of clowns
Flesh sold by the pound
Falling bombs
Distorted sons
Those who lead are meant to follow
While the true leaders wallow
In a zombie-like illusion
Trace your ancestry
Follow the intricate trail of physics
Quantify your existence
You shall see
That is no real difference between you and me
Beyond my self-inflicted genius
I've taken to listening to silence
The voices only make me feel inadequate
Their screams seem like laughter
And they've stopped answering my prayers
I've taken to talking to blades of grass
Listening to the whispers of leaves in boabab trees
The flowers are shallow
But make more sense than most people I know
Must be the shortened distance between germination and death
All they crave is water and sunlight
While we seek another aimless reason to fight
If I could take flight
I would
I was born into this species
Diseased minds
Degraded hearts
Corroded laughter
Acid rain tears
Burn holes in my sanity
Soon it shall be time to leave
May the universe reincarnate me as a lowly tree
Somewhere far or within a restricted area
To be human is to be expendable
And I am tired of being fodder
12 monkeys sit on a tree
And plot my destiny
All I want is to be free
All I want is to be free
From what?

I don't know!

August 04, 2006

11.02.2006 (1)

The date in the title is when I wrote and posted (http://infinitepursuit.blogspot.com) the first four lines. Today I played & the results are below:

Our shadows dance beneath the pale blue moonlight,
our spirits graze the stars,
frolick in the aftermath of angel dust,
love & lust stroke our laughter,
life is lived in chapters of 10 lines,
each a decade in time's linear confusion,
none of the 10 lines actually rhyme,
we are left with the randomness of chaos,
broken down to the smallest of atoms,
let's sit in a circle around candles,
get drunk and define it seance,
though the only dead we speak to are reflected in the wine,
our cups overfloweth with the lies we tell ourselves,
who's to blame for ignorance?
ourselves?
our parents?
the semi-erect sapien who first walked the earth on our behalf?

The teacher's duty is to themselves,
but who shall lie to the nation,
we do not think,
hence the increasing demand for drink,
if only it came through the taps,
our trough relabelled sink,
aluminium glistens giving our thoughts a metallic tinge,
our parents whinge at the state of education,
moulding their children into lighter shades of themselves,
let us not dwell on the hues of stupidity,
the opaqueness of our neighbours,

on the continent,
we rarely hear the lion roar,
live to far from the zoo,
for the african stereotype to remain true,
lost in the oceans of confusion,
atlantis only appears when you close your eyes,
how loud does a mermaid scream,
when her heart has been broken by a land dweller,
glamour rests not on the surface,
but in the blueness of the sky and sea,
wanton melody is a thought,
fragments into a song played out of tune
The beauty of thought is its ability to dance across lifetimes unrestricted to one line

August 03, 2006

we are not worthy

lost in a labyrinth
amazed at the intricacy of a maze
when I hunger I graze
for words between a book's page
read between the minds
truth is a three letter word full blown
eternal flame is a thought still growin
the birth of the beauty is an unknown
drop to your knees and give praise to man-made prophets
murder on my mind
stumped for a word that rhyme
one day I shall learn to dance in a straight line
mother, please forgive me
my thoughts dance between the planets
never resting long enough to see you

some thoughts never end and I have no idea where this is going but I must end it. my excuse: reading saul williams - the dead mc scrolls. what I am reading at any given moment tend to influence how my thoughts connect or do not connect. easy. kojo

August 02, 2006

He is truth

The drunken master sidesteps nature's swipes and tiptoes over waters
His prophecies are yet to come true
So he keeps on moving
Grooving to an intoxicating beat
He is man dressed in drag
Seeking his feminine side
And a little peace from heightened awareness and dreams
Trees have lost their leaves
But it is not spring
Flowers bend under the weight of the sun but it is alarmingly cold
The snows have melted but ice clogs every street

He is a son of the earth
Through him the blood of humanity runs
Mixed together to form the only colour there is
He picks no sides, has no allegiance to no flag
Hate is man-made
And he is born in the image of God
He is born in the image of God

Why fight when the battle has already been lost

The relics of today
Hatred multiplied infinitely
The beat of the drum
Precedes a death march
Madness is a cop-out
Difference is a medal to be worn
Tomorrow we shall all be dead
And our children shall project our insanity
Settling scores we failed to complete
The pitter-patter of their feet
Shall echo into the silence of death's screams
We dare not dream
We shall never be free
The heavens bleed
The earth dry heaves
But there is nothing left for it to vomit
The apocalypse has arrived
We just don't see it yet
Sadness is a luxury that only the sane have
The rest wander blindly through the corridors
Hoping for a sliver of hope
Accepting that it is not meant to get better
Night has come
And the only peace on earth
Is in the silence of sleep

July 25, 2006

Speaking for the sake of speech

We deserve moments of silences
Pauses in breathe
Where time slows his step
Sanity reaches out with her tentacles
And truth prevails

We deserve laughter
When reality halts its onslaught
And force feeds us clarity

We are desrving of so much
But get so little

July 20, 2006

Around the world in 20 seconds

Across invisible borders
They lob bombs of hate
At unseen faces
Tearing humanity apart at the seams

In the name of the intangible
They claw at each other
Ripping limbs into shreds
Their human-ness drained
Their beauty nullified

We seem to be better at destruction
In the name of madness
Than the reversal of truth's pain and suffering

July 19, 2006

The meaning of time

Morning dew glistens
Reflecting the sun's first glances
The breeze dances between blades of grass
And smoke hangs lightly above the city
He rubs his eyes, crawls out of bed to start another day
His morning ritual commences
His mind steps ahead
Planning the day ahead with a heady mixture of reluctance and excitement
The possibility of the unknown
Is a cross we all bear
And he carries it painfully

July 18, 2006

The other side of night

I spend my nights
Listening to the sound of possibility
Each whisper, each creak, each thud,
Charges the imagination
And sends fear crawling up the spine

I have succumbed to the madness of random thought
Allowed impossibility to encroach on my sanity

I recognise this all
But still ......

July 17, 2006

I inhale song

I've always wanted to write a poem about music
Words melodic enough to capture the essence of song
A lyrical journey through chord and harmony
I play my favourite songs over and over again
Hoping that inspiration shall and the words will flow
But they never do
All I hear is indefinable sounds

I've always wanted to write a poem about music
But
How do you speak Marvin Gaye?
How do you describe Jimi Hendrix?
How do you verbalise Prince?

I've always wanted to write a poem about music
But it's simpler to just .....

July 16, 2006

The death of silence

With each blow he becomes invisible
This vicious cycle of pain
A misguided attempt to define himself
When the madness lies within him

He seeks to silence the voices in his head with her screams
His reflection no longer looks back at him
When he drifts past the mirror
With his eyes turned inward

He dreams of manhood
Never realising with each action
He becomes less of a man
Self-castration takes many forms
And he is becoming a euneuch

He has heard that the heart carries love
And looks for it in the puddles of blood he leaves
He has heard that this is what men do
And looks at those who are invisible too
To lead the way to salvation
He has become everything he despised
And is surprised at the hate she harbours

They are caught in a chaotic rhythm of his doing
But I am the greater sinner
I have seen and yet I do not see
I have heard and, yes, I do not hear
I have spoken but do not speak
I am the reason she shall gasp her last breath under the weight of his fists
I am responsible for the consequence of my silence

July 15, 2006

reflections

lately, my shadow has started taking form
a four dimensional reflection of me
that fades in and out of reality

it doesn't talk
it just mirrors my every step
like for like, step for step
rhythm in absolute synch

when i smile, it frowns
when i cry, it laughs
we are melodies in conflict
travellers on opposing paths

my shadow has started to become me
as i drift in and out of reality
every day i become less solid
and when i look in the mirror
i see more and more of me
from the inside out

my shadow and i
my shadow and me

we have started drifting apart

July 13, 2006

I kneel before darkness

Definition of self is fluid
A meandering thought
A wisp of smoke
A drop of water snaking down the window

Moments of clarity are static
A wall to be climbed over
A fire to be extinguished
A madness that needs a cure

I am no longer exact
I no longer seek a response to my cries
I lose my voice
And regain it in moments of silence
My tongue rests while my mind works

Please hold my hand
Console me with triviality
Distract me with pettiness
Speak of nothing meaningful
Help me rest easy
Show me that the purpose of living
Is merely to live and experience

I am tired of purpose and hope and dreams and future and utopia
I crave them not
I seek the chaos of insanity
I wish to return to childhood
To rediscover the beauty of colour
The laughter in sound
I wish to touch the sky with every smile

Make it all new again
Please Mother, make it all new again

July 12, 2006

Isn't a butterfly just a caterpillar with a new suit?

my bones crack
under the weight
of my thoughts
my back twists unnaturally
crying silently

i feel like a butterfly
eternally trapped in its coccoon
with only the wind's singing for company
the voices in my head have taken extended leave
multiple moments in silence
have started to scare me
i never realised
how much i need internal company
and now i'm alone

indefinable
inconsolable
caught in a self-fulfilling bubble
no matter how high we rise
i go lower and lower

i have decided that
in my next life
i shall be nothing
consistently

July 10, 2006

blades of insanity

what kind of man
dances on the razor's edge
suckling madness from mother earth's nipples
birthing destruction in the name of brighter tomorrow's

at birth the body starts to degenerate
it crumbles at a handicapped snail's pace
and we think ourselves superhuman
the fraility of humanity is an inevitability
we remain blind to
we are submerged in a waterless atlantis
with an awful monkey on our backs
scratching, pointing, snarling
weighing us down

I have lost my way

July 09, 2006

Cry

We cry acid rain
Burn streaks of pain into our cheeks
They run down our face
Drip and sizzle into puddles
And carve potholes into the earth

We forget our suffering
Forget the blood we bleed
Forget that experience is the flame that defines us
Forget that we are our successes
And our weaknesses

We carve the future from the past
We do not dwell but build
We do not wallow but rise
That is the beauty of humanity
But let us learn from history
Let us change the weavings in life
And actually learn from history

July 06, 2006

I am spirit

I overstand
Means I see more than you see
I have reached my highest state
Wait for the gatekeeper to open the gate
Your time may come
Before your last breath is done
I have moved beyond this realm
I am a spirit floating through hell
Master and commander of my own destiny
Look in the mirror and admit it
You just can't see me
I am Ellison's invisible man
And while that may not have been the plan
I embrace my metamorphosis
Seven years of bad luck less the one where I am unseen leaves six
Change shall come
Revolution shall come
We shall all see zion
Through the eyes of our great grandchildren
I no longer seek utopia in this world
It exists only when I close my eyes
And, for a moment, the voices are silent
I do not resent them
They keep me company
Often seeing what I don't see
Let it be and imagine all the people
Crawling over each other
When heaven runs out of space
Give thanks to the ancestors
And contact grace
I'm told that's what we do before we eat
I don't eat meat anymore
I'm told it's fashionable
And I will live longer
But what if I want to leave
And am terrified of suicide
Hahahahahahahahahaha

July 05, 2006

Darkness whispers word

She whispers to me
Suspended in a purgatory
She doesn't understand
She dreams of leaving
Without knowing where to go

She whispers to me
Her form reflected
On the inside of my eyes
Her scent tastes like orange
Her laughter, though rare, a melody to dance to

She whispers daggers
They slice my eardrums
Carve space between my teeth
The hairs on my tongue rise
Prickle the roof of my mouth
I choke on mothballs and words

She whispers to me
I have no answers
No ancient wisdom
No one-size-fits-all
No reason behind the reason
Just me and her
Whispering to me

July 04, 2006

One with the universe

We gravitate towards kindred souls
Stepping over the hurdles
Climbing in & out of life's potholes
Crawling round the mountains of madness
In search of our sanity

We reach out for each other
Hoping that these are the arms
That will hold answers
And the comfort of laughter

Let us bow our heads and pray
To the higher self
Open up the ethereal connections
Dance on the milky way
Hop between stars
Happiness is galaxies drowned in the infinity of our pupils

I am a stargrazer
Nibbling on galactic dust
Sipping on meteoric waters
I never falter

July 03, 2006

Testify

I am the chameleon
Humanoid changeling
Exist in transition
Consistent in movement
Never stopping
Always in process
The faces I wear are in multiples of infinity
They slide in and out of place
Without thought

I am liquid
Taking on whatever form necessary
Touch the sky
There is no limit
The masks on my arm speak to me often
Drowning out the voices in my head with theatrical mumbo-jumbo
I love laughter
And we all know
Too much of something just isn't good for you
Okay, maybe happiness but truth
An overdose on reality results in only death
Actually death is also a consequence of life
The walls are talkinng
Give me a minute
Gonna say something back

June 28, 2006

She awakes, again

The ice melts
Trickles down the glaziers
And into the frigid water

The ice melts
Slowly warms her body
Preparation for the resurrection of her spirit

The ice melts
Creeps up north
Spreads around her curves
Reaches beneath her
And re-awakens the fires that have hibernated for too long

The ice melts
Announces our destruction
We run towards the dark side
With our eyes open
Confident in our superiority

The ice melts
And tomorrow we shall all be gone

June 26, 2006

Rainbows

Balloons & butterflies
Baboons & buffalos
They dance across the meadow

I watch amused
A nation of rainbows
Stumble between the flowers
Yet all they see is the dirt
Beneath their feet
And the dark clouds
Ominously drifting across the sun

They do not feel the calm breeze
Nor do they smell the scents
That tickle my nostrils
They do hear the sound of silence
Calmly drifting through the air

I am not the eternal optimist
But I do believe tomorrow
Shall be better than today
And the day shall be even better

Sadly they do not see what I see
No matter how often I point
In the direction of the sun
And the coming rain
Bringing with it new life

Pleasure

All I need to do is look at her
And the stirring in my loins
Becomes unbearable

For her I would shave all my hair off
And run down the street naked
She is my kryptonite
My achilles heel
The ultimate weakness
So I have taken to avoiding her

It's not that she is distant
Or unattainable
It's that the image of her in my heart
Is the highest perfection
And I love her too much
To ruin that

So I admire her from afar
And continue to dream

Lines

In my next life
I want to come back
As smoke from
the end of a cigarette

June 24, 2006

I have nothing

What is said
When there is nothing to say
What is done
Where there is nothing to do
What is sung
When there is nothing to sing

Where's the laughter
Where are the words

They mock me
Linger on the tip of my tongue
On the edge of my fingertips
Nerve endings refuse to fire
Eyes, ears and mind have separated
Inspiration is on holiday indefinitely

My voice cracks, shatters
Every time I open my mouth

Where is the thought
The ultimate thought
The manifestation of dreams thought

Where
What
Why

June 22, 2006

We were

We were young then
Two drifting hearts
In search of a calm
Beyond our twisted sadness

We are born free
The shackles worm their way
Around our wrists and ankles
Each year we take breath

We were young once
But that is drifting slowly
Behind us
Today we wipe the confusion from our eyes
Tiptoe towards guaranteed death
Hope that our actions
Will speak our truth
And guarantee our place in the beyond

We loved once
Each other and life
We awoke each morning with zeal
With enthusiasm for the possibility of another day
Laughter pierced sadness' canvas
And love was the rhythm to which we danced
But that is no more
Though we aren't quite sure
Where the love's gone

We used to dance
Together and alone
Our hearts beating in sync with the bass
Our voices the piano keys that pumped out melody
Now our legs drag and slow us down
Our arms hang limply at our sides
And our hearts beat no more

We were once
And now we are no more
Just bodies slumping through the matrix that resides in our deadened minds

We were
And now we aren't

Human

I write coz I have to

Today I have no words
So I string together random words
Out of a desire to speak words
My tears are the alphabet
Creating a puddle of words
Mainly about pain and hurt
All I seek is the right words
Hopefully ones that make sense
Beautiful words
Some light and some dense

The power of the poet
Lies in when there is nothing to say
No inspiration, no direction, no rhythm, melody or craft
Just an outpouring
I console myself with thoughts like that
In moments like this

I try to write every day
And hate it when I have nothing to say
I have embarrassed myself enough
Within these rough lines
There is no diamond
Even when I break up the lines
And pretend that imitating structure
Will make the words something they are not

Read them quickly
And then move on

Today I have no words

June 20, 2006

Pain

Heart bleeds
Mind screams silently
Eyes weep dry
Voice rages
Be still maddening seas
My insanity overwhelms me
My split personalities have merged into one hellboy
Tongue drenched in blood
I quench my thirst with the waters of madness
I am a foetus in a bottle
Deformed for the world to see
Heaven's demons watch over me
While hell's angels mock my form
I am sorry, mother
I have become an insult to your femininity
Please come back and nurture me
I am still caught in a lonely baby's heart
One day we shall say the words together
I am love

The angel of death

Better late than never, she says
You & I have travelled opposing galaxies
Walked lands and swan seas in opposite direction
All for the present moment
We are stars finally colliding to create a cacophony of colour and sound

I met one evening
Walking alone in circles
In search of where I started
She was drawing pentagrams in the sand with her index finger
Standing at the centre of of a triangle whose edges gently touched my circle
Tired of walking I stopped
And asked if she was alright
That's when she said
We are two blades of grass
Always beside each other
But never together
Until this moment
When the winds of improbability had conspired to bring us together

She was right
She was the moment I had lived for
And now that it was passing me by
I knew that I was to be reborn in her arms
Re-ignited by her lips
Re-inspired by her heart

A morbid tale
Our meeting had been pre-planned in an ethereal dimension
And the truth of the heavens was finally laid open before me
The Grim Reaper is actually a woman
And she has come for me

June 19, 2006

Sleep is totally over-rated

The nights blur into days
Dark to light
Light to dark
I am a walking zombie
Reaching a frankenstein state of mind

I cannot sleep
How long before I am labelled insomniac?

I count the clock ticks
Remember my distant drug trips
Plot the rise of my genius
Dream up new dreams
Let my mind wander as aimlessly as my pen

I read books
Watch television
Write poetry
And still I cannot sleep

I stare at the walls
Close my eyes
Listen to the night
Open my eyes
Watch my wife sleep
Hoping that her breathing will lull me to sleep

The sun rises
I shower
Get dressed
Join the world
Sit in meetings
Pretend to be listening
Drive automatically
Too tired to actually think
Stare at my computer screen
Dream up more dreams

I cannot sleep

I pop pills
Drink cammomile tea
Refrain from coffee
Avoid sweets
Visit herbalists
Drink foul tasting concoctions
Count sheep, and cows, and chickens
Listen to slow music without lyrics
Lie in bed for days
Lie awake for nights

Damn, I cannot sleep
I cannot sleep
I cannot sleep

June 17, 2006

training exercise

in the swamps
through the bushes
the rain pounds
the wind roars
together they sway
and dance
crawl in the crevices
roll through the gaps

they are wet and tired
soaked and exhausted
mindless beings operating on breath
and spirit and temporary madness
the trenches are in their minds
the mud, the blood, the bone, the flesh
all this exists in their minds

in the battlefield of love and pain
emotions are the pawns
lives are the kings and queens
moved at random over the checked board of our planet
the board divided into black and white

where do the lost ones stand?

those of us who exist in the space between the black & white lines

where do we stand?
where do we stand?

Confidential

I have a secret
A tale of two halves to tell
A silence that must be broken
Words that must be spoken
For the sake of my sanity
And, to be honest, a bit of my vanity

I have a secret
And this secret, while mine to tell
Is something I have kept silent for years
And probably is anything major in the general existence of mankind

I have a secret
A presence perched on my shoulder
A weight I have carried with me
From the day I crawled out my mother's womb
And shared my first words

I have a secret
A little secret

I like to be heard

June 15, 2006

The voices thrive in silence

In an empty space
I hear my heart beating
The hesitation is fleeting
But long enough for me to wonder
If it has stopped
And will start again

In silence I hear my thoughts drifting
Out and beyond my body
Fatigue is the perfect home for the spirit
The mind loses its grip on the logical
The body becomes disfunctional

I fear the unknown
I embrace change
But wish it would travel slower
I go for days without speaking
Hoping that the silence will give my words more power
I am strategic in my existence
I give flowers when least expected to maximise impact
I listen often
And watch often
I give hugs when they are needed
And never in between

Silence has a way of forcing introspection
Moments of quiet reflection

I fear the unknown
And the greatest unknown lies within me
Within the silence within me
I spend lifetimes provoking cacophony
Breaking that silence long enough for me to live

My mind is a shell I run to often
I need the noise to bring me out

The more I speak the less I listen
Maybe tomorrow my truth shall break out of these words and speak to me
Until then .......

I fear the unknown
The many voices that speak in my silence

I fear the unknown
And the unknown is me

June 14, 2006

these men

who could know
that something so arbitrary
something so insignificant
in the general progression of my life
could cause me so much pain

on a green patch of grass
halfway across the world
men i do not know personally
hold my joy, my excitement, my pleasure
these men, these beings of skin, and flesh, and bone,
hold my passion and my sadness in their feet

these men who frolick on the patch of grass halfway across the world
these men are gods
these men are genius
but can also be demons
these men are footballers
and on that patch of grass
they create beauty

damn, i wish the World Cup could be every year
but i would end up doing nothing
and being nothing
if this happened every year

p.s. don't think my heart could handle it anyway

June 13, 2006

Erratic thought

We talk but never listen
We laugh but never cry
We are battlefields
Our emotions the pawns
Dance through the trenches
Goosestep over the hills
The landscape of our souls
Slinging rocks at each other

I am not schizophrenic
I merely house multiple faces
They manifest each other randomly
We have come to an agreement
10 minute warning before switching
Victims of internal bodysnatchers
Are never conscious of their multi-dimensional mind states
And I am one

I scare easily but pretend otherwise
I dance rarely
I play even less
I am running out of words

If this makes sense, I'm worried

I've started dreaming nightmares with my eyes open
Ghouls crawl out walls
Demons step out floors
Goblins reside in the space between brain and skull
I hear them plotting nightly
Their chattering echoes
And echoes
And echoes

Madness is a state of freedom
It eludes me
Though I welcome it with an open mind
Do with me what you will
Just allow me the ultimate escape
It is said that cocaine numbs the brain
But I feel so alive
Weed makes me sleepy
And alcohol gnaws at my liver
Never my mind
Though that numbs me enough to kneel before shank's porcelain god

Darkness is my constant companion
Even during the day
I close my eyes when I feel alone
It whispers to me
A few more hours and we shall truly be together again
Daytime has too many pressures
Night is for what could have
What could have and
What will be

After every thing I have seen
I am saddened
There is still so much more to see
I do not wish to live that long
The answers, however false, lie in youth
The end looms from 30
Knocks at 40
Rests till 60
I have called the grim reaper
Requested early release
But he says my time is yet to come
Ain't that a *itch
There are many who aren't ready
And they leave before their time
I, who seeks the release of insanity
Must stand in line, await my turn

I am master of my own destiny
Within the rules of others
I have requested my time
And been denied
So I shall build dreams out of dust
Embrace lust
Nibble on life's crust
Make this world mine
Which it has always been

June 12, 2006

Perversion as a definition of life

is there a line between erotic and pornographic
A divide between perversion and appreciation?

The boy crawls under his father's bed
He finds fantasy between the pages
And descends into self-loathing
His young body, still forming, and completely unknown to him
Trembles at the sight of the naked forms

At that moment, his idea of perfection is formed

He is not restricted to race or religion
He does not question intelligence or purity of heart
Beauty lies only in sight
And he drinks it in selfishly

Little does he know that he has taken his first step into doubt
Till his last day he shall question the purpose of his lust
And he shall surpress it out of love and confusion

He is becoming a man
Yet manhood continues to be undefined
He shall pick from these images
And the example of the women who surround him
But mostly from the men
Unaware that, in these modern times, they are as confused as he is,
If not more

He shall stumble through fields of dissent
Through chauvinism, sexism, homosexuality, toughness,
All the -isms, -itys and -ness'
All the perceptions of manliness he can find
And hopefully one day, before he leaves this earth
He shall find sense, and peace, and meaning
And he shall find someone
Who sees beyond the definitions
Who sees merely the essence of who he truly is
A human being
Whatever that means

June 10, 2006

Bingo!

Life is built on moments
Some big, some small
Some life changing, some life threatening

Life is built on moments
And this is one of them
I recognise that
But its impact is still unknown

Life is built on moments
And I live them anxiously
Each ........... day ........... at ............ a .......... time

June 09, 2006

Home & away

The flames dance in the spaces
The wind hums a rhythm for the flames to dance to
I watch, silent observer
Discreet stalker
Twisted molestor

I encourage their tryst with my eyes
And my heart
It seems so perfect
This natural moment
This undefinable experience

All this from watching logs burn in the fireplace

Cyber lust

I have not seen her
Touched her
Or even heard her voice
But we are lovers
Words spoken in silence
Love made over distance
Passion shared through spirit
Bodies molding into each other

June 08, 2006

In the end, it all dies

A rose with dark petals
Blossoms beneath the pale moonlight
The stars flickering off its leaves
A cat howls at the universe
While a rat scampers into the shadows
Overhead an owl swoops
In search of something to silence
The grumbling in its stomach
A spider sits in wait
Stroking its web
And dreaming of better days
There is a chill in the air
And the flies have moved on to warmer spaces
To reincarnate under moving skies
They cuddle closer not out of love
But to keep the winter's darkness out
They cuddle closer and their tears fall silently
Colouring the surface of the electric blanket with an ignored blue flame
They struggled to move forward
They spent a lifetime deciding on this one moment
When they would have to part
Tonight merely the finale
And disappointing conclusion to what once was
The rose quivers and wilts
The cat goes quiet
The rat, the owl, the spider, the stars, the moon
All seem to inhale tonight's reality
And bow their heads to death
The death of love that is unfolding as they cuddle together beneath the blankets

June 06, 2006

Born prisoners

We are all prisoners of possibility
It houses us within crumbling walls
And thick bars
Our laughter crawls through the bars
And the cracks in the walls

Religion says we are born sinners
Evildoers born to spend a lifetime
In pursuit redemption
Living only to find a space in the arms of the lord
Though, made in his image, that space should be reserved

Am I a sinner if I do not subscribe to the rules and rituals of men
Who have spent multiple centuries building a reality I do not understand?

These are the thoughts that dance with me in moments of internal silence

New world

We find souls that speak our language
In the strangest of places
Life is a spinning wheel that stops at random
But who is the ringmaster
Who spins the wheel that leads us on this merry go round
Tho often, it isn't so merry

The words on the screens carry faces
And I hide mine behind them

June 03, 2006

Flesh & blood

Whenever she holds a candle
The flame dies
To be re-lit and die again
And when the wind blows
The flame dances on her pupils
A prophecy realised, humanised
She nibbles on the veins of angels
And is reborn

Random thought leads her to him
Her opposite, her nemesis
She, drinker of blood
He, consumer of human flesh
It is a dream called reality
Beneath the surface of a twisted dimension
And I stand between them
Day walker, night crawler
Inhuman manifestation of their strength
Consequence of their weakness
I am the protector

June 01, 2006

Where are they?

Men of unknown ages
Crawl through muddy, blood soaked trenches in a faraway land
They climb out the trenches over body part infested swamp
Under the fire of snipers
They finger triggers, grenades, machine guns
Commit murder every time they act
According to the orders given
By cocktail, suit wearing cowards
Who sit in their white towers
That's what the world is made of
Sadly, that's all the world has ever been
Where are the heroes?
Where the men and women
Who build life
Where are they?

May 31, 2006

Hustler's Boulevard

I live on Hustler's Boulevard
There's one in every city
Single-laned
Devoid of streets signs
And the centre line
We jostle and push for right of way

I live on Hustler's Boulevard
There's one in every town
Single laned
It breaks off into a multiple of crossroads
Leading nowhere and everywhere

On Hustler's Boulevard
There are no pavements
No yellow emergency lines
No traffic lights
The rules of the road do not apply
All there is is possibility
Opportunity and infinity

On Hustler's Boulevard
There is no nepotism, connections
Or favouritism
No racism, sexism or agesim
All you have is you
And heart
And passion
And commitment
And dreams
Lots of dreams
That's all there is
On Hustler's Boulevard
Where I live

May 30, 2006

Junkie

Need is a tall, dark ghoul
With skeletal fingers
And long, claw-like nails
Wrapped around your throat
Gripping tighter & tighter & tighter

Need is a drug
Boiled on a teaspoon
Sucked up into a grimy syringe
To be shot deep into your veins
Causing your mind to freeze
And your eyes to droop
As you travel beyond reality
Into a universe filled with nothing

Need ...

May 29, 2006

Two rings overlapping

We drift towards each other
Bobbing on the rivers of dreamt eternity
The waters ebb & flow
Bringing closer and then pulling us apart
But still we drift towards each other
All we have is hope
And commitment to carry us forward
Decisions made on past & present
Can never determine the future
We are dreamers, and believers
In the future we feign to build together
It gets very confusing sometimes
But isn't that the beauty of it all
One day we shall look back
See our footprints on the back of father time
And determine the success of our present

May 26, 2006

Between

I linger in the space
Between now and later
Stumbling down the island
Between two highways
One going forward
The other stuck in the past
The edge of life crunches beneath my feet
The future of my unborn children
Has already been decided
Though I still have no idea where I am going
It's easier to stand still
And wait for fantasy to fall from the sky
Just hope it happens before the sky falls on our heads and pigs fly

Twinkle toed
Blue souls
Tickle my fancy
Body snatchers
Live inbetween laughter
And hatred
I am stuck

Poetry too can have ad breaks
Spaces where we flee through fancy
Pushing product, selling flimsy false fantasies
Tying the ideal with yet to be discovered inadequacies

Tongue slides across the page
Eyes look skywards
Heart slows ever so slightly
Feet drag in tune to the throbbing in my head

This is a journey
As schizophrenic as reality
Find what you will between the lines
Between
Between
Between.......

May 25, 2006

I wanna be an emcee

One day
I shall write words that rhyme
And if they don't
I'll just repeat them two time

Who?

She lives a lifetime with each breath
The stars dance to her footsteps
And the moon sets every time she rises
To avoid the risk of comparison

Her open arms are vast, mysterious and welcoming like the universe

I am in awe
And, in her presence, reach out absentmindly
Hoping that she shall bless me with a moment
And today she does
Her voice a song that calms the spirit
And frees the body from limitation

I am blessed

May 23, 2006

Where streets meet

He stands on the same corner
From morning to evening
He stands on the island between four lanes of tar
Blown and twisted by the roar of engines
The frustration of beings
In their mobile metal boxes
Going to or coming from

He stands at that corner
Scratching out a tomorrow
From those who see through most of the time
But they do not realise that he has visions
He sees the future as clearly as we see the reflection of face in a mirror
On rainy days, he carries umbrellas
With smiling faces and floppy ears
For the sun, he has shades and caps

This morning
Before the chill set in
He stood with scarves of red, brown, yellow and purple
Every day he stands on that corner

I wonder what he'll have tomorrow

Silence can be golden, when you haven't got anything to say

I have no words
No insights
No profound perspective on the progression of humanity

I have no answers
No blanket solution
No tried and tested plan to solve the world's problems

I do not speak fact
My thoughts carved in a slab of rock
On the side of a distinct mountain

I have nothing for you
But my side of the story
Which is just one side
I am not the voice of anyone
But myself
And if you find relevance
Please let it be because you believe what I believe
Not merely because I said

The only truth I can offer
Is my truth
And I am but one of billions
No better and no worse

I'm just a man
An ordinary man

May 21, 2006

Purity

The heart is pure
It demands nothing more than nourishment
Something to fuel it
In its 24-hour working day

The mind is confused
It demands everything
And anything
To make sense of this schizophrenic reality

The spirit is whole
All knowing and all seeing
It demands that we live with a balance of abandon and restraint
To fulfill its ultimate purpose
Of experiencing life in the physical realm

I am the sum of these
Gliding on the winds of time
Blown in all directions at once

May 18, 2006

Moonshine

The moon hangs lazily on the horizon
Invisible strings attached to a distant star keep it in place
At the bottom of the deepest craters are puddles
Craters filled with lives to be lived
And, at night, when the world sleeps
I sit on the edges fishing
My soul attached to the hook as bait
Drawing in dreams in multiples
Life is more than a life lived
And I try to accumulate as many as possible
Broken down into pieces of magic
Some fuelled by laughter
Some fuelled by tears
But all the building blocks of my tomorrows

May 17, 2006

I apologise

We pledged a lifetime
Lay our souls before each other
And pledged them too

We sat that one summer's night
Lay our bodies beside each other
And spoke our truth
Combining a lifetime of dreams
Into a future of reality

No-one said it would be easy
No-one said we will always see eye-to-eye
But we submerged ourselves willingly

I'm sorry if I am not always what you want
I'm sorry that when you go left
I sometimes go right
But arrival at my destination shall only be complete
If I arrive with you

Thank you for allowing me
To touch the light that is you

I love you infinitely

May 16, 2006

Widow

Four years
Every four years we sit
Glued to the idiot box
Introverts divorced from reality
Spirits joined across countries
Across continents
Separated by untouchable loyalty

After four years
Did I forget to mention
In my wedding vows
Over dinner that one night
When I dropped and cracked my knee
On the hard concrete floor
And declared my undying life
Did I mention that the World Cup
Happens every four years
And for one month
Our marriage is in recess
Unless, of course,
You plan to watch with me

Remember
Conversation must be football related
And at half time
During the ad break
Before the expert analysis
And highlights of the first half

I love you, babe,
And plan to spend the rest of my life with you
Except for that one month
Every four years

Last ride

The leaves have reached the end
The blossom like roses
Reflecting reds, yellows
Greens fading into a rainbow of dance
Their stems grow week
Hanging on for as long as they can
Until they let go
The leaves glide gently in the winter's breeze
On their last ride to the burial grounds
Where they shall join their loved ones
The end comes to us all
But so do new beginnings
Spring is but a few months away
When we shall return as the generation
To begin the cycle again

Laughter

Tears dry up
Frowns fade
Somewhere
There's laughter

May 13, 2006

Head stuff

Some say I think too much
But all I have ever done is thought
Therefore I think
Thinking is a normal state
And limited thought is an abnormal thought
My head hurts

Past midnight

A king's ransom for the soul of thieves
The trenches are overflowing with muddy blood
The wicked witch is an illusion
Made real by tragedy
It's 3 past midnite
And we are on the verge of making the most significant discovery
The meaning of life is that there is no meaning
We live in repetition
History recycled
Events revised
Existence remixed
I am retiring to the streets
But only for summer nights
Freeing the physical of man-made luxuries is not made for winter
It's 5 past midnite
That's enough irrelevance for one nite

May 11, 2006

It

From behind the hills, it rises to greet me with callous hands and dust-flaked heart. It has long resigned itself to the arrival of rambling souls, such as myself, who seek dreams with its arms. What they forget is that we carry those illusions with us, nestled in the space between heartbeats. We do not merely find them, in line, on the street corner, waiting to be picked.

Dreamers dream everywhere, regardless of geographical location, social conditioning or simple state of mind. Dreamers battle with the physical manifestation of thought, yet continue to dance on distant clouds with the zeal of a child allowed in the sandpit for the very first time.

Internal monologues rarely find partners to dance with and dreamers find companionship fleetingly. Time is a commodity constantly fading and, with so much to do, dreamers are often mentally isolated willingly. They exist above and within, but never with.

Am I a dreamer? Do I carry fantasies in my backpack of future?

These are the thoughts that tickle me as I rush forward to embrace this city, as it rises, from behind southern hills, to greet me.

I have been here before... often .... I have explored its shadows, occassionally running through the tentacles of its many neon lights. We know each other but, today, it seems we meet for the first time. Our lips touch for a second and we both pull away. The awkwardness of this fresh encounter drains me. Although I am entering its core, I beg for a raincheck on a complete embrace.

Sometimes, most times, foreplay is silent. It begins in the darkness of our loins, inspired by the musings of our minds, and lingers. Actual coupling is the conclusion to an act that is about being in the moment.

I flee towards it, and away from it.... this city. This place of misguided dreams. This place of broken dreams. This place of hideous beauty.

This place I shall call 'home' one day.

Triangle & shadow

What to say
When all the words have been written
I stumble down a rocky path
The wind whispers madness
The sky blackens
Engulfing me in shadows
My tongue splits down the middle
Leaving me without speech
I mumble nothing
Muted by raindrops that burn my skin
I have scales
And my gills seek water
Though I can swim
So I stick my head into the puddles
They reflect my sadness
And my shadow speaks to me
It demands we take a different path
The answers to bermuda triangle
Are still cloaked in mystery
And I want to go round it
Rather safe than spinning
But my shadow insists we take the shortest route
And so we do
'I told you so' flashes through my mind
As I sink past the wreckages
Planes, boats, ships
They all lie at the bottom
But my shadow is no longer with me
I think he found a way out
And left me to drown in my misery

Can't trust anyone
These days

May 09, 2006

24 hours

imagine life was only 24 hours
at one minute past midnight
we crawled out the womb
under the harsh glare of hospital lights
a multitude of eyes
awaiting our first cry
tears in daddy's eyes
a smile of relief on mommy's face
within an hour our first trip home

for the rest of the night
we perfect crying
learn to crawl, walk, talk

at dawn we head through school
learn to finger paint
read, write, one plus one equals two
we find truth in the books
friendship and failure
we discover that life is not always what we dream
and find beauty in achievement

in the afternoon
we spend through high school
first crush, first love
first time we discover what truly makes us laugh, makes us cry
we explore university
lay the foundation for our future

in the evening
we start work
climb the ladder
find love, get married, have kids
as night comes we age gracefully
reach the pinnacle of our purpose
the last few hours are our quiet, peaceful journey into the arms of the reaper
and at midnight, 24 hours from birth
we die
and journey into the spirit world to prepare
for the next 24 hours in another life

May 08, 2006

monday nights

work the game
twist reality
drift round the corners
full speed down the straights
take regular pit stops
change tires
reload on fuel

work the hustle
regardless of what it is
a 9 to 5, ad hoc career movement
breath in once in a while
don't forget to exhale
speak your truth
keeping it real only applies to self
remember that happiness does not lie in wealth
although it would be nice

emotion is useful
but a clear mind goes a longer way
read more poetry
but play more too

work the game
live the hustle

May 07, 2006

Gangsta poet

I've decided to redefine myself
Rebirth, resurrection, new beginning, dawn, sunrise,
I'm starting all over
Returning to where I was
From where I am

I've decided to redefine myself
Find the gangsta in me
The pimp, thug, general bad-ass
Misogynist, incoherent, gun-packing, uncouth, ruder than rude

I've decided to redefine myself
Into a gangsta poet
It worked for gangsta rap
Became diluted in studio
And brought about the birth of bling bling

I too want to shine
Get my piece of the pie
So from this day forth
My poetry shall be hardcore

It is officially the birth of gangsta poetry and monsta! has entered the building

Word Assassination

Murder on the mind
Madness on the tongue
Words are daggers
Slitting throats
Carving metaphors into flesh
Corpses laid out like sentences

We speak without moving our minds
Our lips flap without sound

Performance requires a stage and microphone
Plug your veins into the sound system
Perhaps truth will flow through the speakers
And back to the heart

I have sent Hercule Poirot a telegram
Seeking answers to this madness
A little sherlock to determine the way home

Murder on the mind
Sanity shackled within a cabin

Murder on the mind

The musings of Agatha Christie send me down routes that terrify me

May 05, 2006

Insolence

I only see her when I close my eyes

Engraved on the inside of my lids
She carves my future with her silence

Angels are mothers cleaved out of spirit
They do not give answers
Their hints are abstract
Vague suggestions that leave you with the residues of independence

When I cry, she blurs
But I feel her caress my heart
Her essence following used blood through my veins
Back to the heart

I choke on her substance
And vomit out my fears

When I laugh
She reaches for the sun
And pulls it a little closer to me

I have been to the planet K-Pax
And every other unknown planet, star and galaxy

She takes me on trips of enlightenment monthly

Humans can be so near-sighted

My best friends tend to be illegal aliens
Somehow we seem to share love for introspection and observation

She often says I need to participate more in life

I say I'm living and breathing
Isn't that participation enough?

I find more comfort in the anticipation of nothing
Death comes to us all
Why not prepare myself for its heralded arrival

I am at home in the invisible
And she is my companion

Whisperer of truth

May 04, 2006

TV Guide

I awoke from a dream
Clothed in snakeskin pyjamas
I was on my way to meet the sky captain in the world of tomorrow
Ended up an insomniac in seattle
Cupid is a twisted sniper
His wanted poster says 'suspect zero'
Trapped in a time machine
I flitted between the titanic and the village of the damned

I awoke to this world
Frightened, I returned to the world of sleep
And slide down snowman's pass
Into the arms of the sandman

Aaah, the comfort of sleep.....

May 03, 2006

I dream of tasting your lips

Blushing cheeks
Rouged lips
Carved neck
I see these all
And turn away

Wide hips
Delicate waist
Enchanting legs
I inhale them
And turn away

I do wish to objectify you
Though it is the physical you that I lust for
And the heart of you that I love

The seen and unseen
Come together in desire's presence

My desire

But I turn away

What is it to be a man?
What am I allowed to acknowledge?

I shall swallow my truth and my lust
Until it feels safer

May 02, 2006

Suicide

Lost souls wander on darkened corners
Zombie-like, their hands and arms dangle before them
The carrot for the wretched is the endlessness of existence
They are those who curse infinity
And crave the comfort of death
Where there is respite from the physical
I have often wandered why the hopeless do not actively seek this comfort
Taking the necessary steps needed to go from present to the grave
Hope, even in its absence, seems to drive us all
And, by god, we shall not make the grim reaper's job easier
Or is it because, when enmeshed in failure, the fear is that succeed will elude us even in an act of suicide?
I am not suicidal but am often curious of those who actively are
This is not a poem
But rather the release of random thought
Or is that poetry in itself?

May 01, 2006

Blank space

Words gone too soon linger
They leave residues of the power
On the tip of my mind

I have nothing to give today
Please forgive

April 29, 2006

Masked bandit

I am ruler of all the stands before
And some of what stands behind
I control the future
And travel backwards through time
To fix the wrongs that I need to set right
My fear of flight has me stepping backwards gently
I will not make the same mistakes in my attempt to correct that which I've accomplished and failed at
Who says we can't go back and re-paint memories
I am an artist remaker of this life and the next one
I am layered and embrace each mask willingly

April 27, 2006

God

I do not fear a god who wields a sword of fire and the threat of eternal flames for my actions in the world of man
I do not fear punishment
I do not fear condemnation
I do not fear
Because god lies in me
In him
In her
In we
I cannot fear that
Can I?

April 26, 2006

Confusion

I reside on the edge of insanity
I have a fear of normality
It is in the chaos that I find the heart of me
Essence is the intangible that runs through the veins of spirit
cupid can be stupid
Flinging arrows in the wrong direction
I savour the taste of confusion
I suckle it like a hungry child
Sense is an illusion that does not exist
Do not resist, the voices say
And when they speak I listen
Even when asleep
This is my attempt to be deep
Creep, creep, creep

April 25, 2006

Utopia

We love across continents
Between us lie lakes, lands and distracted seas
The blood we bleed flows freely in water streams
We inhale the same sun
Its tongue licks our collective skin erotically
At times its touch is sordid with no respite from the heat
But it is the same
This land was once one
And as it fractured and separated
So did we
It is not the death of racism or sexism or child abuse or war or genocide
Or .........
Or .........
Or ........
It is not these and more that I seek
It is the birth of humanity we need
The birth of harmony and compassion
It is these we need
Birth not death because it is through birth that we shall create the end of the world we live in
And the birth of utopia

Re-birth

The birth of a butterfly
Is an act of love making
A caterpillar disappears within itself
And breaks out of itself
A thing of beauty
Every time we touch
We renact the birth of a butterfly

Body talk

Once again, technology has obstructed my progress hence the lack of posts. This was to have been posted last week.

My body is my temple
At which I worship my ancestors
As I carry forth our collective soul

My body is a temple
It must be decorated
And so the ink runs skin deep
Lines and shapes that speak of the footsteps I leave

My body is my temple
And the mind tattoos thoughts on my spirit
Reaching beneath the surface of the physical
To speak of my place in a world unchanged

I am another link in the chain of a people
Laying a legacy for those to come
I reach into yesterday and dance into tomorrow
And taste the essence of who I truly am

April 19, 2006

Electric fence

The electric fence cackles at random intervals
Word of warning for those who ply their trade
When the earth has rotated
And the sun warms other worlds
The comfort of the fence's watchful eyes
Lulls the sleepers into a false sense of security
Believing that the tragedy of poverty lies beyond their walls
They are ostracised from the world for as long as it takes a creative mind to chip away at the edges of their illusion

The electric fence hums in tune to the beats slipping out of the nightclub across the street
Illuminated by the lights creeping through the curtains of the flats across the street
And the lights dotted at 10 metre intervals around the complex of row after row of houses
The cats dance through the gardens
Dodging the dogs barking in rhythm
And the night owls jump at every sound
Knowing that the electric fence is not the last line of defense
And, in the face of determination and hunger, the electric fence will not stand before all who stand at its base

This I know to be true
As true as he who woke me gently from my sleep early one morning
Thinking of christmas shopping and holiday celebration

And there are more where he came from

The comfort of words

Within the bars of time
The walls that box in moments
The stereotypes that blind vision
Foolishness is the guide
And passion is the adrenalin of gods
Who believe in days beyond time

This is the hour of truth
The final dance between moon and sun
And I am the only one here
Only witness to the silence of night
Around me the sleeping bodies lie
In a state of bliss I too must turn to
But not right now

April 17, 2006

?

the headlines shout tragedy
the beauty of mankind
is only written in the small print
triumph doesn't quite sell papers
the way your blood split on city streets does
i am caught in an endless minefield
and the only reward is death
i live only to prolong that final destination
tonight i sleep with both eyes closed
and give myself to the unpredictably of life
i'm tired of trying

April 14, 2006

These city lights

They glisten on the horizon
Dance to the sounds of late night revellers
Drinking, carousing, vomiting between destinations
Each one of them signals life
Ordinary people watching tv,
Talking
Laughing
Crying
Sleeping
Their minds silent but for the dreams they see
They rest humming in the distance
And when I look at them
I think of what brought to this place
This cold, loud space built on dreams
Most broken, a few fulfilled
And I wonder what they hold for me

April 13, 2006

Need is relative

What the world needs
Is bling-bling poetry
A celebration of the material
The trivial
The pursuit of 'mine is bigger, better than yours'

The quest for perfection in word
Truth in language
Beauty in feeling
Is a devotion to wasted time

What we need
Is gangsta poetry
Words that keep it real
And wallow in the quagmire of ghetto living, of guns, and drugs, and self-pity
Repetition upon repetition to ensure that you get it

Truth is for the weak
Progress is for fools

April 12, 2006

ramblings

my thirst is quenched by the blood of my ancestors
i am descendant of you & you & you
champion of your broken tomorrows
each step i take is a step further than you ever took
but the planet's surface constantly brings me back to where i begun

this is my manifesto
detailed account of what i plan not to achieve
it is all a dream and when i wake up
i shall begin at the end and return to the beginning
i am the only son of jupiter
contra-gender manifestation of venus
she has a .......
and i have a penis

baby, will you be my yoko ono
when i die publish every word i ever wrote
even the grocery list
someone has to get paid off this madness
my insanity is electric
it makes my hair stand
and my throat choke

scattered thoughts are the pillars of this society
mentally i embrace chaos
but expect order and control in my home

mommy i hear voices
they say they represent you
and i must do as they do
not as they say
but i can't see them

i wipe my feet on the moon
before stepping onto the dust of mars
pluto is great for skiing but nothing else
prefer to holiday on mercury
nice, a tad bit warm, but great for sandboarding

am i rambling
my theory is chaotic
in the random there is order
in nonesense there is sense
i feel like the n
marooned in a distant planet
between se and se
cute?

this is the product of an orgy
with decadent angels bored with the stiffness of heaven
did i say 'stiffness'?
juvenile humour has a way of bringing out the child in me

am i the only one who thinks hell is about decadence
and heaven is like living at home with your parents
ALL THE TIME
the sins of the father never visited on this son
babies come from heaven
shouldn't we return there in death
or is it a natural progression to fall down

the words reflect nothing but themselves
i am nothing but a mouthpiece
fingering keyboard because i am bored

mommy i hear voices
please tell them to STOP