talkin’ whatever-comes-to-mind bluesy blues

Artwork from Google

talkin’ whatever-comes-to-mind bluesy blues …

wearing different skins, having being kicked down at the shins,

i walk on, fearless.

when this cruel world stabs me, slicing me with the pain of the thousands cuts,

i walk on, fearless.

hearing all the barbed words, smashing against my core,

i walk on, fearless.

when they tell me that i am a loser, devoid of the trappings of luxury,

i walk on, fearless.

when fate deals me rotten cards, and i feel like i am walking on jagged glass shards,

i walk on, fearless.

if you kick me down into the dirt, i will stand again, despite the hurt,

i walk on, fearless.

even when all seems desolate, and everything feels lost, i will weather the winters, dusting off the frost,

i walk on, fearless.

when this glittering world of plastic smiles savage me, i shall smile knowing i am free,

i walk on, fearless.

whether i am man or woman, i will no longer bear the brunt of your twisted words, and your cowardly fists,

i walk on, fearless.

when you strike me across my face, because the food is cold, i shall no longer be bludgeoned by your impotent macho fist, i shall resist,

i walk on, fearless.

when we stand up and take individual stands, we shall outnumber you, and we shall make our demands,

we shall walk on, fearless.

when we rise up together as one, we shall not rest till our daily battles are won,

we shall walk on, fearless.

when you realise you have no hold over us today, we shall combat your misogyny, we shall have our say,

we shall walk on, fearless.

while your guns and and bombs rain down upon us, our children will defy you, and we shall hold onto what we know to be true,

we shall walk on, fearless.

when the slavery of millennia we shall no longer take, you shall fall to your knees, in your shoes you shall quake,

we shall walk on, fearless. 

when your anachronistic norms of culture, of religion, of tradition we shall fight, we shall do so knowing the battles to be right,

we shall walk on, fearless.

when we no longer scrounge for scraps of your leftover feasts, we shall move forward, for this struggle never retreats,

we shall walk on, fearless.

when we shall no longer sweat it out in your factories of labels and brands, we shall rebuild our lives with our hardened bare hands,

we shall walk on, fearless. 

when your wage-slavery and your greed we shall topple till your very foundations shake, we shall hold the line, for our resolve you will never break,

we shall walk on, fearless.

we shall no longer let our daughters and sons be sent to fight your wars, we shall not spill our bloody to stock your designer stores,

we shall walk on, fearless. 

we shall no longer be trampled because of caste, tribe, religion, or sexual orientation, we shall strive in all our lands, to bring to birth a kinder nation,

we shall walk on, fearless. 

we shall pull off the blinkers so many wear, we shall counter their aggression, if they should dare,

we shall walk on, fearless. 

we shall wrest the control from your greedy paws, we shall attempt to heal the planet, rewriting your stale anti-pollution laws,

we shall walk on, fearless. 

we shall arrive at those crossroads quite soon, so sup as much as you can from your silver and gold spoon,

we shall walk on, fearless.

this is our collective threat and challenge to all of you, whose greed knows no end, we stand upright, we shall not bend,

we shall walk on, fearless.

so be under notice that we are rising, and in rising we shall slay,

the endless wars, the corporate greed, the religious oppression, the imperial plan, the shackles of culture and tradition, the scourge of abuse and misogyny,

so be warned, for yes we are rising to all these demons say,

to shape a new world, a less cruel, and more equitable and just and peaceful day …

Artwork from Google

incoherent (like life)

Artwork from Google

incoherent (like life) …

… slipping through empty breaths sliding down on bent knees scraping raw flesh against cold skin hollow kisses falling to the desolate floor swept up discarded trashed recycled churned out strewn littered alongside barricaded hearts yearning to feel again to touch to taste to ache to be human once more to know to believe that one can feel that one can hear and see and dig beneath the veneer of sophisticated tinny smiles flinging around casually barbed words meant to jab gnawing at the core of all that makes us human the sting of tears the taste of salt the dripping red bleeding off roses in quaint gardens pruned to perfection yet dead inside numbed into comfortable complacency as the world turns threatening the linearity of time that prays for returns while this heart this soul this being within the cauldron of palpable loss simply burns …

Artwork from Google

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2 Tributes for Comrade President Nelson Mandela on the 5th Anniversary of his passing

Comrade Nelson Mandela and my father sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s

Comrade Nelson Mandela and my father sometime in the 2000s

Comrade Nelson Mandela and I – Stockholm Sweden mid 1990

farewell to Nelson Mandela 5th December 2013 – written on 5th December 2013.

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Today, as our thoughts and tears and love flow to our beloved President Nelson Mandela,

We, human-beings the world over,

say thank you, Madiba!

Thank you for your life, a life of principle,
a life of struggle,
of torture, of pain, of loss,

of a selflessness that you have embodied so completely.

In this often cold and callous world,

where we have been jaded by war, by intolerance, by racism, prejudice, and so so much economic and social injustice,

your living spirit shall live on!

your body, that has endured so so much,

your heart, your mind, your very self, which injustice and tyranny tried so hard to break,

shines on!

Your spirit shines and shall be the torch that we, your children the world over,

shall carry forward …

you may be struggling for life today,

but you have breathed life,

into the hearts of countless downtrodden people this world over.

I don’t know what to say,

my heart breaks today,

I want to cry, and I am crying now,

with a sense of loss and of sadness that I have felt when my mother passed away,

I cry for my loss, selfishly,

but I know you have walked the long walk to freedom,

the long and arduous walk from struggle and sacrifice to healer and peacemaker and statesman and father, yes,

father to us all …

I will miss you, My father,

I will miss your comforting presence,

I shall miss your smile,

and mostly I shall miss the gentle solace that you imbibed in us all,

your children the world over …

Live on, you shall, Madiba!

In the shacks of the Sowetos of the world, you shall live on in that eternal quest for economic freedom,

in the eyes of the pained and tortured,

you shall live on!

in the whispered prayers,

the silent thoughts,

of the dispossessed of this world who still continue to be left behind in this cruel world,

you shall live on!

Thank you, Nelson Mandela, as you make your way to join the ancestors.

Hamba Kahle* Comrade President Nelson Rolihlahla “Madiba” Mandela!

Travel well, and go peacefully

* – Hamba Kahle – an isiXhosa and isiZulu term meaning “travel well” – often used when bidding someone farewell, but in the Apartheid South African context is was meant to bid farewell to fallen comrades

Comrade Nelson Mandela voting for the first time 27th April 1994

A Poem – Nelson Mandela Centenary (1918 – 2018)

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

A man of action forged in the crucible of resistance.

Resistance against racial discrimination.

Resistance against injustice.

Resistance against oppression.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

A man burnished in the furnace of struggle.

Struggle to defeat the crime against humanity that was Apartheid.

Struggle against the obscene notions of racial superiority.

Struggle against the scourge of hate.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

A human being who personified kindness.

A human being who embodied humility.

A human being who exemplified the unity of our human race.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

A man of peace, and a man who fought the just fight.

A man of forgiveness, and a man who battled the Apartheid regime for the need of taking responsibility for the heinous crimes of the past.

A man of truth, and a man of humane love.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

He was of flesh and of blood, and he shed his blood as he endured the lashes of the whip on his flesh.

He was of flesh and of blood, and he fought ferociously against the suppression of his fellow human beings.

He was of flesh and of blood, and he emerged with dignity from the hell of twenty-seven years of imprisonment on an island of tyranny.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

He was a man of a steely will in the long cause to rid all oppressed people from the yoke of colonialism, he picked up arms and fought the honourable fight.

He was a man of fiery resolve against the scourge of divisiveness, he was at the forefront in the battles against human subjugation and indignity.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

Madiba was a revolutionary, in the trenches against the obscenity of poverty and deprivation.

Madiba was a soldier, on the ground in the service of the most vulnerable, the children of this world.

Madiba was unshakeable, and he lived the example of the committed revolutionary and the dignified statesman.

 

Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela walked amongst us not long ago.

 

Our beloved Madiba does not walk amongst us anymore.

And yet, Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela lives within us.

Madiba lives in the streams that flow into the rivers that flow into the oceans.

Madiba lives in the winds that blow across the vast lands of Africa and beyond.

Madiba lives in the thud-thudding of heartbeats around our world.

Madiba lives in the veins where the blood flows through our common human form.

Madiba lives!

Madiba will always live!

with Comrade and President Nelson Mandela at tjr Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg early 2008