With a bit of a rasp you taste like twang,
I’m learning your history with each vowel.
True gentlemen will occasionally scowl
but desire blooms as low murmurs hang.
I’ve imagined some voices as whiskey,
buttery smooth yet yours is different.
A little off key but a sound so eloquent,
I collapse succumbing to your euphony.
An ancient bouquet aged for millennia,
once heard your echo rings in my head.
Resembling a fantasy born and bred,
you’re my vampire holding a candelabra.
Forced to lay every hidden desire bare,
did you know the power of the Devil’s cry?
I am forced to utter a stone silent reply,
‘That southern draw is beyond compare.’
[Poet’s Note in Comments Section of Poem ]
two companeros sorting revolutionary literature
in spirit’s gap unwrapping gifts knowing fresh
labour ! sabre cops might have followed us hot
cops never come on Saturdays — they watch rugby* remarks she blithely
work births experience dissolving glib speak
stealthily arrived contingent of state security police stalking
books, pamphlets, writings, ephemera, poems
confiscated not lovingly touched again
never say never self-assured confident
Where South China waters churn heavy and wide,
A widow rose up with the ocean's own tide.
No emperor’s decree could govern her hand,
She ruled forty thousand across sea and land.
Her laws were of iron, her word absolute—
No plunder unshared, and no thief with his loot.
With hundreds of junks bearing canvas of red,
The empires of Europe beheld her with dread.
The Qing and the Portuguese launched their attack,
Yet her fleet in the bay drove the battle-line back.
She outfought the crown and she outmaneuvered the state,
Till they offered her peace at the emperor's gate.
She surrendered her sails, but retained all her gold,
A pirate supreme who grew peaceful and old.
Though dynasties crumbled and admirals fell,
The terror of Canton lives on in the swell.
From deep below the Delta
Up came a smoky contralto; a sweet vanilla
With an intuitive guitar,
And her artistic vision, she could see far___
To New Orleans she would go, then to Sugar Hill, and eventually around the world___
Such a shiny Mississippi pearl
Never to be placed in a box
She moved mellifluously through the jazz world like a smooth fox
Glistening and extemporizing with M-Base Collective.....
Amalgamating Blues, Folk, Country, and R&B all in the name of jazz, which proved to be effective
With unusual phrases and unique arrangements on many covers, she sweetly uncovered the souls of men
Deeply and richly, Caramel Contralto touched so many with each song from beginning to end
'Time After Time'
On this 'Harvest Moon'
'You Move Me'
O' Caramel Contralto
'Time After Time'
On this 'Harvest Moon'
'You Move Me'
757.
Exaltation to Mary:
Queen of South America
Glory to God in the highest
For crowning Mama Mary among the rest
As Queen of South America & of the Universe
Queen of all South American Catholic/Universal believers
You are the Queen of South America – Home of the Largest Catholic Population
South America – Home of Brazil, the World's Largest Catholic Nation
God bless South America for having Mama Mary
Oh Universal Queen, to you also glory be.
Amen.
-11/27/2019
(Dumarao)
*Exaltation to Mary as Queen of the Universe
a surge of color
sun breaks through lingering clouds
with bold energy
Based on the behaviour
(bigoted intolerant prejudiced racist sexist)
of so many descendants
of those pioneers who crossed
the Mason–Dixon line
back in the day
demarcating the North from the South
in the good ol' U.S.A.
come rain or shine
I can believe
(with this empty bottle in front of me)
some of the settlers automatically
received a full frontal lobotomy
or if they did not
it's what they should have got
and strange but true
as a rule of thumb
the further north you go
the more southern it will become
He nearly lost it all.
He suddenly snapped and lost his way.
Friends came through that day.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 2nd place 2026
Sun winds collide
With Earth's magnetic field
Iridescent phenomenon
In celestial skies
The aurora
‘Teachers don’t leave merely because of learners; they leave because of colleagues.’
You hear teachers talk
As you walk in your purpose
The transaction with your colleagues
Reveal the darkness in some of their hearts
They can hurt your heart
They can dim your light
But the truth inside still burns bright
A touch of purpose seems more than gold
This is an era where you need to be bold
So don’t lose hope when they try to darken your life
You can stand through it all!
They can’t stop you
Through all the foolishness
You are still teaching
Every scar is a mark of truth
They try to bury you with their hate
But their fate is sealed
‘The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.’
They told you that you will never rise
Plotting schemes to bring your demise
But you walked through the fire
Knowing that there is a higher purpose
The pain that management ignores is the lesson
Management will gain on themselves later!
They can hurt your heart
They can dim your light
But the truth inside still burns bright
‘Teachers don’t leave merely because of learners; they leave because of colleagues.’
Mark Frank
Copyright 2026
BUILDING SA TOGETHER AND LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND
South Africa our Nation
'Cause of some actions
We have been apart
hatred filled in our hearts
Cries heard day to night
during day day light disappearing
We have been captured as rats
We lived with threats
Our lives as hard as nuts
We should not make eye to eye
rather let bygons be bygons
We must bury the hatchet
we no its easy to say than to do
Do stand together by any means
lets go at making everything right
For our Nation to have light
If we stand together wecan win
Win this battle together as a pride
concentrated in cobbles
unpatterned fairyland
box homes coloured
community symphonic
church mosque kiss mystical
flesh moves brick RECREATE
realms unified and truthful
fabric encodes memories
generational genetics quietly smile
enlightened shadows
in craft supreme
ancestral PROMPTS
in district cultural
moods
stabilised
his-herstory
recorded
____________
Fabric Art Wall Tapestry : Appliqué & Image Embroidery, Quilting : ‘BIRTH STREET ALIVE’ : 71 Horstley Street, District Six’ : Prior to Forced Removals : Ghairo Daniels : 2021
Leatherette & Suede with cotton, silk, satin, coloured net, chiffon, beads, sequins, buttons : 100 x 58 cm : Purple Satin Lining
Style: Historical Story Quilting
[ NB. Link to pics at comments section of Poem ]
I see myself far out of reach
on a south seas tropical island beach
piña colada close at hand
playing drums in Bright Eye Band
who knows where the cash all falls
with bills and rent the money's spent
who knows 'xactly where it went
and I picture me behind the wheel
of a sharp new shiny automobile
radio blasting the top is down
cruising to the hot spots all over town
who knows where the funds all go
it don't take long the money's done
who knows where it's gone
who knows where the money goes
it slips through my fingers away it rolls
there's never enough and my pockets have holes
In the dark of night, shadows danced, whispers of injustice echoed through time
Black men sought escape in new, destructive habits
Dreams faded like smoke in the air, leaving lost souls and shattered hopes
The barrier of getting a black lad a decent life aroused depression, but black men, we are
We rise, but do we rise taller or merely wiser?
We rise from the ashes of pain, while claiming our space and our pride
In the face of adversity, we won't hide, we march on with fists clenched high
But, how will we experience triumphs while we lack cooperation?
Broken chains reveal broken minds, struggling to unite, weighed by internal demons
Yet in vulnerability, we find unbreakable strength,we rise, unshaken
For black men, we are unbreakable
I knew a man from downtown Bell South
who could stick his own d-ck in his mouth.
That put him in the same bucket
as that famed man from Nantucket,
though he swore he never did suck it.
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