These words are intended To illuminate and instigate Despite or perhaps in spite of Your thoughts and deeds: Without murderous malice Or even a false hope Of reprieve Because you claim With so much passion To understand.
Underlined, undefined Depth with no consequence Or recourse or cause Undermined, ill defined.
These words are meant To pierce the darkness And penetrate the furthest recesses That are prone to resist Yet persist To regurgitate nothing But old views That only ever expose The infantile expression Of your aggression, Defeated in repose.
Underlined, undefined A life without relevance.
Past indiscretions encompass Who the I is in your mind So we fail again Always the same Empty gestures in vain.
Underlined, undefined Consciousness without presence. Searching to find A lasting distraction Unrelated to substance Or distance and your mind: And inconsequence becomes One sublime measure Of creative impurity that reveals Neither a glimpse nor insight.
Underlined, ill-defined Living without meaning And intent or consequence Undermined, in your mind.
The 25th of May was Africa Day - first inaugurated in 1963 when the OAU was first formed. This year Khoi Gxam Productions in collaboration with the District Six Museum, the ITMSA and Chimurenga Magazine hosted an frica Day programme at the Museum which included a short lunch time, birthday tribute to James Matthews performed by Tauriq Jenkins, Keenan Herman, Lee Roodt and Phillip Cowie with musical accompaniment by Glen Arendse; as well as a performance of the play Progres' which is based on the life and work of Ken Saro-Wiwa and explores some of the issues that continue to affect the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. The story is set in a fictional village which for all its specificity, could have been anywhere in Africa where issues of displacement, ethnicity, self interest and corruption are for the most part the order of the day as the lines between governance, politics and commerce continue to be blurred.
Audience reactions were positive and the event was an overall success although it is particularly telling that there were less than 100 people in attendance - and that for an event that was free! Maybe next time we should have loud music and alcohol instead?
The 25th of May is Africa Day! Celebrated since 1963 when the Organization of African Unity was founded, the District 6 Museum this year in collaboration with the Prestwich Place Project Committee, Khoi Gxam Productions, the Ogoni Solidarity Forum, the Independent Theater Movement of South Africa and Chimurenga magazine, is hosting a series of discussions and performances that explore the themes of space, power, influence and profit.
The programme begins at eleven with a gathering of the Seven Steps club, an association of ex-residents who meet monthly to reflect on current issues. This will be followed by a tribute to dissident poet James Matthews, which will take the form of a lunchtime poetry reading with musical accompaniment based on a concept entitled Live Rage which was performed at Artscape last year as part of their heritage month celebrations. This performance is comprised of a selection of Mister Matthews poetry which will be interpreted by three young actors under the direction of Tauriq Jenkins and Michael Wentworth and will start at 12h30. A guest appearance by James Matthews will conclude the lunch hour performance.
At 16h30 a panel discussion panelists from some of the partner organizations presenting their different perspectives and the day will conclude with a performance of Progres, a play inspired by the life and work of acclaimed Nigerian author and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed along with eight others in 1995 for their opposition to the activities of Shell and the Nigerian Federal Government. Progres’ is written and directed by Michael Wentworth and Tauriq Jenkins and stars Tauriq as the lorry Progres’ with Monique Rockman, Lee Alan Roodt, Ema-Lee Atkins and Keenan Herman.
This play was first commissioned by the Ogoni Solidarity Forum – an organization established to raise awareness about the conditions in the Niger Delta where the story is set.
Chimurenga Magazine will be introducing the Chimurenga Chronicle – a speculative, future-forward newspaper that travels back in time to re-imagine the present. The next issue of Chimurenga will take the form of a once-off, one-day-only edition of a weekly newspaper the likes of which has never been seen in Africa. Back-dated to the week May 11-18 2008, it reports on the first week of the so-called xenophobic violence in South Africa, two years ago – and events around the world during this period. This is not only a commemoration. It is also a second chance; an opportunity to provide the depth of reporting and analysis that should have appeared during this period. Our aim is not only to reanimate history – to ask what could have been done – but also to provide a space from which to re-engage the present and re-dream the future.
In primary school in the 1970’s I wrote a composition for the June examination that was read to the assembled school by the principal on the day that we returned after the holidays. As I listened I realised that I had written it and I began to notice the reactions of my peers. At that moment I knew that this was what I was meant to do.
Since then I have honed my craft on the streets and in the gutters; in the ghetto and the ghetto hotels; with passion and certifiable insanity. One of my first short stories won a competition in a daily newspaper while I was still at school and my poetry has been published in various compilations and anthologies as well as the African arts and culture magazine Rootz.
I have been writing professionally for theatre since 1996 when I was commissioned to write a children’s play for the North West Cultural Calabash Festival. My first feature play was the only South African entrant to be short-listed for the 1997 British Council International New Playwright Competition. I have since worked on various documentaries and stage productions including an original adaptation of Can Themba’s short story ‘The Suit’, as well as the pop-opera ‘Torong – A place to dream’ which I wrote, composed and directed. My theatre credits include writing and co-directing the musical ‘Maloba – Memoirs of a Nation’, ‘Waiting’ which I also produced and premiered at the National Arts Festival in 2008, ‘Live rAGE’ which was a birthday tribute to the poet and writer James Matthews and ‘Progres’ inspired by the life and work of Ken Saro-Wiwa.
I have written for television and radio as well as various South African newspapers and magazines and I am currently working on my debut novel entitled ‘A Tale of Extra-Ordinary Madness’ while co-ordinating an arts project at an underprivileged primary school in the Eastern Cape.
These words are intended
Posts
