for Nia Outis
i.
Words ripple in on the wind,
on the water,
pools are clearer
than a brooding heart.
ii.
Far, far on the eastern horizon
is a shy wink of silver
on the sky-clouded sea.
klawer-aarde
vir my Feetjie-Fiona & Abs van Rooyen
ek het nooit grond besit
maar vandag met my vingers al hangend oor die klaviatuur
voel ek hoe dit is om ‘n stukkie aarde myne te kan noem
‘n stukkie swart en wit klank-grond
wat ek met die dieptes en hoogtes op en af kan klim
hoe baie klaviere het al onder my hande gegaan
onder my palms gesing
gebrand gevloei gevlieg
maar dan moet ek gou koebaai sê
want hulle was nooit myne nie
maar hier staan my eie klavier nou haar stewige staan in my see-huisie
is dit hoe dit voel om ‘n stukkie aarde te besit?
‘n stukkie woud?
‘n stukkie wind?
‘n stukkie oseaan?
‘n stukkie oase?
ek sien uit na die trillende horisonne wat deur die snare gaan oopbreek
die getye van melodieë wat die mure gaan afbreek
en die sterrehemel van die harmonieë
wat in my hart gaan inbreek
ek sien menigte klein oerknalle wat die punte van my vingers gaan lostoor!
maar vir nou,
buig ek neer voor hierdie klawer-aarde
en ek sê dankie dankie dankie
- Lara Kirsten
Avian observations
Red-eyed doves on the roof:
she signals, he mounts,
then a flutter of wings –
the insistent repetitions
of blood that sings.
***
The storm approaching –
and yet, where
the aloe stirs,
a familiar
winged visitor –
nimble, undeterred –
sunbird.
***
Dark glint
of beak, eyes, and feathers,
as he veers, manoeuvres, flip-flaps away –
startled crow.
***
The call of an owl –
how deep the well
of night.
- Eduard Burle
Extracts from a runner’s notebook
Now, as before,Haiku
for
Hugh Hodge
On today’s page an orchard
of haiku, the scent
of freshly picked lemons.
***
Lemon-scented words:
today’s harvest of haiku.
Sea fragments
for
Hugh Hodge
The story
rewritten, erased,
upon the wrinkled skin
of the sea.
***
The appetite of the white
mouth of the sea –
a hunger for words
that will not let him be.
***
Tongues of the sea
phrase and rephrase
the young monk’s questions.
- Eduard Burle
-------------------------------------------
young monk – some of Hodge’s haiku feature the character or persona of “the
old monk”; this figure is often used to explore spiritual, religious or
existential themes.
Notes from the Cederberg
Shadows climb
these shape-shifting mountains,
changing with
the changing light.
***
This harsh and unforgiving light,
this slow attrition –
of sheer and splintered stone,
of baked and cooling earth –
purifies my sight, moves me closer
to what it is I mean to say.
***
Above the valley’s dark:
ripening clusters of stars
dripping light.
- Eduard Burle
Children playing
Children playing in a river –
all they don’t yet know;
all they’ll someday never know
with the same
undiluted joy and clarity.
***
The game of what to reveal
and what to conceal
is played over a lifetime –
the child learns quickly.
***
The child plays
behind fences and walls;
the game she plays
has neither fences nor walls.
- Eduard Burle