Small Stone 14.2.13

A colleague’s roses were delivered

while she was out.

I signed for them,

and those of us in,

but without roses,

admired them.

Even more we admired the tenacity

to live thirty years with each other,

to still have the desire to send flowers,

to own a heart to be thrilled by them.

Small Stone 13.2.13

A ( Read more... )

Small Stone 10.2.13

Grahamstown Storm

I wake to a thunderstorm trapped

in our hills; a defensible gift

200 years past.

I wonder, did soldiers in canvas tents

cower, shell-shocked, under the

fracturing sky, while rain made rivers

of sandy tracks?

Would that the Xhosa could have

harnessed the storm, ridden its

power to an ( Read more... )

Small Stone 5.2.13

The jokes come thick and fast

Did he pay and display?

He must owe a king’s ransom

in unpaid parking charges.

Yet, underpinning the levity,

is a thread of awe seldom

offered to bones in our

modern day. It is awareness

of history uncovered, a path

through myth, rumour and

theatre to acknowledge that

this king, unearthed, was once

a living, ( Read more... )

Small Stone # 31

I think, he said, that five and a

half year olds can ride their bikes

without training wheels.

I think you are probably right,

I said. Do you want to try?

Later I said I think five and a half year

olds can swim on their own.

No, he said, frowning, six year olds

can do that.

My cogent arguments did not

sway him so, ( Read more... )

Small Stone # 30

Table Mountain last night was painted by light,
a rhino etched against its eponymous walls.
668 killed last year alone, for greed
and cultural ignorance.

Watch the rhino on the
mountain. See how its
image bleeds into the rock,
more ephemeral than the
art left by the first Africans
on cave walls. Heed this reminder:
our legacy ( Read more... )

Small Stone # 29

The heat built for days,
each still morning a hot
shimmer over tar and
the gardens wilting.
Tonight the stillness fractured,
pierced by repeating skewers
of lightning, household electricity
knocked out by its wild cousin
claiming the night for its own,
making a giant echo chamber
of the sky before breaking
the skin of the drum ( Read more... )

Small Stone # 27
An attempt at exploring why no small stone came yesterday.

Yesterday was spent

tracing a thin line

of nostalgia through

the myriad strings

of everyday. To look

ahead

one must first reconcile

with what lies

behind.

Small Stone # 28

Migraine

First comes the blindness,

a bright white ( Read more... )

Small Stone # 26

Stargazing on a full moon night:
hey, says James, I saw the
Southern Cross and that dude's
belt first. Orion, I say, then,
look, that cloud is just like a
dragon flying across the moon,
see its wings. The dragon breathes
out cloudy fire and Nicholas sings
I see it! I saw it straightaway.

Then it falls - a shooting star. We
( Read more... )

Small Stone # 24

Can anyone remember

how it felt to fall in

love? To walk a foot

above the pavement,

breathe another’s air

knowing it for your own,

feel the shift as gravity

sets

you

loose

and your heart,

so long a clockwork toy,

speeds up, stuttering, to

dance to the music which

( Read more... )

Small Stone # 22

When he reads

she said,

oh, when he reads!

I tell him; this is

my time, you can

read to me.

Then I lean back,

a little girl again,

listening to my

mother read aloud.