Is tamed wildness
And manufactured wilderness-
A plastic world
All my young son will know?

I have known gritty gravel roads
And sunburnt savanah veldt.
Swam and splashed
in muddy dams and reservoirs.
I have sat high above,
in mountain peaks studying clustered clouds
close enough to reach out and run my fingers through by day,
and I have counted the dancing stars above
in vast dark nights.
I have discovered treasures in the misty valleys on early mornings
And seen sun streak through
heavy storm clouds
to colour a grey sky with radiant rainbows.
I have seen surreal snow fall
And slowly erase the world around us.
I have seen majestic beasts truly free-
Wildebeests, various buck and cautious rhinos,
Zebras that danced and played
Around an elephant that loomed high above them,
And elegant wings that whispered
upon westerly winds.

And it has all left me marked,
these magical moments  tattooed in
my south african soul-
And I am more for it - filled.
what will feed their sould now?

Somehow the gate's been opened
To the urban zoo;
And the rural petting farm
Is something gone askew.
The wildebeests and monkeys
Are leading lambs and lemmings,
They're trumpetting their call,
I hear them through the concrete wall.

in
Tanzania
where
migrating herds of
wildebeests, gazelles, zebras and buffalos
stampeding across
the
vast Serengeti Plains
ignite the world
then
write
their names
in gold
ignite
the
skyline of earth
create
a painted
watercolor sunset

I wear a suit and tie all day
slave to a clock
come home tired and irritable
while the lion just does whatever it wants
and has the entire Serengeti to roam
picking off Wildebeests until it is satisfied
but it can't use a computer
or a microwave
and it doesn't have an air conditioner
but then all these things
are in my little cage
I'm not sure who has the better life
But I bet the lion would think
cheeseburgers and french fries
on value menus wherever we roam
are pretty awesome
I'm sure we would be good friends

Everyone loves the comedian.
He can bring a smile to someone’s face that had been covered with a cloud of darkness for decades.
He feels the sadness emitting from another person, even from their heart, and can chase it away with a joke about an interrupting cow or a dog and sandpaper or with the punchline being the lyrics to a song that when said is played in the head of the listener and its beat revives their heart with an electric shock.
He can put in order the right words and can say them with such perfect deliverance that it can make a crowd keel over, laughing so hard they can barely breathe and applaud with the forcefulness equivalent to a stampede of wildebeests.
People like to laugh.
He can make them laugh.
But what if the comedian no longer walks with a spring in his step? What if that cloud of sadness that he chased away found its way and circled back towards him?
What if it just so happen to be that, when he walked off the stage, he pulled off a mask that no one knew was there in the first place because he hid it so well by distracting the attention from his face and onto to what happiness he could provide them with. That by mending other broken spirits, none of them would notice his, even more broken than theirs. And in the silence of my- his- own misery, he is left to rage war with himself that he can only feel on the inside of me- him- and gives no hint to it on the outside so as to remain the jester. My- his- heart and mind is a warzone fought between him and his fears. The insecurities that reach out their withered hands to paralyze me- him- from the heart down are fought only with the will to press on as normal. And while I tell that joke about the rabbi, the priest, and the atheist that walk into the bar I’m on the other side of it drinking myself into a protective pit trying to forget the other joke I told about the chicken who crossed the road as if trying to paint me- it- with some amount of courage to cross the road when deep down inside I know the truth that I am much less than a coward unable to cross a dead road for fear of getting run over by myself. My insecurities and fears that I warded off for so long have finally grabbed hold of my ankles, ripping the supports from underneath me so that I fall and crash to the ground, blood spilling everywhere, all the while keeping a calm composure and a smile taped to my face so no one will know it kills.
Yet still I press on.
Why?
Because everyone loves the comedian.
I can bring a smile to someone’s face that had been covered with a cloud of sadness, emitting from their heart, coming in to save the day and chase away that darkness and revive their heart with an electric shock that has the forcefulness equivalent to a stampede of wildebeests that will leave them breathless and with a smile on their face.
And so they press on.
And so I press on.

My nose runs through plastic flowers,
dad close behind, brother
somewhere— camouflaged— in front of me.

Our prey is close.
The savanna grasses
dried and woven into baskets
but we stalk through them all the same.

As we close in, crouched among hippos
crocodiles and wildebeests
pushing orange shopping carts, we crack up,
roar, our prey hears us and we duck

into the nearest aisle of knickknacks
before she turns around,
all the other animals glaring
but Dad doesn’t care

because his cubs aren’t fighting
or fussing
they’re hunting with their father.

As our prey nears the checkout
we pounce
and she gives Dad that look:

I thought it was Mom’s “I can’t believe
you made the kids **** me” look
but it was the
“Everyone’s staring at us” look

As Dad just smiles
mane waving in the air conditioning
and pretended to eat Mom’s neck.

You're burning a seething red beneath
your skin; how long before this garden
burns to ash and the ferns grow?

When you no longer know how your
story goes, how many demons can you
create out of those who you've surrounded

yourself with? These tresses will strangle
the last of you in some ceremonial ground
where all you'll ever hear is the sound

of their voices laughing like a pack of
wildebeests, waiting for when your flesh
is no longer owned by your bones.

They'll pick you apart like a child
in a corridor full of strangers much
stronger than you; go to bed

sleep on it, and just let the light of your
ember veins light awake the madness you
cannot cast away. These miseries

will find their way into their beds
and make your dissolutions their nightmares
and then sleep, sleep you will.

I like to run and
let my feet stomp over my thoughts.
If I could,
I would unleash a stampede of cows or wildebeests.
My memories would be rendered to a pulp.
And my dreams might be sufficiently squashed,
that they would think twice
about rising up into the thought bubble
of reality
that floats innocently, glowing above my head
in my dark room.

In the lands yonder
Beyond the thrones of Europe
and the bustle of the West

There is a land
It is quiet and peaceful
The sun shines everyday
The people are black

In the lands yonder
Beyond the industrial buzz and dense smoke
There are a peaceful people in a land

Its rivers traverse the lands
From one end to the other
Its waterfalls are wondrous
Its caves adventurous

There is the land
Whose people dont worry
Their simplicity is baffling
They never hurry

There is the land
Whose people sit on gold mines and diamonds unexploited
There is more to life for these people

From days of old
They understood the balance of nature
Before Carl's nomenclature

In the lands yonder
Snow caps mountain tops
Elephants and Buffalloes run the Savannahs
Wildebeests migrate in wonder
In the lands yonder

The birds sing in hapiness
The lions roar in jungles
The lands are rich
The peoples cultures are rich too

They were once thought dunders
Plans were made to invade and plunder
Those were the worst blunders

They fought for equality
They fought for their rights
Adowa 1896
Apartheid 1994
MauMau 1954, and more
They died for their land

This is the land of peace
This is the land of wealth
And nature's bounty
This is Africa

The **** assumes his duty and awakens the creatures of the earth
Golden rays peek out from behind the mountains
Somewhere in the east
The clouds, they do make way
As the sun gracefully and with poise rises to take her place
In her royal abode high up far above all
Early birds and flowers too pay obeisance to the queen of the heavens
The grasses beautifully lined with crystal clear drips of dew
Bask in the pools of the sun’s warmth
Even as night crawlers hide away with the breaking of this new day
Yet still, flying and hoping and trotting creatures alike
Come out joyfully in celebration of a new day
Gentle ripples glide over the waters
Paving way for the inhabitants of the sea to rise to our world of skies
Strings of wheat, bamboo flutes and cymbals of clasping leaves,
The trudging of wildebeests as unto drums
And the cry of elephants as trumpets
Buzzing bees, chirping bugs and tweeting birds in unison
Reel out notes, high and low
Listening intently
Beyond these somewhat shrill sounds
Without a doubt I dare say
I hear a concoction of the most enthralling symphonies
Resonant yet gleaming with charm
Plants and animals dance to these familiar tunes of old
Reptiles and mammals, creepy crawlies too
From the great bears to the ever-shy hares,
Step and tango and waltz all the way
On the lush greenery that spreads across the endless stretch of land
Daffodils and roses, flowers in varying shapes and colors
Join this continuum of dancers
How beautifully do their lithely figures sway as the wind beckons
Far into the horizon, the great arch of colors is formed
And this symbolism of beauty, peace and unity invigorates the innate spirits of Mother Nature
Melody, harmony, unity in diversity
….and for the umpteenth time, I smile to myself
Savoring every moment of this beguiling experience
Yes indeed it was, magnificent in its entire splendor
This was indeed the most breath-taking scenery I had ever seen
“Or wasn’t it?” I wondered to myself
A certain thought flashed through my mind
and ambivalence quickly set in
For some reason, I began to review all that I had seen once more
Slowly but surely, as if in slow motion
Everything came to a halt
The sun’s rays now fiercely lashed out agonizing stings to all in sight
The clouds brimming with anger bolstered up and concealed the presence
Of glorious sun with thick darkness
Thunder rolled, lightning bolts cackled and cracked
The flowers now gave up their ‘robes of many colors’
In exchange for ‘rags’ of brown and yellow
The once rotund and cheery and zesty elements of wildlife
Evolved into famished and bony and feeble mutants
Disconcerted seas and oceans roared, and threatened to unleash coverlet of floods
As a soft chant echoed...”….death…”
The inevitable phantom that left no mortal unvisited
All of life was set into mourning
And in the twinkle of an eye, everything was gone
There I stood despaired and broken at heart

……………“chirp, chirp”….”buzz”
The song of nature in a quick crescendo pulled me
Out of this appalling trance into reality
And so back in the real world, the birds still  sang, and the plants and animals, they still danced
But a new strange reality dawned on me….
Truly all these glories couldn’t be relished forever
For one day even I the spectator, would cease to exist
For from dust were we formed, so also to dust shall we return

Rainbow umbrellas

Serendipitous magic

Wildebeests buffet

Spectral dreams.
Tiny seams in time.
Moonlight, rainbows, starry skies.

Wildebeests and cats and frogs.
Rivers flowing, flowers growing.

Raindrops fall through weathered sky.
Daylight breaks, I wonder why.

All I touch and all I see,
The trees believe so why not me?

All I ask to ever be
Is freely growing with the leaves.

Believing in the things I need.
Leaving air for you to breath.

What lies before us doesn't matter,
What matters is,
What lies between us,
And
What lies within us,
Cuz
There is no life without us.
Life is a Marathon
We shouldn't give up on human Race,
We are wildebeests in crocodile jaws,
Don't tell us that we are not going back to Egypt,
That's where River Nile flows.
If this planet was a police and it says FREEEEEEEZE!!!!!!!
The whole world would be at MELTING POINT.

The Savannah
The wildebeests have been crossing the same stretch
of the river for years going back into a foggy history and lack
of interest. At the river, some are eaten by crocodiles  
and on the other side by lions. Meat on hoof and
a calf cannot find its mother, Gnus don’t do friendly and
there never is a sympathetic aunt. It must find its mother
now, because it has been earmarked as a possible meal,
easy to catch, no bother.

Did that calf survive? I don’t know history does not concern
itself with trivialities and as for its mother her memory is
short. A dumb beast, yet there are more wildebeests in
Africa now than twenty years ago which means fewer lions
and more crocodile handbags than before, which means
the calf probably survived

waking up
among the painted antelope
and the wildebeests
streaming up the hillside
and the gnarled knees
of an ostrich
and the glassy yellow eyes
of a lion
is something
we should all experience.

Distant coddled
alabaster runs wild
savoring the vortex of a
muscle mired maelstrom
Caligula's throne sits in the eye of the hurricane
we write letters to ourselves—self absolving sin
rhetorical ramparts squelch responsibility
free wind tickles the tips of branches, the trees stay still.

Broken bastion bereaved
bunkers are built for sandstorms
whether we weather the weather
or fall victim to the tsunami
there's a climate change in our self addressed letters—
they become less about love, more about death
after we see the treasure chest in the executioner's cache.

Devastation hollows the oppressed
a free agent becomes a Super Bowl champ
by defeating those who traded him
a letter sent home reads—I joined the winning team,
equality is inferior to superiority
those in glass houses throw stones
once they're invading stone houses.

Race to the top                sink to the bottom
of a valley where black sheep roam and scapegoats graze
waiting to become predatory lions
gnawing on the structured bones of lost wildebeests.
Wild animals don't write themselves letters
their only signature is their presence
an aura of selfish instinct.