Remembering

I rememba mah formative daze in the city of the pope

I had no guide so to speak, because mah then boyfriend
had other important things to do it seems

So I would jus wake up in the morning, prepare a lunch pack,
a bottle of water and my not digital camera

And I would head to town, without even a guide book or map

I wud launch mesef into the city and started walking

I guess that’s where I developed mah hobby
of walking about with no specific destination in mind

It wud be a combination of intuition, luck and mah disoriented nature that I wud come across sum monument or ruin or church or something all so touristy

As is often the case, all those touristy areas will be full of tourists with their tour guides

People then used to do these cultural tours,
and what better place to do a cultural tour than rome itself

[Someone once remarked that rome is like a museum
You can walk from the coliseum to the Spanish steps to piazza venezia to piazza navona even to the Vatican [for the young and bold] And you can do all of this in one day]

The tour guides will be explaining historical things as to how did that ruin come about

Or who built that church and who commissioned it and when it was commissioned and how long it took to build it and all the orgies that goes with it

I would stand there and listen

And one by one the group would start noticing me

I was rather conspicuous, as much as I tried to be inconspicuous, it was impossible

Can you imagine, a group of elderly Americans, in their tourist shorts and caps
and water bottles and digital cameras

Mostly couples and all of them fair skinned!

But mah favourite group to join was that of Japanese

And I did not even understand the language, but it was jus so much fun to see their faces when they notice me trodding along

And trod along I would, until they start getting uncomfortable by mah presence

Then for sum reason, I would feel like mah job is done and I will change route

Only to land smack into another tourist group from another part of the world

and so it went....

in ya dis ya time

Tell it like it is

We mus tell our own stories
by any means necessary
as evidenced by Kudakwashe




and while yu at it
check out the chimurenga library here
yu will see that even befo the advent of this swavy high teck
we hav bin tellin it it like it is even befo befo
in ya dis ya time y'all

Hamba Kahle MaMhlongo!

AAUW MAN!
me jus find out that Mamhlongo
has passed on to another world
almost about a month ago
in this case i am the late one
and now i am ravaged with
anger sadness nostalgia bitterness praises numbness an all o' dat
i neva got to see her perform live
i missed her in rome coz i had missed the las train to tek me to town
then i missed her in mzantsi coz i had also missed the train to tek me to grahamstown
and i think the show in jozi [grahamstown arts fest] might hav bin her las one
[dunno, not sho]
but darn! me jus found out now
thats her on the side bar, the urban zulu
mus pay mah personal private tribute to her
heck she inspired the pseudo urban proletariat
how can i not pay tribute
she inspired a lot of mah generation

here is a tight and brief sum up on her
hamba kahle sis busi

in ya dis sad timez y'all

Halaqah films

MOTHERLAND - A film by Owen Alik Shahadah from Halaqah Films on Vimeo.





500 YEARS LATER TRAILER from Halaqah Films on Vimeo.



in ya dis ya time y'all

John Henry Clarke

The Europeans have not only colonized our countries
but also the information we acquire has been colonized
 - John Henry Clarke-

Block

sista

i am havin a  block
i cyaan seem to get beyond one sentence
then i cancel and start all over again
then i confuse thoughts with reality
i hav got too many drafts now
it is impossible to finish them
they are now only good for the bin
but even that i cannot bring mesef to do
so i start reading a lot
and thinking a lot
thinking about writing
writing in me head
head full of meanderings
meanderings leading to nowhere
nowhere is everywhere
everywhere i look
looks to be disappearing into a mirage
a marriage of thoughts
thoughts provoked thoughts

it looks like the thoughts have spilled over
and caused the block to crumble
into a whisper
i am now listening to the whisper
it like likkle wind puffs caressing me face
i close me eyes and let me mind wonder off again
and slowly by slowly the block manifests itself again
and this time it is thick and thicker than thou
and i feels helpless and helpless
and it is this helplessness that mek me want to
break down the walls that block
but i think i banged me head too much
i shud rest lest i get a headache

if you do not understand any of this
worry not for i me sef do not
yet i feel the itch to scribe
scribble something to someone
as the saying humbly reminds us:
'the life that we live is the story that will remain'
i like to recount tales from our lives
even empty scribbles like these fill our lives (and our mailboxes!)
what is it that they said about thoughts
ah yes,
tis the thought that counts

in ya dis ya time y'all

Revisiting Palermo

I expected to find da sud-island-sudest (southern) heat

but alas i was welcomed by sista rain hersef....

t'was kinda funny and sad at the same time neh!

so me land inna palermo mek it straight to da a friend's house

and he's not there, he no longer lives there

me friend Katie is not answering her fone (found out later that she relocated to padova!)

me other friend who was supposed to host me is outta town

and my other friends (couple) are jus about to hav a baby so it wud be an inconvenience to host me

I mah not feeling da palermo vybz no mo'
so cut long story short me don have nowhere to go

but i had a good mind to prepare two huge paninos/sandwiches

from Anthony B&B befo leaving dat morning

so me head to piazza garibaldi to sit under a tree

[i mah familiar with dis here piazza, we used to sleep on (top) of these trees

(they are huge) with dem mah hippies friends back in da daze]
me munch on mi sandwich clear me head and think of the immediate future

but i was too tired to think, so i ate and actually fell asleep on the park bench deh

i was woken up by rain drops!

whatta way to wake up, me look around there are trees all over

me hav no idea where am i who am i what time/day/year is it

is jus rain drops and they are getting faster and vigorious

me gather mesef up and rush under the nearest tree for cover

that sicilian rain that com in heavy loud drops (jus like dem sicilians)

my cover under the tree was limited but me hung out as long as i could

dodging drops here and there but i still managed to get wet

so eventually i came out of the hiding place and threw mesef into the city

and the rain.......

as i am heading up the road not too sure where i mah heading except forward

one bwoy on a motorino/scooter spots me and slows down and hesitate

i pull him over and ask for a lift (my street wit/cred is slowly coming back to me)

he stops and start chatting, where have yu been, long time no seen blah blah

so the guy knows me but hell i don rememba who where when

this is a common occurrence fo me in palermo

cut long short

bwoy offers me a place to stay

says he just rented a big house for his girlfriend who will only be moving in next month

and if i need a place for a short stay, well the house is free albeit with no electricity

one of those fortuitous coincidences seen

so that is how i came to spend my palermo trip in da enchanted house...

the house is empty its bare and its huge

it really looks to be a family house - once upon time

two bedrooms two bathrooms a lounge

a big kitchen a store room a lobby

it is clean, walls are clean and looks to be recently retouched

the only furniture is a mattress a wardrobe and a divano and the kitchen suite

the matrasse and the wardrobe are in the bedroom with the en-suite bathroom

the divano with springs and no cushions in the living room

the kitchen with its built-in cupboards fridge stove etc etc

and the doors of the cupboards were all always open and empty even the fridge door was open

revealing the barreness state of the house

the two other furnished rooms would be where i wud spend my days

the area is the noisiest i have seen in palermo

its a totally new zone for me, i had never even had designs on this area

and its not far from the hospital/clinic, which means the sound of the ambulance is a common feature

and young bwoys and gyals on motorinos whoozing past non stop

cut story short its a noisiest place - not loud

ca people deh ya talk a lot mo with their gestures and looks

and i notice there were a lot of butcher shops

compared to the usual bakeries/panificio, which were not missing!

'l'angolo del carne, la carneriera, carne carne carne'- meat everywhere

even the one shop specialising in horse meat only...

fo the inhabitants of that area

the whole world starts and ends there in the area

i kno all this ca that is what i wud end up doing the whole time- peeping/gazing from the window

an i was at the corner which meant my view was three dimensional

arabs africans sicilians all battling it out under the economic recession

chinese and indians line up the commercial section

and theres me who has just moved into an empty house with no lights

the consequence being i had to keep all the windows open at all times

to get light in the house, daylight from the sun

night light from the street pole light outside

i was rather conscpicous in the dark, yu kno, shadowy, dats all you cud see, a shadow

then i start wondering about this house

why hasnt the girlfriend started moving in

and why is she supposedly moving in alone not with him

i realise that this bwoy bubbles a lot talks fast and say a lot of things

he has left me there to freshen up and hed be back later

and has left with the keys

i shudder a bit but alas he rocks up and gives me the key and

the freedom to com n go as i please free reign

as i was enjoying the free reign

i notice water on the floor, i thought it was drippin from somewhere

but i cud not figure out from where

and everyday this pool of water slowly grows bigger

i try getting ahold of the guy but alas his fone is always off

and this water which i cud not tell where the f is comin from

i start shuddering again, i wait for daylight to comb thru the house to discover where the water be comin from

but nuttin a gwaan yet the pool is getting larger and larger

everytime i mop the water, it reappears....spoooky

and still the guy is not picking up his fone

i start spending a lot of time outdoors trying to relocate ol an new friends

but alas they are scattered everywhere,

and the fact that tis the rainy season does not make things easier

cos sicily is such an outdoor place, everything happens outdoors

so in a way was forced to spend a lot of time indoors, and that water (which by now i stopped mopping)

the pool is just growing and growing and still cannot detect where it com from

the house is spooky awrite, but i stay on anywhichways...

until t'was time to take leave of the place

and i did graciously...

left a note, the keys, an sms an a likkle present fo the disappeared bwoy...

and jus as i landed in rome, he calls.....[note that mah las sms was to inform him about mah depature!]

i thank him and we small talk a bit

somehow the water thingie did not com up in our small talk...

so i left it like dat....

in ya dis ya time