KGAFELA OA MAGOGODI

the carrot

the carrot attracts a crooked habit
rabbits cross the floor to chew the rot
vote right
there’s no carrot on the left
the parrot sings praises cos the carrot
is in the pot
the only truth to the tooth is the carrot
liars strangle no more they dangle the carrot
to suck you into the rot
they put the carrot in your pocket
to keep you quiet
no more riot
no more riot
just the grinding of rot
the carrot dance is a national sport
see how they run like judas iscariot
to grab the all mighty carrot
liars raise the flag of the carrot
even in the toilet
now children are taught
that life is about who eats more carrot
to excrete more rot
no more riot
no more riot
just the grinding of rot
you’re a true patriot
even if you get caught
stealing the carrot
you buy court
change the law to suit your rot

Chu chew train

there’s a train. that chu chu chews
human flesh. it blows a blood bubble gum.
it pops red blues.
newspapers say the train has lost its head
but the tail is still on track. the train has
lost its head but the tail is still on track.
bra hugh there’s a train. the chu chew train
coughs out flu. the air is sick
with germs. blame the tramps,
rats & cockroaches in third class
coaches. “what do you expect
from people who eat stole dumpling
bloody beetroot le matonkomane
in a train”, says he who
talks like his pee is strawberry
milkshake. the fake crawls out of a hole
in the buttocks of some cosmetic box.
who said money will facelift a frog they lied.
but cash could cover your ass with a first class
ticket to houghton by chew train. it doesn’t stop
for the park station crowd. too loud to ride
with makgoa. the train chu chu chews
the fat of the promised land. it stops not
for me & you who pickpocket
til you win the lotto. maybe then you’ll get a photo
with thibos & say cheese. cheese in the
new blue train. or buy your own yengeni
if you don’t mind the kiss of the scorpion. the
chu chew train has more teeth than truth.
it chews the hands that laid the bricks
to build mandela bridge.

The second cuming

you are waiting for who’s cum
make your own cum
cos jesus is taking his holy time
coming in slow motion
tumbling down from heaven
if he comes at all
will he cum like an ant
on a grain of sand
or cum like a blue whale
make a storm in the sea
shake off unseen shackles
wreck invisible ships
of slave drivers land grabbers and grave robbers
or will he give the other cheek
take a second slap in the face like azania
this time they go for the skull
they crush the cranium and scramble the brain
it’s the second cuming of tarzan
swinging on christmas trees
in shopping malls out to lynch azania’s children
these days you watch your own slaughter
on big screens
you get free popcorn and slush puppy
to wash down their delicious cum
they have no shame
they skommel in public
cum in gallons
until they block your throat
even when you speak
in the name of the people
it’s their cum in costume
that flows from your mouth
they stole your cum
long time ago
taking away the boom gates
from the northern suburbs
is not enough
until you pull the bloody rug of stolen land
from under their feet
they’ll keep coming
like chamelons in a million colours
you won’t even know
if they are going or second cuming

outspoken

outspoken
mouth wide open
i stick my tongue out
let loose the word
refuse to seal my lips
tongue-lash you
i crack skulls open
to release brain waves of slaves
in days of fongkong freedoms
chains are more insane
they run trains of virus
in the veins to kill us dead
in the head
but i escape the rape
of good hope i break out
of rib cages of dead pages
i translate rebel souls
to recreate mind states
when i bim-sala-bim
will sara baartman
return to the soil
as caliban or a taliban

outspoken
count on the open mic
to amplify
my truly irie lyrics
i rip voortrekker diaries
to pieces
i sink memories
of dromedaries
it sounds hip
when i wreck van riebeeck’s ship
i crush history’s kak stories
to ground zero
but i am just a scribe
not ahero
i bleed for the blue
i bleed floods of whispers
from homeless talk papers
scripting the fall of skyscrapers
because they rape us
skyscrapers rape us
skyscrapers
and tribes of poisonous rats
breed lice
and syrup-crusted diseases
broken sewerage pipes
reek faeces
to choke souls
in the undergrowth
of stink holes

outspoken
i puke ear-piercing pulses
louder than heartbeats
of suicide bombs
in palestine
in rainbowstine
rubber bullets
are back in fashion
to erase a nation of tramps
in squatter camps
official stamps
cut out power lamps
they send
red ants to kill the lights
red ants to shut down water taps
red ants to end my flow
sometimes they throw
crumbs in the slums
it only comes
laced with shots of teargas
for the landless
they yell i tell
they yell i tell

outspoken
i raise my voice
to break the bone of silence…
silence is not a place
to hide the tide of violence
i spit out beats of free verse
streams of rebel prose
come down my running nose
you can’t wipe it away
mucous sticks to your fingers
it matters more
than the metaphor
it’s a matter of shelter
for my daughter
and good food
in the neighbourhood
i am in the mood
to rap it out of your grip
escape
through the gap
between your front teeth
you failed to chew me
i still breathe

outspoken
i walk the frank talk
i mount uprisings
with my writings
i ride chariots of riots
i strike matchsticks
and rub stones
to fashion more fire
scorch a liar’s tongue
‘til the lies die
like it’s enter-the-dragon rhyme
i vomit flames
through the open mic
you can’t blow me out
cos i am not candlelight
i am the sun
i set and rise again
i am the sun
i set and rise again
my rhymes are rain
i wet the soil
to feed the seed

All poems from Timbila 2005.