“When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of … Read More
Note Eleven to Vladimir Putin: I See Your Mother
Your mother sitsholding a small iconin a field of burnt barleynext to the cancelled name and jacketonce worn by The … Read More
Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of the Holodomor
The Holodomor was a human-induced famine which occurred in Soviet Ukraine in the years 1932-33, between the two World Wars. … Read More
Has the Human Heart Become a Stone?
I am the Story Weaver at Cactus Foundation Africa, writing poems and stories to teach children to care for the … Read More
An Ending of Days
An Ending of Days After JFE Celliers’s poem “That’s All” The ash of Shoah mingles and settleswith the ash of … Read More
“Only I Never Saw Another Butterfly”
Growing up, I was not told about the Holocaust, but was left to ‘discover’ it for myself. Even when certain … Read More
Obituary David Friedland
“AVE ATQUE VALE” The South African Poet, David Friedland, died last week. He and I and Peter Horsowski were once … Read More
Beautiful Poetry and an Armed Invasion
It was my pleasure recently to give a first reading from the Poetry in McGregor 2022 Anthology, Touching the Wild. … Read More
“That Poem”
In my novel, ‘The Master’s Ruse’, the two main protagonists, an aging authoress and a former professor of English — … Read More
The Truth of My Heart on This Autumn Night
Two of my friends died last month.One elected to take her own life, the other fought against dread disease, holding … Read More
Note Ten to Vladimir Putin and a Re-Phrasing of The Twenty-Third Psalm
Leaving the body and soaringlike a drone,flying just above the bombed buildings and seeingthe child’s hands,the woman’s boot,the smashed cornices,the … Read More
The Triumph of Phoebe
Recently, three children, under the exact instruction of their father, tortured a puppy and then set her alight. Her terrible … Read More
Note Nine to Vladimir Putin: In the Words of Wilfred Owen
In each lifetime there are certain books that should be read more than once for they caution against the catastrophic … Read More
Note Eight to Vladimir Putin: The Old Woman on Day Eighty-Four of the Russia-Ukraine War
That old womanlived through the Holodomor the second of the World Wars Stalin.She ate weeds and chewed leather.Now your cock … Read More
Note Seven to Vladimir Putin: Three Angels on Day Seventy of the Russia-Ukraine War
There are three Angels. Into their bronzelight, steps your mother bearinga loaf of dark breadand red cherry juice in a … Read More
Notes Five and Six to Vladimir Putin During the Russia Ukraine War
Note Five on Day Thirty-four Now look!You’ve burst the buttons of your pompous Emperor jacket—Those little buttons made of children’s … Read More
The Solitary Traveller
It was with great pleasure that I recently represented Poetry in McGregor in launching David Friedland’s new book “The Solitary … Read More
Notes to Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine
Note One: On the Tenth Day You seem to share, with all tyrants,a fetish for piled corpsesfor eyeballs blown from … Read More
The Archbishop Is Dead! Long Live the Archbishop!
Last Thursday, I was privileged to attend, with my daughter, the honouring and celebration of Archbishop Tutu’s life. The eulogies … Read More
Barbed wire around the human heart
What can be done about those now labelled Migrants and Refugeesthose caught up on the border between Belarus and Polandthose … Read More
Refurbishing the human heart through poetry
Poetry in McGregor recently held two Literary Aperitifs at Woodlands Eatery in Cape Town. These were in anticipation of the … Read More
In the Small Matter of Conscience
Some days have an extraordinary measure to them as did today.I woke long before dawn.The moon, waning, was still quite … Read More
The Tiers of Charity
Wednesday is garbage day in my area and there is always an interesting juxtaposition between what is thrown out by … Read More
The Great Fire of 2021
I was in the Cederberg mountains when the Great Fire of 2021 consumed the library of the University of Cape … Read More
The Arrows of Fate
THE ARROWS OF FATE Every Thursday for the past five weeks, I have travelled the M5 from Cape Town to … Read More