Vignettes of a South African Township called Mdantsane

Saturday, February 27, 2010

When you wrote



when you wrote with your nose on my arrogance
in close knit whispers of a dark
you said this is just another end
of all those rendezvous on skinstreets
our lips a breath of untoward moments
a tongue curtailing the history of mankind
and you and me
unafraid of galaxies
persisting in us
but today
i won’t see you anymore
nor your eyes where I once traveled
in the beginning of another time
nor your smile
of the victor and vanquished in
insane memories
and your saree that draped them always
today
not far from us are the deserts of innocence
where camels ran the density of moon
and we had once grown there
collateral of an even wilder sky
today
say again
i haven’t lived beyond an ardor
of that lost white flower in your hair
of summers that bled in silence
of the ruby river that woke us up each night
and your smell I have now learned to disbelieve
a death I had always lived
whenever a sparrow flew away
whenever another day arrived.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra









Monday, February 22, 2010

Road to Keiskammahoek


a pink sky suddenly
asked the blue keiskammahoek
mountain
reasons for living
and lasting
so long
a whiff of fern
air exploded in stranger
vicinity
somebody laughed
children
chased a dipping sun

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Friday, February 5, 2010

Keiskammahoek





geese scream
a keiskammahoek sky falls apart
mountains go adrift
sun enters a serenity
meditates the following
day.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Mdantsane Breathing - Celebrating Mdantsane

Mdantsane Breathing is my latest book, a coffee table hard cover lavishly illustrated poetry book which is first of its kind describing in poetry and watercolors the vibrant culture of Mdantsane which is the second biggest township after Soweto.
The world knew about the Soweto Uprising, the Sowetan Poets and Winnie Mandela who still lives there.
The popular news paper The Sowetan remains a mark of courage during the apartheid times and after.
But nobody wrote about Mdantsane and its heroic participation against the apartheid government.
This book brings to you for the first time of a strange life that insists to be told and that persists within all of us who were witness of those struggle days.
A poem and water color of Siviwe is on the jacket flap of this book
Siviwe is a former soldier of Umkhonto We Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress.
The book is dedicated to the brave people of Mdantsane.

Wikipedia -About Mdantsane


Mdantsane Breathing
Publisher - Poets Printery, South Africa
ISBN - 978-0-620-46040-8
Price - Rand 760 including postage


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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Women carrying water

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women carrying water
take the gravel road to home
fields and a sky
enter a conspiracy
to shun the sun
children play the coke tops
on a placid river afternoon
mdantsane sings to the occasional rushing
wind
and cars that never stop
there.

Poetry and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Waiting for taxi

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waiting for a taxi
going to town
a sun drenched afternoon
picks up the green instead
distant clouds remain aloof
share this spectacle
in suburban
mdantsane.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Friday, January 15, 2010

Mdantsane Girls

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Preparing for my next exhibition, this one is a water color/pastel drawing in a pine frame