Here you can find all the posts that have been published on this website, from most recent to oldest.
- Serein
From above, a drop, brief as a comma, spaced from the next by a breath of time not cold, not wet, a touch on the wrist and a sound –… Read more: Serein - Marking my territory
Some decades ago, an ethologist, Robert Ardrey, gained much exposure with the idea of the “territorial imperative”. His study of animal behaviour led him to the conclusion that the strongest… Read more: Marking my territory - The final laugh
Over the two decades when I marked the final examinations for Matriculation, major changes occurred. In the early years, I was able to port home large bundles of unmarked scripts… Read more: The final laugh - I break the silence
It has been close to thirty years since I watched the film The Silence of the Lambs. It is a day I shall never forget. What led to it was… Read more: I break the silence - My unknown antagonist
Some people I know, when relating their or their family’s medical problems describe them as being very rare, something seldom found in the textbooks, a rather special case. Having observed… Read more: My unknown antagonist - SeedbankAt the window the blank of a dayedges up from an unseen horizon.A sudden tang of air shoulders space awayopens a door to a place long forgotten where scent seeded… Read more: Seedbank
- The things I didn’t do
When I was ten years old my mother and father travelled overseas for a month and left my older sister, brother and me in the care of a lady who,… Read more: The things I didn’t do - The names we are
You bear a name from birth, not to distinguish you from the 9,579 other Donovans but to identify you as a person whom can be addressed and, unless one of… Read more: The names we are - Two poemsA moment of unknowing I find my way to the bedand slowly nest myself between the sheetscareful not to awaken her sleep.Perhaps she dreams far from mewith people and places… Read more: Two poems
- A salutary lesson
At school we had a resident cynic. “One thing I’ll never be is a dentist- imagine looking into people’s mouths all day.” was the least cynical statement I remember him… Read more: A salutary lesson - A revelation of elevation
When I was small, I remember my older brother, seven years my senior, excitedly telling my father that Mercedes Benz spent an enormous amount of money perfecting the sound of… Read more: A revelation of elevation - me
I approach the bed in darkness my head feeling happy for tomorrow there’s that coffee arrangement to look forward to and then…I slow need something there, search the cupboard, bare… Read more: me - CONCLAVE – the movie
(Warning: this is not a movie review but a personal response. It will contain spoilers so do not read if in mind to watch Conclave) “Unpersuasive” was the word used… Read more: CONCLAVE – the movie - It takes a heart
I live in a suburb not far from some of the larger properties in the city. Situated on the slopes of the mountain that profiles the city, the houses there… Read more: It takes a heart - From the top down
“Timers ready?” I looked to the runners on the other side of the track. Some were sprinting on the spot, some knees-upping. Teachers in white shirts stood easily; the starter,… Read more: From the top down - winter night
she closes her eyes to the storm outsideand blankets her dreams from the nightmaresof water standing day and night in a shackwhose cold members are splinted together for warmthand dread… Read more: winter night - The reality of dreams
There are people with severe disabilities who have a desire to enjoy an experience far beyond what their physical condition would allow them. Reach for a Dream is an organisation… Read more: The reality of dreams - The value of a secondhand
What were my wife and I thinking when we bought 1000 places to see before you die? We’re over seventy, buying from secondhand bookshops and go every year to the… Read more: The value of a secondhand - -ant
At the Treaty of Vereeniging, where the English and the Boers met to negotiate an end to the South African War (formerly known as the Anglo-Boer War), the Boers had… Read more: -ant - I attended a funeral recently
I have a friend who refuses to attend funerals – not even his own as there won’t be one. ”Nor for my wife, for that matter,” he added. “We know… Read more: I attended a funeral recently - Incipience
On the stem of incipient protea shark-shaped petals wax tight their cradle of colour, ready to bare the heart of bloom for creatures of earth and air to gather and… Read more: Incipience - A running problem
I like to run long-distance races nothing ultra, of course, a half-marathon is quite enough to put me through my paces, beyond that it’s simply not much fun. Now, sadly,… Read more: A running problem - A bird sang
I met a migrant from a distant land who sang: in a garden beyond lies the wreck of a birdbath, pieces strewn across the sand, its slimed bowl cracked, of… Read more: A bird sang - Synecdoche and December 15th
“Synecdoche,” our teacher said, “is part for the whole or whole for the part,” a statement as incomprehensible to teenage ears as was the word itself. “England beat South Africa,”… Read more: Synecdoche and December 15th - Thoughts on extinction
As a child, the Natural History Museum was an important part of my life. There I saw what before only books had held: living animals. No, I know the difference… Read more: Thoughts on extinction - The Pinhead Factor
In 1964, I read that Bob Hayes ran, from a flying start, the final 100 yards of the Men’s 4 X110 Olympic Relay in 7.8 seconds. In 1966, I knew… Read more: The Pinhead Factor - Mr Polly’s golfing observation
At the age of fourteen I was exposed to Mr Polly. Fourteen is an impressionable age; it is also one of intense reactions. The History of Mr Polly is a… Read more: Mr Polly’s golfing observation - The globe unplugged
The globe irritated me. I could not kick it because it was stationed in a protective bracket and, although it was a ball like the others, didn’t look right, slanted… Read more: The globe unplugged - And their stars will shine
I grew up with kings and queens: they were in my story books. I grew up with the government: they were in my parents’ conversations. I grew up with the… Read more: And their stars will shine - The Innocence
He hadn’t déjà-vued in years. When young it had happened quite frequently. “Oh, that’s a déjà -vu,” someone told him, “it happens to me sometimes.” He had seen the dog… Read more: The Innocence - Seeing the stars
Once upon a time I lived in a country where there was light pollution – in its cities at least – but matters in South Africa have recently deteriorated to… Read more: <strong>Seeing the stars</strong> - BRAWDEK
Athol Braaf snarled. Window of opportunity – what life coaches prate about – but in this case the window was red. Nowhere in his holiday destination were there four days… Read more: <strong>BRAWDEK</strong> - FLOC !
More words rhyme with “pool” than “floc”. Leading the field are cool, fool and tool, which deal quite adequately with the opposition posed by rock, stock and cock. But when… Read more: FLOC ! - I believe in God
People don’t’ ask me whether I believe in God – and I don’t tell them. It’s not that I want to avoid Bible-punching: more that I have some anxiety about… Read more: <strong><em>I believe in God</em></strong> - Balm
A lengthy right leg angles elegantly from wispy pillows of bubbly foam. A razor, lightly-held, slaloms its way down a ski slope of svelte shape, the snowcream of shaving foam… Read more: <em>Balm</em> - Dark Quintet
Dead weight the paths behind us still on our heels we returned with wind on our faces into the air of the household and its company of chairs and passage.… Read more: Dark Quintet - Week logic
There is much in my life over which I have little control. At the moment it is the message: “It’s almost the mid of the week…” which opens my Tuesday… Read more: Week logic - SLUNG
“My eye – it’s gone!” But Roz hadn’t heard. Not above the rumble and roar of Seven Serpents plummeting and twisting its riders into the abyss. Then sudden darkness, a… Read more: SLUNG - Three events of a young life
The events I will here relate from my early years were formative in the development of my personality. They differ from memories. Memories are like a man standing on a… Read more: Three events of a young life - Candlelife
The root of the candle burns down into the wax and glows with lustre and light. Our eyes shine with warmth as it burns and burns down into its grave… Read more: Candlelife - Kaliningrad et al.
Kaliningrad is not easy to find. Seeing “-grad” and thinking Russia, you spin the globe in its direction. It stretches east and west…somewhere in that vast domain lies Kaliningrad. But… Read more: Kaliningrad et al. - Night: Stage 3 loadshedding
Nothing moves the tree in the pavement is a cut-out the sky above its ceiling all is airless a photograph of night funeral Nothing moves the world locked in the… Read more: Night: Stage 3 loadshedding - Loadshedding at midnight
Sleep not willing to bed with me I rose and sought the soft folds of water. Eyes to the stars I floated in the cool white sent by streetlights over… Read more: Loadshedding at midnight - No swing door
I doubt many can honestly say they do not want to die because life is simply too enjoyable to miss. What comes with an outlook of such pizzazz will be the… Read more: No swing door - Thou shalt not murder
Of the Ten Commandments found in the Holy Bible, ”Thou shalt not murder“ is readily accepted by agnostics, humanists, atheists and adherents of religions other than the Judaeo-Christian. Some of… Read more: Thou shalt not murder - Are we signing off?
“The King is dead.” So is the cheque, checkmated (shah mat in Arabic, from which the killer move is named) by the digital forces of cards and electronic financial transactions. … Read more: Are we signing off? - When duty calls
I phoned my cousin yesterday. I knew that she was going to say, “I am gutted.” I understand why. Life sucks. Here she was, restricted, owing to travel bans, from… Read more: When duty calls - It’s all in my mind
It’s only a very smart criminal whose pulse does not accelerate when the prosecution pulls the DNA analysis or the cellphone records. The former brings new meaning to “They’re after… Read more: It’s all in my mind - Floc !More words rhyme with “pool” than “floc”. Leading the field are cool, fool and tool, which deal quite adequately with the opposition posed by rock, stock and cock. But when… Read more: Floc !
- Sounds that shouldn’t be there
But they are. And cannot be denied. Yes, I did hear that strange whine from the car when I braked. But I don’t want to…my face now has a frown,… Read more: Sounds that shouldn’t be there - Poetry Pot-Pourri
Though he did not know it Though he did not know it the beggar who crutched his way up the middle of the road in the middle of the night… Read more: Poetry Pot-Pourri - “It changed my life”
“It didn’t change my life…” is an unequivocal marker. The film wasn’t great, the food didn’t awaken taste buds, the date’s not going to lead to another. “It changed my… Read more: “It changed my life” - A dream of reality
Before I forget, the recollection of a dream. I walk down the passage to where my wife sleeps; she is in the kitchen at the moment. As I approach her… Read more: A dream of reality - The hinge to this world
A paradox: people see common things as precious. Every human being, for example, thinks and feels him or herself to be special, regardless of the fact that more than seven… Read more: The hinge to this world - One man finds his work
I was never going to make it at school. In the 1940s, when I was being shoved into grey flannel trousers and white shirt, one was either slow or bright.… Read more: One man finds his work - 5 Words
Had someone said,” You’re going to meet triage today…”, I would have imagined that an encounter with a sultry French lady, not a sign in bold red lettering on a… Read more: 5 Words - The Sting Operation
Were you not to have a “good reason” to kill a German wasp, you could be fined up to R800,000. But that’s in Germany where all wild life is protected… Read more: The Sting Operation - Light from the Dark Room
Though young boys are usually intrigued by places “out of bounds”, this did not apply to the Dark Room down the corridor from our dormitory. If one chanced to glimpse… Read more: Light from the Dark Room - The Ceiling
It was late. I went to brush my teeth. As the paste tracked along the bristles, a speck flicked into my right eye. It closed in sharp pain. This was… Read more: The Ceiling - Dark matter and Matter dark
Just read up on dark matter. Not to be confused with anti-matter which sounds dangerous but occurs in such minuscule quantity that the regular matter easily outweighs it. But it… Read more: Dark matter and Matter dark - The responsibility of swings
Because you know that what you end up doing in a dream could have been something you would have done in reality, nothing comes better than waking just as you… Read more: The responsibility of swings - GT not G&T
The thing about cars is that they are more interesting the less you know about them. Take GT for example: “Mine’s a GT,” I heard someone say proudly as we… Read more: GT not G&T - C.W. Post
I have not forgotten C.W. Post. I never knew him but it was on his university campus where I first experienced alienation. I was not a student there. C.W. Post… Read more: C.W. Post - Some things are not meant to be seen
There’s a scene in The Third Man I shall always remember. The cobbles of an empty square in Vienna glint with rain under the uncertain lights of the night. Distantly… Read more: Some things are not meant to be seen - Know thy face
I was not taught how to shave. By the time stubble contacted my very late-developing body, I was in the army, far from parent and close to corporals who would… Read more: Know thy face - Losing
I lost a pencil the other day. It was in my pocket – probably fell out when I grabbed my face mask – a stub you see, one of the… Read more: Losing - Kolbasa
It was in the army where Marc Dalby acquired a taste for Russians. The bulbous stubs of a lurid red sausage, deep-fried in oil, had cauterised the taste of the… Read more: Kolbasa - Beginning of a lesson
“Who said that?” Silence in the boys. “I repeat – who said that?” No one’s going to own up; the boys know it; they also know who said it. “Was… Read more: Beginning of a lesson - The Woodholme residential
The blow to the floorboard above dislodges a cockroach to fall to where it races as my shoe aims to save its life and kick it out the door as… Read more: The Woodholme residential - Circle in water
in air, happily haphazard, the moth; in water, a narrowing circle to death – the wings lose powder and power. lifting the smudging thing is a small mercy in the… Read more: Circle in water - The hair of the fair
My lady in wisps has the smallest of lips her body’s a perfection from the nose to the tips My lady in plaits now does her own straps runs wild… Read more: The hair of the fair - Speaking as a theist
Ironically, the homeground advantage provided by the world which the atheist claims is the only source of knowledge is his weakness. With the physical universe as the exclusive foundation, he… Read more: Speaking as a theist - Speaking as an atheist
Let’s be honest: atheists have a lot going for them. They have home ground advantage: the world, here and now, and its past, presents itself as the experience of life. … Read more: Speaking as an atheist - The things I haven’t touched
No, I haven’t touched an okapi or the Crown Jewels, but as this is written under lockdown I shall not venture anywhere beyond the confines of my property where, after… Read more: The things I haven’t touched - THE BLOCK
When I was small the word ‘block’ meant something square. They were the blocks I played with, made of wood with raised lettering on their sides. Mention of walking round… Read more: THE BLOCK - Seeing Oscar in 20/20
I want to talk to you about Oscar – it’s cheaper than visiting the pet psychologist. Oscar’s a dog…we think. When your computer freezes after being tasked to find a… Read more: Seeing Oscar in 20/20 - Small metal thoughts
I used to think that only wire coat hangers bred. Their skeletal presence hung in every clothes cupboard I opened, worst of all in the backroom where they multiplied unashamedly.… Read more: Small metal thoughts - On the edge of the shutdown
In my life so far, the future has always breathed. There was definite life to come, and as I walked upwind of it, the scents it bore were companionable, comforting… Read more: On the edge of the shutdown - Who goes on tour…and stays on tour
The world is getting to me. Neither head-in-the-sand denial nor blithe indifference can fend off the fears. My companions are leaving. Even though they are not ascending in chariots of… Read more: Who goes on tour…and stays on tour - Something left unsaid
“I’ve just killed someone.” He had never imagined saying these words, but that was before the motorbike had swerved wildly to avoid the sharper end of his car as he… Read more: Something left unsaid - An early and late lesson in paradox
Paradoxes hold the high ground, containing such grand truths about gaining when you lose or only living when you die. All this sounds very worthy and much to be striven… Read more: An early and late lesson in paradox - On eggs
There is no region on earth less desirable than the cold borders of a fried egg. How those crusted edges can exist so far from their sunny centre God only… Read more: On eggs - In praise of invigilation
(Written after an article decrying the task was put up on the staffroom noticeboard) We have recently read of the trials of invigilation loaded with a heap of righteous indignation… Read more: In praise of invigilation - When the lights go out
In comfort of rooms lit with white the people move together and apart to talk pleasure and sense in the evening’s company. But when the lights go out breath fractures,… Read more: When the lights go out - An English teacher invigilates in an Afrikaans classroom
(While invigilating and seeing a poster of Soogdiere – mammals ) Glossary- to be read before commencing the poem. maanhaarwolf – aardwolf ysbeer – polar bear kameelperd –… Read more: An English teacher invigilates in an Afrikaans classroom - Being a bird
Evolutionists are in two minds about birds: one contends they developed from the ground up (theropods), the other from the air down (microraptors). Something they do agree about, however, is… Read more: Being a bird - Turning the sign around
Bought for a song was the word which went around when Sunrise Properties acquired a mansion-that-was and, using all the tricks of the bricks, transformed it into their flagship office. … Read more: Turning the sign around - At your own risk
I looked up to signs when I was small. They were tall and spoke definite words “Trespassers will be prosecuted” with a Skull and Crossbones in attendance. But one held… Read more: At your own risk - Car of Dreams
I don’t know much about cars: to drive one you don’t have to, something I used to feel a little ashamed about until the language spoken under the bonnet changed… Read more: Car of Dreams - How it ended
Frances Holgage gave blood for the last time in the winter of 2007. She did not know this at the time. “I see you’re up to 92 units,” said the… Read more: How it ended - The fires of my youth
When I was young we were not allowed fires, just as we aren’t now, but we had them. My mother was the burner. She was the gardener, too, and had… Read more: The fires of my youth - What’s not on the menu
Regan: What need one? Lear: O, reason not the need. King Lear – Act 2 Sc.4 Reason and need make good bedfellows for Regan when she tells her father that,… Read more: What’s not on the menu - Why runners stop running
I’m not a serious runner. If you are, stop reading as this article isn’t going to explain the critical moment when a runner calls it quits, throws the shoes to… Read more: Why runners stop running - Game of Rules
“Play it as it lies” is the rule of golf. The focus is the ball: “as it lies” can determine the success of the next shot. If the previous one… Read more: Game of Rules - Tenancy
“The tenants have just phoned. They want to know if it’s okay that they cut a firebreak around the house.” No, I have never let my house. Being in a… Read more: Tenancy - Handyman knowledge
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.” – Alexander Pope Common usage has altered what Pope wrote in 1709 to: “A little knowledge… “, but knowledge and learning are not… Read more: Handyman knowledge - The morning game at Hangover Park
Written in 1996, soon after Model C schools’ (formerly government, whites only schools) cricket fixtures began to include more than just other Model C schools.) The road through Rondebosch was… Read more: The morning game at Hangover Park - The dog master
What was it in the bush? A dog pack? Here…in the city suburbs? Yes, the grasses moved aside and differently fashioned ears came forward, pricked up at a voice of… Read more: The dog master