streetwise: ALEXANDRA

ALEXANDRA
© Farouk Asvat

It is still the bad old days in Alex,

The Dark City in the City of Gold

The unemployed still sun themselves in the lazy afternoon

Listening to the all-in-one ghettoblaster
Eating horse intestines mixed with chicken offal
Passing around the strong shake-shake homebrew
And there is nothing to stop them from feeling safe
Behind the precast walls enclosing them
Even though the new breed of gangsters try
To harass them so every now and again

The children still play stick-along-the-zinc

Merrily running into the filthy ditches
Steering their balding tyres with sticks down the hill
Or driving their hanger-wire cars along the dirty roads
Where Mamma and Sissie are still looking for work
Sitting around their leaking tin shack
And Granny and the Old Man
Ruminate about the good old days in Alex
And about the family they left behind in Umtata

At night they still gather under the tall sodium lights

- Searchlights on their meagre existences -
Envying the nouveau riche blacks
Driving by in their shiny new luxury cars,
Warily watching the cops
Cruising by in their yellow canaries,
The black soldiers
Driving by in their camouflaged hippos,
And the special squads
Still raiding with their steel-caged trucks
Looking for aliens from across the border;
While the highjackers gang-rape their daughters
Dancing the slow strip-dance in the alleys.

In the new world

The parents still sing:
"Quiet, quiet …, my little one."

translated into english by farouk asvat: 2006 [Johannesburg, South Africa under new apartheid]

[] Acknowledgements:

Alexandra was previously published in:

The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (piquant publications, p78, 2006).

____________________________________________________________

[] WIETIE WHAT-WHAT

ALEX

It is still the bad old days in Alex

The Dark City in the City of Gold

The unemployed still sun themselves in the lazy afternoon

Listening to the aquafresh all-in-one ghettoblaster
Eating the horse matatana mixed with the chicken malana
Passing around the strong shake-shake
And there is nothing to mothibe them from feeling safe
Behind the no-nonsense enclosing them
Even though the new breed of gangsters try
To Kasinga them so every now and again

The children still play sebala-la-mesenke

Merrily running into the filthy moseles
Steering their balding tyres with sticks down the hill
Or driving their hanger-wire cars along the dirty road
While boMama and boSisi are still looking for work
Sitting outside their leaking mkhukhu
While boGogo and boMadoda
Ruminate about the good old days in Alex
And about the family they left behind in Umtata.

At night they still gather under the tall Apollos

- Searchlights on their meagre existences -
Envying the new situations
Driving by in their shiny new elephants and lions,
Warily watching the gattas
Cruising by in their yellow canaries,
Or the black SANDF
Driving by in their camouflaged hippos,
And the special squads
Still raiding with their kwela-kwelas,
Looking for aliens from across the border;
While the Jackrollers gang-rape their daughters
Doing the slow setjwetla in the alleys.

In the new world

The mothers still sing:
"Thula, thula, my little one."

original composed: 1995 [Johannesburg, South Africa under new apartheid]

[] Acknowledgements:

Alex was previously published in:

Bra Frooks … (piquant publications, p35, 2006).

Bra Frooks is ...

                                [] nes 'n skollie
                                [] 'n egte skollie
                                [] 'n waare joster
                                [] 'n tsotsi
                                [] a real scamp
                                [] streetwise
                                [] the jokerman

Bra Frooks ...

                                [] praat soos 'n skollie
                                [] wietie soos 'n joster
                                [] wietie what-what
                                [] tunes like a durbanite
                                [] speaks like an englishman

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet. This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system. And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

[] please check out my blogs @:

farouk asvat : poems

faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com/

WEAPONS OF WORDS

faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com/

streetwise

faroukasvat-lingo.blogspot.com/

piquant publications: BOOKS by FAROUK ASVAT

piquantpublications.blogspot.com/

[] also see my profiles on:

FAROUK ASVAT - Google Profile