IN THE NAMING Poem by Keorapetse Kgositsile

We now know past any argument
that places can have scars
and they can be warm
or cold or full of intrigue
like faces.
Since the settler
set his odious foot here in 1820,
my Caribbean brother might say,
these hills have not been joyful together

In Rhini you can go up
or down or any direction
in the lay of the land where
the people have memories as palpable
as anything you can see with your own eye

But in Grahamstown,
those who know say,
any where you go is uphill