Memory Work Poem by Frank Meintjies

My childhood photo
black white grey sepia

So little remembered
day-for-day
yet.... much rekindled

Who will do the memory work
who will journey with me
who will listen
who will understand?

Who will sit with me
in wafts of smoke
around the orange glow;
a pinch of tinder, a touch of kindling

Umzimkulu district, south of durban
north of kokstad with its icy winters
this side of lesotho mountains
dust into the fabric

Raisethorpe with its firewalking
disciples of the gods
the old sewsunker store
long bamboo poles with red flags
red threads in the fabric

Woodlands: cement-block land
corralled dreams
where (on Fridays, at youth club)
stallions ran and nightingales sang
virtuous circle
of church and love
tethered to a fire hydrant

Grey pants from ‘asmalls'
warm water wash, do not use bleach
dry in sun, gently refresh.
white shirt from ‘eddies': press with
hot iron
remember to ‘hand down'

Look carefully at the eyes
note a mouth that speaks, the gravelly voice
the halting tones
and if you can, the hand that will (someday)
write upon the wall

Look carefully
a deliberate gathering of dots
in the souse & dye
in sepia times