Feelings: Land Beyond & Free Of Rationalism & Lights Alive Poem by Margaret Alice

Land Beyond The Sun

I shall drink some coffee laced with vodka
because this lightless depression is getting
me down (we have a gas stove for problems
like these) even the sun refuses to shine –

It’s like the sun itself joined the ANC and
decided that to shine would be a vestige left
of the hated colonialism of yore; therefore,
we shall sit in the darkness of ominous clouds –

Too lazy to rain, too lazy to do anything, yet
floating about and obscuring the sun! So I
have to type fast and read fast before the PC’s
battery is flat – how brilliant is that?

Lightless regards from the land
beyond the sun, in bloody
Far, Far Away…


Break Free Of All Remnants Of Rationalism Also

My PC has a battery, right now because
we have no electricity, in the midst of
gadgets galore, TV’s and DVD’s, stuck
because of power-sharing, even light-
hearted novels lose their attraction
when the Middle Ages descend again

Maybe Mr Mbeki’s much touted plan for an
African Renaissance is the cause of this
Dark Age returning – now when electricity
comes to Darkest Africa, there will truly
be a contrast between the candles we are
burning right now – and the electricity

Lighting the city – allowing us to watch
cricket on TV again – no, wait, it’s a
primitive remnant of colonialism, now
that we have dismantled all systems left,
my comrades all, now that ESCOM is
run by Freedom Fighters, my friends,

We should send cricket and rugby to
kingdom come, and who the hell needs
soccer in twenty-ten – when ESCOM
is sure to be stuck in the hands of my
comrades who plan to also break free
of all remnants of rationalism!


Keep Those Lights Alive

Power-sharing is not too bad, frequent
power cuts create more jobs, increase
the sales of generators requiring clever
men to install the new devices,

But please don’t let the robots die, it is
never clear to me when I should steer
into the traffic, afraid to hold up angry
males like dear hubby

Knowing the words and signs they use
when their speed is hampered by the
hesitation of a female driver, so I charge
ahead, too scared to wait

And earn the epithet of brain-dead idiot,
I accelerate most inappropriately, hoping
for the best, waving at those who seem
angry, apologising profusely

Keeping death from the roads with dead
robots is not a good idea – keep those
lights alive and we’ll also live!