Ronelda Kamfer Poems

I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here, I don't belong here
Radiohead, ‘Creep' (Pablo Honey)
ek wens ek kon opstaan soos gister
gaan was, aantrek, gaan werk soos gister
maar
vandag is 'n ander gister
vandag is alles wat mooi is lelik
en alles wat lelik is ek
miskien is môre beter
as ek net deur die gevaar
van vandag
kan kom
...

I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here, I don't belong here
Radiohead, ‘Creep' (Pablo Honey)
i wish i could get up like yesterday
wash, get dressed, go to work like yesterday
but today is a different day
today, everything i know is lost and everything which is lost is me
maybe tomorrow will be better
if i can only get through the danger of today
...

vir Alfonso Cloete en Velencia Farmer

They say it's the whiteman I should fear, but it's my own kind
doing all the killing here.
Tupac Amaru Shakur
Cardo was gebore
maar niemand het hom verwag nie
sy ma was sestien
en sy pa gemeenskapsbouer vannie jaar
sy ouma was 'n cashier
en sy stiefoupa het gedrink virrie pyn

Cardo was 'n mooi klong
met 'n donker vel en ligte oë
mooi genoeg om Engels te praat
hy't gehou van drie stokkies
en vrottie eier innie pad speel
Tietie Gawa vannie mobile het gesê
Cardo was 'n engelkind

Die aand voor Cardo se eerste dag
op grootskool
het die schoolboys klappers innie pad geskiet
Cardo het by die venster uitgeloer
die koeël het in sy keel gaan sit
sy ma hettie gehuil nie
die politicians het 'n boompie geplant
en die Kaapse Dokter het hom uitgepluk
en gegooi waar die res
vannie Kaap se drome lê

oppie vlaktes
...

for Alfonso Cloete and Velencia Farmer

They say it's the whiteman I should fear, but it's my own kind
doing all the killing here.
Tupac Amaru Shakur
Cardo was born
but not expected
his mother was sixteen
and his father community builder of the year
his grandmother was a cashier
and his stepgrandfather drank to ease the pain

Cardo was a beautiful child
with dark skin and light eyes
beautiful enough to speak English
he liked playing drie stokkies
and vrottie eier in the street
Tietie Gawa from the mobile said
that Cardo was heaven sent

On the eve of Cardo's first day
at big school
schoolboys were playing with crackers in the street
Cardo looked through the window
the bullet lodged in his throat
his mother did not cry
the politicians planted a sapling
the Cape Doctor uprooted it
and threw it where the rest
of Cape Town's dreams lay

on the Cape flats
...

antie Doris was 'n tipiese tannie
soggens het sy haar kinders by die skool kom afsien
met 'n pienk check overall en groen rollers in haar hare
het sy heeldag huis skoongemaak, wasgoed gewas en kos gekook
sy was 'n huisvrou
eendag in Junie het dit vreeslik gereën
maar antie Doris het wasgoed opgehang, vensters gewas
en haar stoepplante water gegee
later het 'n polisievan en twee van Tygerberg se lykhuisbussies
voor haar huis gestop
drie bodybags is op stretchers uitgestoot
een grote en twee kleintjies
antie Doris het vir die eerste keer in jare
'n blomrok aangehad met haar hare wat in lang los krulle
oor haar skouers hang
sy is gehandcuff en het agter in die polisievan geklim
sy't vir ons nosey bystanders gesê dat ons maar kan kyk
haar huis is skoon
...

auntie Doris was a typical housewife
dropping her kids off at school every morning
dressed in a pink check overall, big green rollers in her hair
she cooked and cleaned and did her laundry
she was a housewife
one rainy day in June auntie Doris
did her regular housework, washing the clothes and the windows
watering the plants on her stoep
later a police van and two Tygerberg mortuary vans
pulled up in front of her house
three body bags on stretchers were pushed out
one big and two small
for the first time in years
auntie Doris wore a floral dress with her hair in luscious curls
down her back
she was handcuffed and climbed into the police van
telling the nosey crowd that we can look all we want
her house is clean.
...

Goeie meisies join nie gangs nie
hulle raakie pregnant op dertien nie
hulle dra nie tjappies nie
hulle roekie weed nie
hulle tik nie
hulle djol nie saam met onderwysers nie
hulle speen nie saam met taxi drivers nie
hulle werk nie vir Shoprite nie
hulle is nie die cleaners nie
goeie meisies bly nie oppie Cape Flats nie
...

Good girls don't join gangs
they don't get pregnant at thirteen
they don't wear tjappies
they don't smoke weed
they don't do meth
they don't have sex with their teachers
or with taxi drivers
they don't work for Shoprite
they are not the cleaners
good girls don't live on the Cape Flats.
...

vir Candy, Emmie en Jessie
Mag die nag jou goed behandel
Mag die donker vir jou mooi wees
Mag stilte vir jou vrede beteken
En mag die naggeluide jou aan die slaap sus
Mag jy drome droom
En nie net slaap nie
...

for Candy, Emmie and Jessie
May the darkness treat you well
May silence mean peace
May the sounds and the shadows in the dark
Send you off into a heavenly sleep
And may you dream dreams
And never just sleep
...