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Some Stuff About Things

Mostly here for tasks and projects, sometimes a poem or two. Maybe one day I'll turn this into a real thing... when life stops throwing me these curve balls.

19 July 2017

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August 01, 2017

I must revel in this loneliness
for I have forgotten who
I

singularly

am

- to become me

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Graduation

August 11, 2017

"Graduation" is another poem by Koleka Putuma from her anthology Collective Amnesia . This poem deals with growing up and "graduating" from life as a black, queer womxn. Putuma describes this "graduation" leaving your parents' nest. It is a statement, something that WILL happen at one point or another. Because this is framed as a factual statement, the rest can also be interpreted as stated facts. These facts of "graduating" includes realizing that traditions from the speaker's childhood do not fit her own, personal narrative, the speaker is expected to support her family financially, but it is not always possible as she is trying to build her own life. This act of contributing financially will earn her the title of "adult" in the family. But this title is false. The speaker "slips into old roles". She hides things she does not want them to see or know, perhaps her sexuality as they may not be accepting of it. Wh...

Oh dear God, please! Not another rapist

August 24, 2017

To the men who raped my sister and left her body in rags next to the highway To the uncle who molested my best friend and still came to family holidays To the ex-lover who assaulted me one drunken night and defended himself by stating where he had previously been allowed to touch To the man who sodomized an 8-year-old boy and left his broken body next to the footpath for the other children to find on their way to school To all South African sex offenders and those not even on this list We fight so that one day protecting your identity will be less important than protecting your victims.

Exploring Nayyirah Waheed

September 28, 2017

I came across Nayyirah Waheed perhaps a year ago while scrolling through the explore page on Instagram. Her work immediately spoke to me. Something about her short poignant poems and how she is able to capture the essence of anything in but a few lines captured my soul and I've been intrigued ever since. The first poem I am looking at today is perhaps one of my favorite works. Ever. The poem speaks of the natural fear anxiety womxn experience when encountering men because of the violences practiced upon our bodies. When that "feminine presence" is in his eyes it is perhaps an indication that that he has unlearned (or is in the process of unlearning) toxic masculinity. It is also a relief (as the next few lines indicate) because it means that the womxn does not have to perform undue emotional and intellectual labor to make him understand but a fraction of her experience. For Waheed of course this sexism practiced upon her body is often racialized as well and the fear ...