Walking on ice and other poems
By the late Isabella Motadinyane
Walking on ice
When the house
thronged
with people
silence
aware of his presence
i read his words
from the thin
of his lips
“this poem is ‘bout to start”
walking on ice
he had a mind
to let go
but watched time
the unblinking eye
watched SA
through a telescope
saw a long walk to freedom
allowed one visit a month
a long walk to freedom
with a handful of names
enough to destroy a government
saw an old man sitting on the rim of his chair
taking off his jacket
giving it to the young
walking on ice
a woman from India
jumped on stage
bit his ear
“walk off you screw
get off the scope
you poison the minds of our people”
walking on ice
he is the face
of satisfied laughter
he bleached the night
he held the sun high
he knew the sky
will never fall
when walking on ice
— —
Hungry violent boys crack
Hungry violent boys crack
a blue movie soundtrack
weaving seeds of sin pact
counting one two three
they keep their dreams intact
against cracked walls of fate
one foot tripped off in a dream
another bites the stream
dreams that felt the strain
from his tinted brain kicking
his mental blackout tricks
searching their backs for coin stacks
it is cold down there
they chant a slogan for warmth
release all prisoners
praise poets of the people
for a comfortable position
thin circles of fate stretched out
I was cooking
I was cooking in the kitchen
he sat there folding arms
my body carrying his eyes around
he was actually ogling me
huffing sounds suddenly emerged from behind
i slowly turned round fed up
knowing how sharp my tongue can be
he coaxed my smile
to melt the mask from my face
i grinned and said hi
he winked an eye and sheepishly asked
who is it that you are seeing lately
ag man
did he have possessions before
i thought aloud
— —
My Better Half
for Ike Mboneni Muila
(sung in a jazzy blues style)
Love nest well
in hard times
together
in difficulties
sometimes cooldrinks
both of us
down the bottom
of hardship
hard times
mafanya life…
money here money there
joburg our home
our stable
windowpane
drink it cool
my better half
we built a home
on top of a rock
our joburg home
we had hard times
in difficulties together
come rain come
though thunderstorms
my better half
thou shall never
wither
Isabella Motadinyane was a South African poet, performance poet and actor. She was born in Soweto and was a founding member of the Botsotso Jesters poetry group, and was on the editorial board of Botsotso Publishing, both named after a line from one of her poems, "die is mos bosotsos".