Malawi a Moto - Flames of Fire (a poem, 30 May 2006)

Our love was like a fire
Visible by all
In the enveloping darkness of the African night
Growing in size and power
As we threw more and more of ourselves in
Like sacrificial animals
Seeking to appease
Our own thirst
For acceptance and belonging
Blind
To the foolishness of our actions
Deaf
To the cries of those
Perceiving the flames take over the forest
Destroying trees, plants and birds’ nests
But their cries did
Reach the sky
An the rain fell
Apocalyptic and torrential
Thunder and lightning struck
Brutally the fire was extinguished
Mercifully we were saved
So that I can now rise
From underneath the ashes
Singing a new song
A breeze has chased away the clouds
And in time
The soil of my heart
Will be fertile again.

LESS IS MORE

I read an article recently that presented a book called "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" by Judith Levine (http://www.judithlevine.com) - a very powerful, very exciting idea. Through the article I found out about the international "Buy Nothing Day" movement which is definitely something I am going to support as a way of raising awareness of just how much consumerism is an obstacle to freedom. Before I go any further I need to state that I am NOT glorifying poverty and advocating that we should all give up our comforts and go back 2000 years - no. But I just cringe and something rises up within me when I hear stories of queues outside Harrods the night before the sales, of people violently fighting over those limited edition fashion items, and kids just wanting to go to London to spend the day at Hamley's! It is WRONG I say - wrong! I have found freedom in experiencing a simpler way of life in Malawi, with less stuff, more time, more open space, and fewer layers of labels, barriers of Ipods, Blackberry distractions to get in the way of life. It has been increasingly hard to maintain that simplicity in this Land of Plenty, but to me it's something like healty eating and excercise, hard to stick to the routine, but you feel so much better for it. I have been asking myself how long could I go without buying anything other than food and medicine (like Judith levine did for a year) and how would my life be impacted? Especially my social life... If I get really serious about this I might put myself to the test one of these days....

Natura Docet - Nature Teaches

For the last couple of weeks I have had a concept in my head that I've been meaning to express in poetry but am still churning it somewhere up there, and am a little bit stuck with translating it into words. Basically I have been thinking about the difference between Change ("the act, process or result of altering or modifying/the replacing of one thing for another, substitution/a transformation or transition from one state, condition or phase to another" synonyms: alteration, mutation, distortion, remodeling, diversification) and Growth ("the process of growing/full development, maturity/development from a lower or simpler to a higher or more complex form, evolution" synonyms: advancement, improvement, enrichment, furtherance, progress). I guess what I am striving for is the idea that Growth is a progression of wholesome fruitful continuous and inside-out births of things new coming from the falling and absorbing into fertile ground of things old, a process where what is behind is not just archived or covered up with something new, but it is acknowledged and used to improve what is ahead. I thought about butterflies and the fascinating way in which they grow from caterpillars. It's a process, not a change of mask. As for me, I want to grow, my soul and mind in tune with my ever increasing grey hair! May I keep off superficial change, new facades, big words and layers of "newness" to cover up a broken core of the old me. The truth is ALWAYS better than a pretty lie.

Still (a poem - 30 April 2006)

affected by reverse colonization disorder
another blow to my identity
my heart seeks refuge from the unease of a malaise
that's being in my own skin
a journey that's brought me
to a stationary position
where I stop playing hide & seek
from feeling justified through what I do
or feeling secured by who I am with
Now I am grown I need to know
when I am stripped of all the layers
activity
affection
appearance
affluence
I want what is left to be me
standing on a Rock
fully satisfied to know that I am
created, loved, redeemed, accompanied
forever
by the One who is eternal, faithful and loving
the One who calls me His daughter and His friend.