Cascade

tackling the unworked seams

smiles and scars and puckered flesh

and further down the gradient

slow streams meet    

in patient cascade

The Deep

for Bra Ray Phiri

pluck the strings
amid the mkhukhus & tenements
along billboard-littered motorways, by grubby streams
via grass-topped homesteads
wending, winding, entwining, splicing
woven thread. the fabrics
from the sinews of the ancient folk
that still adorn
the broken school, chisanyama, spaza shop, the crafter's shed

pick the notes, brother
amid the jazz wizards, who cluster and eddy
faces floating in moonlit pools
the instruments, blackened walls, beer-stained tables
bitten fingers, chewed-out gum
standing by
the faces & barely-tied laces
present, struck, restless but unhurried
grainy as the blues

strum, brother, strum
a soothing embrace
to accompany those troubled dreams.
for seekers
that melody, coursing
like the fierce waters of the zambezi waterfall
along fault-lines & edges of love & broken skin &
cracked smiles

those visionary
gyrations
those sounds with lips, tongue & vital throat
that body with notes
      spurting forth
      from grey rocks, hard sands, volcanic rock, silt, carbon

your guitar wails, sighs & sings
dances in the aisles
till we hear our own voice
hoarse
calling out
from the deep

New kids' story: Teacher Owl's Class

Just like my other children's stories, Teacher Owl's Class features the animals of Africa.

In this tale, while other learners play and do other interesting things, Snail learns something new about her family.

See the story here: https://tinyurl.com/yabjzc3q

Frank Meintjies

Children's story: Elephants encounter lions and fire on their journey

In this story, the elephants encounter lions and a runaway fire on their journey.

See it here: https://tinyurl.com/y7zgw7vk. 

Frank Meintjies

(This story may be copied and used for educational purposes. It should be used with author acknowledgement and, if the attached/linked version is used, due acknowledgment of the creators of the illustrations.)

Children's story: a wolf that saves the day

My new children's story, Mystic Moon Saves the Day, can be read here: https://live.fundza.mobi/home/fanz/stories/mystic-moon-saves-the-day/. or here: https://tinyurl.com/y9bzhn9w.

This is how the fundza.mobi website introduces the story: Mystic Moon is a wolf that is traveling through the Magaliesberg hills by himself. As he has been traveling, he has noticed some lions that haven’t been very kind to him. When some lion cubs get stranded at the top of a mountain and Mystic Moon is the only one who can help them, will the lions get over their pride to save their kids? Or will Mystic Moon be punished for trying to help?

The storm

lightning flares, a phosphorescent scar

a Jedi sword

of galactic proportions

pile driving/slashing/talking/linking

 into grey of sky, & then

a massive bang, like cracking earth

raindrops pelting; two

& five rand coins

zing bare skin; bend leaves

wooshing trees

leaning

raking wind

    the quivering branches

    the brushed grass

small & big pulses .... flash& boom

call & response

a jazz-rock mixture

written in the sky, in the

folds of my heart

later, an eastward drifting

of stygian clouds

a soft roar, whirring rain

pours forth like purple slush

daylight stirred                                          

into a soup

here, where vainly

i seek cover …

i notice

the bark’s abrasiveness,

its brown

deeply darkened

a degeneration of

this leisurely stroll

into moist abandon/water-lit brows/glistening lips

back on street

I take small steps; then

glance back

at

                wonderfully

          muddy

steps …