Chill

Jan22

Do you sometimes want to break your own rules?
Eat frozen waffles for breakfast?
Take two cookies instead of one?
Heck, start the day with ice cream and pie?

Do you sometimes want to put discipline aside?
Skip grocery shopping to write?
Spend hours on Facebook and WhatsApp
Let the dirty dishes pile up?

Do you sometimes want to set caution aside
Just walk up to someone and say Hi
Laugh out loud in a quiet coffee shop?

Sometimes it’s OK to be ‘bad’ for a short time
Do what you normally would not do
As long as others are not harmed
Eat that greasy food
Arrive late
Walk out of the house with your robe de chambre

The sky won’t fall
You won’t die
The earth won’t move
Everyone will survive

So, let’s chill out once in a while
Eat food past its best before date
Walk out of the house without makeup

And perhaps then we’ll realize
No one is stopping us
No one is judging us
Except us!

 

January 22nd, 2016

Flying fish

Jan20

Have you heard of flying fish?
They have the best of both worlds, the air and the sea
They are not limited to the confines of the water
They have learned to rise about it

It seems to me that ‘can’t’ is passé
‘Let’s try’ is more relevant today

We get trapped in the world of the ‘possible’
And don’t think of delving into the ‘impossible’
Or seemingly impossible

But what limits us is our own imagination
Our own outlook on reality

Let the flying fish inspire us
The impossible can be achieved!
January 20th, 2015

A letter to my daughter

Jan13

January 11th, 2015
Dear Natalie,
My daughter, in Zambia
I’m sending you a letter
Since the Internet is not always on

You had to call us long distance
On your cell phone
And God knows how much
The roaming charges will be
But that’s what parents are for
No worries

The spiders and the beetles in your room
Have conspired against you
They keep an eye on you day and night
But perhaps you’re in their space
Not the other way around

The monkeys are cute I hear
And there are snakes around
You’d start thinking you were in Africa!

The weather is warm
And the people are warm
If that’s too much heat
I wish I could send you some snow

Natalie, dear
Enjoy your time there
You’re creating memories
That will be with you always…

Maya

Jan2

Maya wasn’t particularly beautiful
But when she walked into a room
You would notice her
With those twinkling eyes and luscious lips
Her smile lit up the room
And as soon as she started to talk
The tenor of her voice
The music of her speech
And her wisdom
Worked its magic on you

She didn’t hold back
She was not afraid
You couldn’t intimidate her if you tried
She had the courage of her convictions and
Stood up for herself
It was not easy to say no to Maya

Her childhood was rough
She stopped talking for a while
But poetry gave her back her voice
And boy, since then, has she talked

She became the voice of her generation
Uplifting so many of her countrymen
Her charisma came from the allure of her words
Maya was a phenomenal woman!

 
December 29th, 2015

Irony

Dec28

We need to educate our girl children, or do we?

Let’s punish them if they don’t
Cover their hair properly

We need to build schools
Since we’ve destroyed the ones we had

In the meantime losing a few months of school
Can’t be that bad

Going to school with boys is out of the question
Unspeakable things will happen if they do that

We want people to be happy
But music will only bring on the wrath of God

We want to please Allah
But first we have to get rid of everyone
Who doesn’t think like us

All this destruction, condemnation,
The reign of terror and such
Is all meant to bring peace and prosperity to us all

 

December 28th, 2015
Inspired by the story of Malala

Teamwork

Dec23

She is the queen
But he’s the queen maker
She is in the lime light
But he’s why she’s there
She is strong
But he taught her to be strong
She is who she is
Because of her Aba

A man, in tune with today’s reality
In a country, stuck in the past
A man of principle, courage and calm
A man whose persistence paid off

Education his ladder and hers
Helping others their way of life
He says they are one soul in two bodies
What a beautiful thought

They are co-workers
Valiant and bright
With hearts that want to do what’s right
They don’t think of themselves first
They want to help other boys and girls
Such an inspired team will go far
I can’t wait to see the result

He treated her the same way
He would treat his son
And thought girls should be free
To achieve what they want

In a society that girls were not seen and heard
He raised a daughter that questioned these ways
He is beside her each step of the way
She is who she is because she was encouraged

She was named after a woman leader of the past
As if her father knew what would come to pass
Leaders are born and leaders are taught
Leaders educate their head and their heart
Their hearts set goals high and mighty
Their heads help them achieve victory

Two souls in one body, or two souls in two
Watch out for what this duo will do

December 22nd, 2015

Inspired by Malala and her father

No need for school

Dec22

Dear sister, you can not go to school!
Knowledge is of no use to you!

After all you’ll have such a limited life
You’ll be married off young to someone you didn’t choose
And your life will consist of bearing children
And preparing food

You won’t have a public life in any case
You can talk to men who are relatives, not the rest

You see, you have no reason to read and write
We’ll take care of everything in the best way

Also, since the world is such a dangerous place
You can’t appear in public while showing your face
Your eyes you can leave uncovered since you need to see
But for the rest, please cover up properly!

If you get hot
Think of it as a free spa
If you feel restricted…
Well, you’re used to that by now

We honor you and value you
But for certain things
You need not worry about complicated things
Leave those to us and the other men
We’ve figured out a great system!

And if you feel all these things are
Unbalanced and unjust
It’s probably because you went to school, and thus
You see that we’re doing you a favour by destroying schools
Education will only make you distraught

And if you wonder how we came up
With this way of doing things
Which has your best interest at heart
Well, that’s another thing you need not think about

Trust us and do as we say and all will be well
If anyone tells you anything different, don’t believe them
They are surely just looking out for themselves
We are the ones looking out for you, dear sister

December 22nd, 2015
Inspired by Malala’s story

The third act

Dec21

The third act

I am in the third act of my life
I don’t view it as going downhill
I continue to climb up

My body sometimes will not cooperate
It will need more care sometimes
But my mind is sharp
My spirit’s bright, and
I carry all the lessons I’ve learned
In my back pocket

This third act can be the most productive of all
I’ve done a lot of growing up
Falling down, and getting up
I’ve learned what counts and what does not
I’ve learned to value friends most of all

I’ve been through some rough patches
But I’ve survived
I’ve learned to make peace
With the challenges of life

With this accumulated wisdom so far
I feel ready to run
Ready to fly…

My heart can still break
But it heals faster
Bumps and bruises
Don’t scare me as much

I’m happy to keep learning
And experiencing life
But I hope to give back
To share what I’ve learned so far

The third act may turn out to be
The most fulfilling of all
But I’m grateful for act one and two
And where I am now

December 21sth, 2015

Unique

Dec21

Lupita, you are a unique snowflake Unique as can be
But unlike a snowflake
You have a warm heart
That is filled with glee

Your smile and laughter are infectious
I love it when we laugh simultaneously
I wonder what those sitting close to us think
Can they handle the thunderous laughter that that erupts suddenly

You don’t have barriers between yourself and others
Some people live in a glass bubble of sorts
They don’t want to get too close
But you are as free as a bird
That can sit on any branch
And sing

Your energy seems limitless
You come in with flare
And when you leave
We all know
That Lupita’s been there

Lupita, my friend
For these reasons and many others
You are magnificently unique

December 21st, 2015

Out of the fire

Dec20

I try to create a third space
Between my heart which is in tumult
And my cool head
This is where I need to go to take shelter

Sometimes we need to step out of the fire for a while
When emotions overwhelm
And reason does not help

This space exists in all of us
But it’s sometimes hard to find
Sometimes my writing takes me there
Sometimes prayer
Sometimes music
Sometimes visiting a friend

It’s a space for contemplation
Evaluation and respite
It’s where I need to go now
December 18th, 2015