21st of February – Season 3 Solomon Magubane wasn’t known for being impatient but today seemed to be testing the theory as he’d been waiting at the petrol pump for what felt like ages. He was currently at the Sasol fuel station, showing some solidarity for his Auto One team. But when he looked across the street at the Shell fuel station, he couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to go there. It wasn’t li...

Eden. The word doesn’t need adornment, it just evokes the image of paradise. Except, it doesn’t in my case. Though not by any means hell, my Eden wasn’t the paradise you should find yourself praying for. For you see, my Eden was, and maybe always will be, my community; a coastal Australian town, about five hundred kilometres, though at times it felt more like five hundred years, away from Sydney. Eden was, as you might ha...

July’s midsummer heat stuck. It stuck to the blades of grass. It stuck to Sumire’s beige romper. It stuck to everything and anything like a sweltering bog. Sweat drenched her underarms as she set up her easel and foldable chair. Even at her elevated vantage point, the muggy draft painted her body with its salty sheen.Wiping her brow, she gazed over the stacked rows of terraced rice paddies below, bristling with the vibran...

They say you’re like your father, just as I was like mine. But I see a part of me inside you, strong and stubborn. You lift that chin as if daring me to hold you back, but I won’t. How could I, when all I ever wanted was to be free? I chose my king and my life, and our coupling brought you to me. But it’s time for you to build your own kingdom, and to make your own life. I am so proud of you, my daughter. Soar above all t...

  For all her infant life and some way beyond, Jane hated the sea. It was always there in all its forms lapping gently at the rocky shores of Clyth, like some friendly faithful dog, or giving a harvest as generous as a fertile field. Yet Jane believed that below that heaving surface lurked a vicious devil-form that worked with the winds that came howling out of the north to produce mountainous waves that crashed and roare...

Gaze fixed on her phone, Jaz read the email again without taking in a word. She squeezed Tish’s hand, her grip tightening when raucous laughter exploded from the four men sprawled on the seats diagonally opposite. “I mean, look at ’im. Fuckin’ poof.” Tensing, Jaz looked up to see the man in the outside seat facing her, lean across the table and send a beer can clattering to the floor. Ignoring the noise and the pool of li...

No glory, only pride You played your part in a theatre where so many died On foreign soil, a strange language Memories of the old country in your heart Again and again you took to the air I can barely imagine your bravery The noise, the engines, guns If you were afraid, I understand Then to return to find your best friend gave his life The hollow victory, the pain Then the end came and you could return to your wife Victor...

In an earlier life, a woman once remarked to me that it was good to meet a man who was proud enough of his name to write it so others could read it. I don’t know if she was flirting or not but, as you can see, I remember her telling me this. Last Friday while being introduced to a woman, she shook my hand more firmly than I anticipated. Then she held my hand with both of hers and said, "Oh, my. Big hands."  I don't know i...

I am thankful and celebrating today. I’m sitting on a knitting box. My neighbour’s overwhelmingly colourful, cluttered living room feels like a sweat box as I watch her pull her blankets tighter. Believe it or not, I’m smiling, ignoring the sweat gathering at my nape. Chatting, learning, eating cake and pretending to drink tea. Sounds less than marvelous to most I guess- but it is. Inviting the women of my tiny street, my...

Working with children, you're privy to some of their conversations. Overheard snippets as you walk past or sit next to them. Even the very young children somehow seem to be able to effectively communicate with each other. To me, it just sounds like random noises and baby babble, but they just know. On Wednesday I was partially privy to such a conversation when I walked down the other end of the playground to defuse a squi...

They approached the front porch hesitantly, passing between two blooming Rose of Sharon bushes with red flowers. A new place, strange to him, with dust specks dancing in the rays of the sun that flickered through the trembling chinaberry leaves down onto the weather-beaten wooden flooring. Everything had been painted at one time. Now just flecks still clung desperately to the surface of the porch walls and the floor while...

It was Halloween weekend, just a little over two months before Katy passed away and we were spending it in one of Katy's favorite places. Asheville, North Carolina, about 100 miles from our home. My mother was in town from Florida, and my eldest sister had taken a flight in just a few days prior, from California. After we had dinner that Halloween night, the four of us were making our way along the crowded sidewalk. My mo...

I suppose I am what many would call a left wing intellectual, although that is a much abused term. Certainly I have spent most of my life in academia and the laboratory, and by no means could I be called an artisan. However, although my parents were middle class — respectively a civil servant and a primary school secretary — I was the first in modern times to go to university. This was at a time in the UK when only 5% of...

Do not let growing up in the streets define you as a person? You are older now and don’t need to talk the street talk and slangs. Educate yourself to what you can be, not what you was. I do not want to be defined as a street thug or a ghetto rat But as a person who has learned to talk properly and has Left the streets to the streets. Because I do not have a college degree does not mean That I am an illiterate; it just mea...

You are my angel You are my queen You are my best friend You are my joy You are my pride You are my soul You are my heart beat You are my light You are the beautiful flower You are my baby girl You complete me you are the breath in my lungs the blood in my veins You are care taker of my heart You truly make me tick You are my baby girl And most of all you are my love I love you baby girl Don't ever forget that I love you...