Freedom Day Freedoms

Never the same day

April 27th
Freedom Day
One collective
Celebration
Amongst many
Life
Not
Comparable to any
Other
Father
Daughter
Son
Mother
Living
Requires
No comprehensive
Cover

April 27th
A commemoration
Many peoples
One nation
Each in life
A unique station
Democracy
Assumed for all
A state of elation
Inequality
Still
Part of the equation
Breathing freely
The recommendation
Survivalists
For another year
Patient

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 27 April 1994 we went to the polls and abolished Apartheid forever from the statutes, but the separateness still lives in hearts and minds.


Today the beech outside my window
Is in full bloom
Like the few surviving daffodils
I’m reminded
Spring is here
It is needed in my step
To lighten up
My soul
Beckoning me outside
A voice calm and collected
Its vibrancy
Cannot leave me
Unaffected

Today the sun in my window
Is warm and bright
It offers the promise
Of instant delight
Come outside
Please
Bring your kite
The breeze my company
Utter delight
It will still be many hours
Before we
Again
Have the darkness of night

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 27, 2011

Chicken curry and lamb stew

Chicken curry
Lamb stew
Comfort food
Just the tiniest scraps of meat
Sugar beans in the mix
Humble dishes
A gastronomical feast

Lamb stew
Chicken curry
Served for one or many
Best taken sitting down
Instant taste sensations
Stimulating
Positive moods
A buzz and vibe
Difficult to describe

Chick curry
Lamb stew
Pressure cooked prestige
Sizzling black pot campfire flamed
Every nation offers its edition
To the vegetarians aversion
Rice or roti
Krummel pap in tow
Knife, fork and spoon
No distraction
Salivating… mmmmm finger licking good

The lamb is softening in the pressure cooker and the house is fragrant with its promised flavor. By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 27, 2011.

Soul Sewing

Bright
Yellow
Green
I could not resist
Two pieces of cloth
Transform to a skirt
Imagined
A great grandmother’s gift
Skills honed
Trapped in memory
A mother’s guidance
Swift

Red
White and blue tied dyed
Treasures shared over oceans
Mixing
Lucky finds
Riches in the ‘fill a bag bin’
Sewing my salvation
Working stresses from within
Creations over the years
Stayed the tears
Waylaid the fears
Shielded from the spears
Sewing the gift
A silent cure

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 27, 2011

Easter Not Passed Over

Writing a daily blog was what I set out to do. Now I have not written for one week. Sorry… time and deadlines caught up with me! We have longer days in Skuttunge now and suddenly life is filled with many activities. Slowly the garden is getting ready for the big planting and creative ideas abuzz with a new craze for skirt making. It is once again fun to bring together the pieces of cloth. Nothing fancy so don’t send in the orders yet! The last time I posted was April 15th so I will try and find 7 pieces to keep in balance with the universe!

Another Passover

Another Passover
Almost gone
The end
Another Lenten journey
Where we win and lose
Learning
Just a little bit more
Gradually
Peeling away
What living
Holds for us in-store

Another Passover
With old traditions
Every dream
Holding new visions
Each year
A different prism
Gradually
Less and less division
Belief
Sometime
A virtual prison
Ascension
The promised salvation

By SBNN, April 23, 2011


Spring Flowers

I try
To capture
Your essence
Little flower blue
Rising tower purple
Cascading tree yellow
Rising tulip red
Your fragrance
Keeps my senses
Well fed

I try
To collect
Your nectar honey sweet
Like the birds
Flitting about
Sweet buds
Dinner delicacies
Insects’ intimacies
At dusk
They hover above your sensitive cusp
Every spring
A feast on offer
Mixing
Innocence and lust

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, taking pictures of Spring flowers in Sweden, A lazy Easter Saturday, April 23, 2011.


Patches

A riot of colours
Stir my senses
Bright greens
Yellows pale
What is the best cloth
On sale
An amateur designer
Never fails
Her own creations
House dresses
Well worn
Never
For Sale

A riot of pieces
Neatly
Stuffed in bags
A treasure trove
Worth much more
Than the rags we used
To clean the black stoves of old
Every stitch
A lifeline to my soul
Each patch
Mending
Broken bones
Life’s pains
Stories untold

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, the sewing machine is a gift that keeps on giving. Creating even just a bag to keep the bread warm is such a pleasure! April 23, 2011.

Pickled fish and hot cross buns

I dig deep inside
Finding the flavour and the taste
Pickled fish and hot cross buns
Cooked and baked
Golden brown
Sticky
Sweet and sour
Tangy
Deep in my bones
Every year
Flavours gradually entrenched
Stored in the tips of my fingers
Lingering in the lining of my nose
Salivating in the roof of my mouth
A shared perception
More than memories
Our collective celebration

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, Good Friday Feasts… Pickled fish and Hot cross buns, April 23, 2011.

Cooks’ Garden Companions

Rhubarb and Mint
Shares the spoils of early spring
The cool garden corner companions
Survivors shaking off
Winter’s cold ravages
One sour
The other sweet
Both offering
Quick relief
To many
Pestering human maladies

Rhubarb and mint
Leaves big and dainty
Culinary gifts
Perennial
Less than saintly
Mint well known
Rhubarb’s reputation
Much more quaintly
Cooks all round
Find hidden treasures
In generous portions
Well measured

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 23, 2011.


Depth and Meaning

Depth and meaning
I seek through writing
Hidden emotions
Somehow
Grazing the surface
Transforming
Something light
Instantly deep
Not necessarily the intention
Keeping it bright
Suddenly
Writing bittersweet
Chasing authenticity
An author’s quest
True to the self
Or else suffer
Mediocrity at best

Depth and meaning
We skim through
Revealing
Diminutive sightings new
Secrets
Well nurtured
Shame and pain
Our soul’s burden
Love and laughter
Life’s safety net
Existing
A fine balance
The search for self
A constant journey
True

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 23, 2011.

My daily prayers

I whisper a little prayer
Silently
Wishing to protect my soul
Seeking balance in my life
Making me whole

I whisper a little prayer
Loudly
Wishing for the safety of your life
That you will find happiness
Peace from strife

I whisper a little prayer
Subconsciously
Connecting us in our dreams
Banishing dark feelings blue
Finding blessings new

I whisper a little prayer
Wordlessly
Chanting a mantra seeking absolution
Exiling every sin
Discovering forgiveness within

I whisper a little prayer
Noiselessly
Spreading goodwill with every hymn I sing
Blessings to our souls
Each hour of meditation hope brings

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 23, 2011.

Paying Peace Forward

This idea…
Pay peace forward
Finding
Time and space
Perfect
Mind of place
Beyond
An abstract gap
Tranquility
More than
A state without war

This concept…
Pay peace forward
Following
Simple wishes
Wiping away
Regrets’ tears
Life’s light gradually banishing
Boogiemen fears
Chasing demons
With magic spears
Calmness
Ripping away years

This understanding…
Pay peace forward
In my realm
No longer stuck
Seeking freedoms’ alms
Open hands
Banished
Violence in my palms
A voice suddenly balm
Love’s affirmation
Stripped its’ terror wrath
External peace
Fertile soil
Calamity
Steadily foiled

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 15, 2011

April Muse

I try to think about all the ideas I wanted to write about today. Where did the week go? At the end of Monday I had a lot to say about livelihoods or rather the difficulties of having sustained options in life. The rest of the week has slowly become a battle in terms of me securing my own sense of ‘livelihood’. I’m already back from one of those activities that is good for you and you go in anticipation of the pain and sure! It is more intense than you remember from the last time. No, it’s not childbirth! No! I did not go to the dentist (that is next month!!!) Yes! It was a mammogram! What a pain! During the five minutes of me, half naked in the room with two very well trained and kind nurses who only spoke in rapid Swedish whilst directing me! Now a few hours later I have almost forgotten the pain and I am happy that we have technology that can give us an early warning if there should be anything wrong. On a much lighter note! The sun is out and the first spring flowers are now flushing the road verges yellow and the birds are out and happy.

The air is alive
It shimmers
Like a slow flowing river
Bright
Reflections
In the clouds
Moving about
In the ever so slight breeze
Happy days
Spared
Until next year’s freeze



These are the first flowers in our garden. Improving my photography skills is the next challenge for the year.

Ten Words Looping in my Head
Too many people
With greedy eyes
Empty pockets
Vacant minds

Too many people
With empty eyes
Greedy pockets
Occupied minds

Too many people
With blocked eyes
Broken pockets
Greedy minds

Too many people
With broken eyes
Vacant pockets
Blocked minds

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April , 2011

Freedom’s Rambles
It has been 20 years
Since
Our Freedom Movements were unbanned
Maybe in my mind
It was an idealist’s Peace Movement
Generations
Chased
Battled
Expected
Instant
Inner -- Outer
Peace
Dreams of normality
Idealistically
Almost instantly banished
Inequality
Rooted in historical adversity
When all the while
Serenity is buried
Deep inside
Conflict flying about
Wild

It has been 20 years
Since we started building
A process of freedom
I’m still captured
In my mind
Like the woman on the morning radio
Who talks about it
Conjuring the vision for me
The maid and her life… depicted in her art
She is breaking out
But I feel
Her need to tell
Even from far away
I reconnect with this need
Listening
Waiting
Urging
To splinter away
Cracking the surface
Bold
Before I’m too old

It has been 20 years
Suddenly
We have new stories
The horrors of choice
The flagrant wonton greed of peace
A new kind of disrespect
Solidarity
A word of regret
Freedom Movements
New
Protest Movements
We are being robbed
Idealistic
Silent
My dreams
Inner Peace
Outer liberation
Misplaced

It has been 20 years
Inner peace
Growing through the cracks in the concrete road
Always this nagging question
Begging an answer
What could I have been?
If my ancestors were not enslaved
What can I become?
When I defy this inner oppression
What for me
The lessons after all this time
Why are we still a nation
Drawing a spear
Instead of a pen
Instinctively
Hiding in the safety of the fire circle
Failing to act
Banishing
Enemies
Soul thieves
Our road to Damascus
Crisscrossed by a world
That looked just like ours
Collective inequality
Everywhere
Deep inside
Idealistically
We call the monster by its name
But in doing so
He becomes our captor
We become the aggressors
A new kind of separateness
For which there is no
Freedom Movement
Only
Paying peace forward

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, Radio P1, Sverige had a short piece on a travelling exhibit and the artist talked about a maid that was depicted as too dressed up to work and I heard the voice and called out South Africa before she identified her work as South African. April 14, 2011.

How can we forget?

I had this bright idea to write about the importance of not forgetting -- picking up from last week's last lines... What should I have remembered? A very busy weekend kept me away from the computer. My recurring bouts of low writing confidence saw me sitting up at the graveyard hour in an attempt to complete a now overdue report! Today I participated in a forum (voluntarily) fueled by an interest in livelihoods (sustainable?). Another lecture room with interesting dissertations and big complex academic concepts. Keeping track of the issues. The sad part is that I had to listen to tales of poverty and hardship and the proffered solutions left some even worse off. The research offers insights into very complex issues. Snap shots into peoples lives that will become the marker in the life of the student. What has this got to do with my title?

I'm thinking

In my mind
Poverty
Will always be etched
Its memories haunt me
Never to forget
Even if to my elders
It was probably never considered
Totally hopeless
Others considered
Worse off
We from its destructive ravages
Spared

In my mind
Permanently marked
Economic liberation
A fine health's salvation
A growing mind
Defined
Not by social borders confined
My wants and needs
No longer dreams maligned
I have to remember
Safety nets can always unravel
My comfort zones
Can at the next turn
Rapidly decline

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 11, 2011

From the days' activities I add this one:

The poor reacts
Shifting livelihood choices
Human action responses
Mother earth
Not a passive correspondent
Shifting sands
Crowded lands
Many abandoned plans

The rich reacts
Rapidly grabbing voices
Human instincts resplendent
Mother earth
A violent defender
Crying voices
Institutionally upended
Poor choices
Badly defended

The society reacts
A silent profusion
Human driven confusion
Mother earth
Malnourished bloated
The vulnerable easily goaded
Equality
Sadly too lightly floated

By Simone Beatrice Naik NOemdoe, April 11, 2011.

We have to remember

Over the last two days I had two conversations that made me laugh with joy and in both exchanges we shared some serious ideas. Our heritage.... these are my thoughts.

What is our heritage? This is such a common question. Everyone a sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher… asking.. exploring… looking. Family history, conditioning… space and time – that point in your life when the choices were made. For you, by you, in you, through you… all these things shape us. Making us who we are. Strong and weak at the same time. Teaching initiative. How to ask. When to ask. Seeking out the right knee at which to sit to find that critical voice, that encouraging pat on the back… those harsh words to wake us up!

All these voices over time – I have this picture of my aunt talking to me on my 21st birthday. My only picture of her and she encouraged me to live and be the best I can be! The picture is somewhat posed, but the words were not. Rituals like this we have to cherish. “Take care of yourself. Watch out whom you choose to be in your life. Try and be friends with people who are better than you”. Within that, we were called to make a judgment call. Decide who you want to be and go for it!

Soul Shaping
Today
I want to celebrate
With pride
My heritage
Poor
Suffering
Transcended
Every problem
By a quiet, screaming
Small victory
Upended

Today
I want to celebrate
With love
My family
Rich
Victorious
Uplifted
Our bootstraps
Stretched to the edge
Away from despair
We have not
Too badly fared

Today
I want to be reminded
With love
Of our individual
Collective drive
Bickering in-between
We smoothed the rough edges
Breaking free
No system could
Our souls diminish
We can only grow
Continuously
Flourish

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 8, 2011. For Bakkies! Thank you for all your love and encouragement.

Wind in my writing tales

There is an in-between season wind blowing outside. The kind I got used to as a child. In the Western Cape it is called the Augustus winde. In school we had to learn poems about die “Augustus Winde”. Now it feels like so long ago! The wind will come moving over the mountains with billowing white clouds against a bright blue sky. Those clouds which made me feel small, as if they can come and envelope me to be dropped in another valley. I tried to hide under the blankets with thick borrowed books and drink lots of coffee finishing all the sugar!

They never came to collect me for a journey to the next valley and it's April in another part of the world. The wind from winter to spring with the promise of summer. Instead of looking at clouds coming over the mountains I study their patterns over the tops of swinging trees. I’m kept alert by the wind chimes outside. I have long ago learnt that no matter how hard they try the clouds can never sweep me away!

Swayed

Swinging with the wind
Firmly rooted
Why
Do I envy you
Big and small tree
Why
Do I feel
Less rooted
Moving about
Free

Solid on the earth
Firmly anchored
Why
Do I envy you
Creaking house
Why
Do I feel
More trapped
Moving about
Free

Stuck in my head
Firmly trapped
Why
Don't I dare you
Words in my mind
Why
Do I fail
To bring you out
Will a walk in the strong breeze
Flush you
About

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 7 April 2011.

Blustering about

Kling klang kling
Wind chimes distracts me
Klang Kling klang
Ceramic dolphins
Swinging free
A fun off-key tune you sing
What pleasure
To my soul
Your kling klang tunes bring

Doom doom doom
The wind in the forest bloom
Hiss hiss hiss
Through the naked trees
Swing swing swing
More stable
Than a puppet
On a string

Creak creak creak
From north to east
The sky bleak
Sunshine today
A shy friend to wind
Movement dynamic
No space in time
For the frantic
My love with this wind
May just be
A little too pedantic

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, April 7, 2011. (Very distracted from commissioned writing!)

Chase it away

Banish
All feelings blue
Embrace
Life’s hassles true
Time to grow
Find a new way through

Banish
All images blue
Hug in close
Inkling ideas new
Birds whisper
Even in winter too
Summer soon here
Bright and new

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe April 7, 2011.

Optimist - Pessimist

Crafting with words is what I do for a living. Writing this blog is supposed to grow what I do for a living and a way to connect with the world. Yet, writing it is a bit like the fly trapped between the curtain and the window. You cannot see it, but the buzzing is just irritating enough to push you to do something! Anything!

And so, in talking about writing, I reflect on this obsession that we as South African’s have with our language heritage. It is not nearly as many languages as in India or as complicated as the dialects in China, but on top of the different languages we have also mastered the art of speaking in euphemisms. When we have a problem (difficulty, trouble, crisis, predicament, quandary, setback, hitch) we call it a challenge (comfort, brave, defy, face up to, dare, test, dispute). The more I think about it, I begin to see why we can fall for this. It is maybe this shift from being a pessimist to being an optimist – for all, the growing necessity to get out of bed in the morning and move life forward. I offer four very different pieces (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) to maybe contemplate our swinging between our problems and challenges!

Don’t Judge
Don’t judge
You always urge
How to do this
When it is so inherently
Human nature
To analyse and contemplate
Issues of family
From opposite ends
Very difficult
Hastily uttered comments
Openly made
Considered
Hurtful and unkind

Don’t judge
Your general sentiment
How do you then
Some actions
Reactions
Comprehend
Selfish visions entrenched
Challenge
Not the same
As the no-judging regiment
For in the end
Judgement
Is all we sometimes
Comprehend
Pessimist
See the world unkind
Optimists
Accused
Looking at the realities blind
Judgement
Perhaps
The only way to
Sanity find

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, started sometime in 2007 and completed on April 5, 2011.

Happiness
Happiness
We with others
Seek
When it is
The happiness lacking within
That makes us
Weak
In this search
We should remember
That no one
But ourselves
Can us
Unhappy render

Happiness
Not sold
In a shop window
Or dished out
At the charity table
It is only
When we
Internal harmony find
That happiness
Will follow blind

Happiness
In continuity elusive
Not a constant state
Conclusive
But happy seconds
By the millions
Leaves us
Overjoyed
It possesses the power
To unhappy moments
Destroy

By Simone, 07/09/10

Much of the Sameness
Much of the sameness
We wait for and actively seek
Is that the best way forward
When we life partners
Want to meet

Adaptor or innovator
You might be
Seeking much of the sameness
Or someone who will
Complement and grow thee

Much of the sameness
Kept together by
Social, emotional acceptability
Adaptive or innovative
You might be
What the give and take would be

Adaptors to innovators gravitate
Friends will be sought
Who are alike
That is when we start
Social discord and a fight

Much of the sameness
We in society will seek
The best way forward
It will for most be
At least if only
To keep the peace

By Simone Noemdoe, 12 October 2006 at during an “Innovative Leaders, Excellence in Performance” workshop presentation on adaptors and innovators

Rules of Engagement
Rules of engagement
Concepts used in war
Why not
In any other life battle

Would it not offer
Some mechanism
For all… in everyday life
Instead of just following
Instincts blindly

Rules of engagement
Expected to be fair
Very difficult to ignore
The results of transgression
Will be disastrous

Rules of engagement
In all contexts do exist
Mostly unwritten, unspoken
Life lessons always growing

By Simone Noemdoe, 17 August 06

Fickle Fridays

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown

All I can wish is that you enjoy a great weekend. Some pieces from the archives. Comments welcome!

BRIDGERS

Do you have?
A bridger
In your life
Someone
Observing
Interacting
Not their own interest
Seeking

We all have bridgers
In our lives need
A special person
It often does not have to be
Someone
Who can
Mediate
Language and social barriers break

We all bridgers
In our lifetime become
Between
Colleagues
Family and friends
Connecting
In space and time
Otherwise
We can never
Each other find

Bridgers
Learn to use
Common language
Conflicting parties
Casually connect
A way forward
From deletion
Distortion and generalisation move
The world for all
A better place to be

By Simone Noemdoe, 12 October 2006 at during an “Innovative Leaders, Excellence in Performance” workshop.

Comfort and Refuge

Comfort and refuge
Is what I seek
Protection for my soul
Emotionally weak
Not covered by insurance
Emotional capital
Quite unique

Encouraged to purge
How you feel emotionally
Deal with the challenges
Somewhat
Superficially
The prevailing supportive speak

Comfort and refuge
Pursued at all cost
Its attainability
A dream
Or should the desire
For protection be forgotten
Suppressed
Blameless
Without regrets

So, insurance for emotional comfort and protection
Does not exist
I’m cheated
Emotional premiums made
Withdrawals of comfort and refuge enjoyed
My heart and soul
Suffered
A blatant emotional raid

Comfort and refuge
I continue to seek
Is it a true reflection
Me
Feeling mild and meek?

Somehow, I come to the conclusion
That in future
I'll cease to seek
Comfort and refuge
Instead it will be a just reward
To harden my soul
To fight the urge to be weak
Move on, hide the urge to
Consciously seek comfort and refuge

Quietly I'll regret
The uninsured situation at best
I still feel though that I am still ready
To pay out against
The emotional policy drawn
An investment of time
Where comfort and refuge
Is first in line

By Simone Noemdoe, 3 March 06