Open and Closed

Greetings from a wet and slightly cold Skuttunge. It feels a bit like autumn decided to jump the best of summer. Open and closed doors seem to be the narrative of all our lives at some point in our existence. Currently our ‘back’ door functions as our ‘front' door. In Afrikaans there is an expression that goes like ‘uninvited guests should stand behind the door'. Life is sometimes about knocking twice or walking away. I'm sharing a piece written with a light idea in mind...

Back Doors

Back doors
Are good things
Letting the great in
Often
A useful escape
Letting boredom out

Back doors
Are crazy things
Letting the uninvited in
Often
A useful gap
Letting the trapped out

Back doors
Are sweet things
Letting the fun in
Often
A soul saving trick
Letting new ideas break old visions fake

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2011-06-23

Mid-Summer Solstice

Apologies for the long silence! During the last 22 days much welcomed work opportunities and some connectivity issues, meant that the notebook and pen was busier than the keyboard. Yesterday we had the shortest night and I know down south the longest night was certainly a typical winter offering. For us the darkness was brief and it still fascinates me. The garden is doing well with even the indoor Lemonella tree promising a good crop of flowers! The apple trees are full and I hope that we will share (with the local wildlife) some of the berries that are just a green promise right now!

Posted today are pieces… everyday challenges in parenting and dealing with loss. Over the next few days I will also share some of the pieces I wrote during the 4th European Conference on African Studies.

Living Wishes – a memorial

Scatter my ashes
To the wind
No need to flowers
At the graveside bring
A wish with disdain
For I cannot be there
To bring her some
A mother
Long relieved of her pain

Scatter my wishes
To the wind
No need to fulfil it
A legacy to fruition bring
Riches beyond words
I cannot give
Small wisdoms
That will hopefully
Not sting

Scatter my life
In your memories
Crazy, fun and serious
Long lost moments delirious
Everyone’s life
Offers some detritus
To the departed
Living
Most mattered

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 19 June 2011, the 13th Commemoration of the death of Sophia Naik (Nee Michaels) 1942-1998.

If Only

If only
Children
Were made in China
We could blame
Globalisation
When things went wrong
Or
Toss them on the scrap heap
Go out and trawl the mall
To buy
More

If only
Parents
Were made in China
We could blame
Outsourcing
When things go wrong
Or
Be taken apart
When removed from the triple plastic wrapping
Quickly reconfigured
Like a fake Lego Doll

If only
Living
Came with a lifetime guarantee
Home grown solid
No need to replace any parts
The heart of hearts
Four-of-a-kind like a deck of cards
Fragile like shattered glass
Smooth and rough edges
Existing, riddled with pledges
Parenting filled with pleasures
Growing pains make good legends
Only flesh and bones
Comes with soul

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, June 7, 2011.