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