Mother City by Frank Meintjies

Frank Meintjies | September 3rd, 2015 | a poem a day challenge, poetry | No Comments

Poet Bio

(ode to cape town)

Place of slaves, storms, minstrels, frenzied wind
winter is a leprous sky, breaking up and breaking up
into craters swept by rain and slush

White-maned waves of luxury apartments
give way to grains of shacks
the mountain tumbles from its cloudy pelmet
sends wet and rain to villages & towns that fuel the city

Those from umlazi eldos soshanguve wentworth phoenix newbrighton
those who pilgrim seasonally
swear by sacred braai spots
but, these tough days, seasons and people are driven further apart

Red or blue-veined
the piles of fish arrive (off Fish Hoek boats)
to be slain and trimmed
a wind lurches and guts the tourist dream

In the morning, she lugs the roomservice of empties
the sheets are crumpled, branded
amid wine smudges and snailprints of fitful lust

A political activist, fresh from exile
clambers up the mountain, a flushed pilgrimage
and from a mountain telescope
he discerns a waterfront, its newness
cleared of local dialects, bergies & salomies

And the jobless on the sidewalk, multiplying
along with the BMWs and glitzy stores
will there be enough cars to park, storefronts to sleep in
enough small change
for chunks of bread and toasts of cheap wine?

Poet Bio

Frank Meintjies works in the developmental field. He also writes poetry and takes part in readings, His work has featured in several anthologies and in the book “Twelve + One : some Jo’burg poets : their artistic lives and poetry”.

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