META AΠO TH ΣΦΑΙΡΑ ΗΡΘΑΝ ΟΛΑ
KAI ΠΡΙΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΗ ΣΦΑΙΡΑ ΕΚΕΙ ΗΤΑΝ ΟΛΑ
τη νιότη ας προστατέψει η ζωή από τους τυμβωρύχους
Vangelis Intzidis
South of Africa
The Returning Poems
In Memory of Hector Pieterson (1964 born - murdered 16 /06/1976)
In Memory of Alexis Gregoropoulos (1974 - murdered 6/12/2008)
Johannesburg
June – July 2007
Rewriting December 2008
I. Falling in Johannesburg
I am
Seetebogiso [1]
singing wooden notes
these days with unknown faces
A bird on Magic Guarri [2]
the pre-world
A sheet of gold on Towerghwarrie
for all possibilities
A Motlhakola in the inner eye
striking the naked horizon
We are
musiciennes du silence
waving l' éternel azur
the nameless beauties of truth
a danced circle around the dying eland of history
Oh! Heal
my past
is yours
We are
spellings of the unsayable
breathing in a waterhole
Oh! Heal
my past
is yours
these children with unknown faces
these days of June are wounded
blood and milk
Oh! Lure
the ferocious animal out
to the real world
The sense of sight and of touch
weathered images are falling
in Johannesburg
II.
Under the volcanic tuff
Goeiedag dames en here
Hoe gaan dit met u? [3]
Look
the toxic passage of hyena
white
and
black
into wool grass of winter
Ladies and Gens
Touch
Smell
Read these messages
Here
I exist
There
I am starving
Look at me
as inside your stare echoes the roaring lion
on the plateau
of Pilanesberg
Ladies and Gens
Any question?
Follow me
in the saving smell of the eland
forward this shade
together
with the fear of life
Ndza ku rhandza [4]
Yebo, sawubona [5]
I can hear
your lips -
the unsayable tongue
swayed her hips -
whips of the fire
on a blue-veined stone
Un corps a été mis au monde et maintenu
We can see and hear
the sun shining freedom beyond meaning
that rhythm of your eyes
in Mogwase
III. The Flying Archives
I think
The world
Creating dreams
Ka – an washed her clothes at Piet van Wyk’s [6]
Sometimes
I create
The dreams
Thinking of you
And you
Ka – an died of an unknown cause
I switch on the light
Among the humidity
In the empty corners of the house
Where
The ordinary privacy
Reshapes history
The widow of Toyowo
Killed by a lion when searching for her children
Toyowo died of starvation
There are some slips
In Athens
Melting tea with capsicum - peper
Immigrant slips
There are some slips
In South Western Townships
Melting kirving balls with spelter - zinc
Ageless slips
Eumorfia the grandmother of Vangelis
Tilled the earth
There are tourists
In these slips
The in and out groups
I remember
There was one day that I had to leave school
After one of the teachers told me
That the police came looking for me. [7]
Stories about hypnotic poisons
When a distant rain comes to us
Eumorphia saw her son
killed in the civil war of the
unknown hands
I switch on the light
Among the humidity
In the empty corners of the house
Where the memories are whispering
the frozen silence
And the poems walk
among nails and flowers
on every hill
of every hope
We know
How to punish
And how to revenge
We learned so much about death!
Ka – an washed her clothes
in earth of Eumorphia
where Toyowo gouges fruits and suns
in the olive tree
thinking of me
and you
IV. The Returning Poem
The rain bewitched!
Taken
by shades of breaths and whispers and winds
Mayibuye [8]
Sepedi
Sesotho
Setswana
siSwati
Tshivenda
Xitsonga
Afrikaans
English
isiNdebele
isiXhosa
isiZulu [9]
as I am
IIKabbo [10]
asleep into the dreams of a child
as I see
le hlabile letšatši ka June 16 [11]
as I hear
the heaven’s thing
walks
on the tabla
a song sung by Moon
a song that was once a childish shoe
Le hlabile letšatši ka June 16
I do not cry with tears
I cry with sounds
Sepedi
Sesotho
Setswana
siSwati
Tshivenda
Xitsonga
Afrikaans
English
isiNdebele
isiXhosa
isiZulu
turn back for me
stones of prey
are dying as a metaphor
landscapes of holes
healings of herbs
the dawned days
Mayibuye
Africa
And the taken poem
is returning
a vessel into wrinkles
of our hands
ΝΟΤΕS/ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΕΙΣ
[1] June/Ιούνιος
[2] Magic Guarri (English) Towerghwarrie (Afrikaans) Motlhakola (Setswana)
[3] Good day ladies and gentlemen
How are you?
[4] I love you/Σε αγαπώ
[5] Yes, I see you/Ναι, σε βλέπω
[6] The Archive of Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy LLoyd
[7] TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION - YOUTH HEARINGS SUBMISSIONS - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - DATE: 22 MAY 1997 NAME: SANDRA ADONIS - CASE: CT/01110 - ATHLONE - DAY 3
[8] Έλα πίσω. Κατά τη διάρκεια του Απαρτχάιντ οι καταπιεσμένοι φώναζαν Αφρική γύρνα πίσω σε μας
[9] Oι επίσημες γλώσσες της Δημοκρατίας της Νοτίου Αφρικής (επίσημες και στο εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα).
[10] Aπό τις γενεαλογίες δούλων στη Νότια Αφρική των Μπόερς
[11] Όταν ξημέρωνε η 16η Ιουνίου: Η ημέρα που ξεσηκώθηκαν οι μαθητές και οι μαθήτριες του Σοβέτο, (SoWeTo=South Western Townships) και δολοφονήθηκε ο μαθητής Ηector Pieterson (ανάμεσα σε άλλους νεκρούς). H διαδήλωση είχε σκοπό να αποτρέψει την κυβέρνηση του απαρτχάιντ να επιβάλλει μόνον τη γλώσσα των καταπιεστών Afrikaans ως επίσημη γλώσσα της εκπαίδευσης.
