The Understanding ~ Nkazimulo Mvemve

Nkazimulo Mvemve

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Matriculant 2019

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Youth ~ Nkazimulo Mvemve

Nkazimulo Mvemve

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Matriculant 2019

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For P ~ Amahle Njilo

Let the broken clouds in the sky carry his wasted tears for the woman he once lost,
And let the embers of the fire crackle of his scattered pain.
Let the emblem of his love be his heart that he so proudly placed in broken hands.
I see him.
I see the deep oceans of heartache in his eyes.
I see the manmade dam, overflowing
Threatening to flow hastened over the walls.
And his smile, faint.
When last did I see you smile?
The mirror in front of him, it couldn’t mirror what he wanted to see.
You can never retain the knowledge of something you already know.
Because you see what you think,
And you think what you feel,
And he felt nothing.
He was numb.
He was hers.
She moved on.
She held the world in broken hands.
She was his world.
And, as the nymph replied to the shepherd
That love, is somewhat materialistic.
It was never meant for us.
We belong to the world of animals.
I live for him, he lives for her.
I die for him, he dies for her.
I cry for him, he cries for her.
Do nothing for love and it will treat you like a gem
For love never replies to its call:
It only comes when you’re nothing but a shell of your former self- your happy former self.

Amahle Njilo

***

Grade 11

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See Me ~ Amahle Njilo

 

See me as XL.

 

They tell me I’m too free

Too free to be in South Africa

Too free to be a black young woman in South Africa

They tell me that they see me, they watch me.

Every waking moment I await to hear

Of another 16 year- old girl

Probably raped by her dad

Who has lost all hope for her future

And see me gliding across the room

With glinting eyes that still shimmer with hope

A hope that is never lasting

For an attack that is everlasting

And twitter tells me that stretch marks are now in style

So I stand in front of the mirror to check I still have some

And stare wearily at the person that I think I’ve become

Yet, I tell him every day, I thank him everyday

I make sure he sees his heart in me every day, his love in me everyday

And surely he isn’t real but I have to prepare because he is always watching

And see me walking home after school and hearing them whistle

And seeing the sinister lust in his eyes

See my spine shiver as I hear his name for me, making me doubt my own name

And standing in the middle of the street, stranger danger

To check if everyone can see what is happening

But realising that everyone thinks it’s a norm

Because a man always has to show his appreciation for what he sees.

And a well-rounded lady is what every African man needs.

Yet, my mother, she frets for me

She sees this young insecure girl, who thinks she is never going to make it

She is sure that she will make it

But she is afraid

Afraid that surely my boyfriend will come to our house someday and ask to help carry her groceries

And hope entirely, that he is the best boyfriend for me

But surely it will scar him to know that his love was never a part of me,

It was never linked to me because his addiction was never my addiction,

I’m entitled to sobriety.

 

See me as XS.

 

And this sobriety that can never be undone

Because when push comes to shove, I am every girl’s dream

And this time, he loves me more than ever

He said it, so I believe him.

Yet, I still feel empty on the inside, like something is missing

As he put me to sobriety when he held me down and fulfilled his sore desire

See me scream as he carries on, as if my screams are not heard

I’m the perfect type, for everyone, but that’s what is needed, right?

Because if he does not like me and if they do not like me, then what?

And see the different groups watch me with envy whenever I wear my miniskirt

They think I’m overdoing it but it shouldn’t matter

Because I think I know why I’m doing this

They see me, they watch me.

And see me hope and pray that I don’t turn into Miss Pizza Face anytime soon

Because everybody knows fresh is better

And on Instagram I almost have 5000 followers, which is pretty good

Considering I’m only 16.

And see my mother’s worried look

Because she thinks I’ve gone too far, she doesn’t know me anymore

She prays to see me walking with a nice boy who probably wears glasses

Who asks her, begs her, to help carry the groceries

So that I can see the he is the perfect guy for me,

Instead of the car I’m always dropped out of because she stopped fetching me from school

Because I told her, I could handle it.

 

See us united.

 

And see us smile and hope for the future

A future that probably never existed

A future that we think is okay.

See us walk with pride in streets that are filled with barbarians that we call our brothers

Because maybe, we are too free to be in South Africa

Maybe we are too free to be black, young women in South Africa

And maybe those are just our lives.

Amahle Njilo

***

Grade 10

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I Fear My Future - Justin van Vuuren

 14.

I fear my future

Only because

Of

How easy it was to convince myself

I don’t have one.

-          Spicy Icy

15.

What is love?

Love is when you’re missing some of your teeth

But you’re not afraid to smile

Because you know your friends will still love you

Even though some of you is missing

-          Spicy Icy

16.

You kissed my face.

I froze in place

With nothing, but you on every thought

Forgetting love, cannot be taught.

 

There are only distractions to divert.

I think of you and see hurt

As my brain is trying to talk.

My muscle memory forgot hot to walk

 

Perhaps I need a crutch?

I only feel your touch

-          Spicy Icy

Justin Van Vuuren

***

Grade 12

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Monsters - Justin Van Vuuren

 10.

Monsters

The monsters were never under my bed.

Because the monsters were inside my head

 

I fear no monsters, for no monsters I see.

Because all this time the monster has been me.

-          Spicy Icy

11.

We have a cannibal

On the loose

 

He is potentially a vegetarian

He doesn’t always eat much

on the people side

 

Over the weekend he was doing

a little

human eating

 

Though it might not be

on your leg

 

he sure

is gonna do

some chewing

 

somewhere

-          Spicy Icy

 

12.

One cup of bat juice

is about 28 dollars

it’s pretty expensive

because bat juice

is just being awesome

-          Spicy Icy

13.

He popped a glizzy

Into her beef curtains

And together

They made

a nasty midnight stew

-          Spicy Icy

Justin Van Vuuren

***

Grade 12

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Spicy Icy - Justin Van Vuuren

 7.

I’ve got a mop on my brain

I’m clean

but not sane

-          Spicy Icy

8.

I’m not sweet

I’m not small

 

I’m powerful

and tall

 

so

 

Spicy Icy

Is my

new

nickname

-          Spicy Icy

9.

Please

you must blow dry

your feet

 

I’m cold

 

get your legs off me

you fool

-          Spicy Icy

Justin van Vuuren

***

Grade 12

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Old Box of Flowers - Justin Van Vuuren

 4.

I’ve got this big old box of flowers

Aren’t they pretty?

I’m walking for hours feeling witty

So I stumble upon you not having a good day

And I say

“hey hey, just take one of my flowers”

And you say thanks and it brightens up your day

And you head on your way

Now I have one less flower

But that’s okay, cause I say I’ll be okay.

Just seven pretty flowers all wrapped up in a box

I wish they were limitless, but their not

Its another day, another flower

Are you okay? Another flower

Out of harms way, another day, another flower

3 2 1 flowers left and I’m running so low

Oh so low on the life I once had so

I debate to give you the flowers

To give you the power to fight away any

Sour thoughts you have everyday

And take it upon myself as I drift

Further into dirt like my flowers

I wish I never had any flowers

Cause now, like a vase

I’m empty

 

-          Spicy Icy

5.

Amongst the crowd, a tall lady stood strong

Unworried by the commotion around.

Violinists played the sweetest love song

My heart fluttered, no longer on firm ground

 

In her immense, blue-green eyes like the sea

Everything close by gradually slowed down.

She turned, facing directly towards me,

Gently walking amidst our old-time town

 

Butterflies fill my stomach and I blush

Not knowing what to do, I say “Hello”

She quickly stops because she feels the rush

Que the love piece, let it set love aglow

 

Like others, our story started with “Hi”

The difference comes how pairs say “Bye”

-          Spicy Icy

6.

Take my broken heart

and rip it from my chest

Steal away my soul

and finally put me to rest

 

I dreamt about you day and night

and I wanted you to be mine

You watched me in my hardest days

and sometimes watched me shine

 

Every time I saw you

my heart would skip a beat

Every time you said my name

I would spring out of my seat

 

I loved you with my heart and soul

I loved you year after year

But something always kept us apart

our confusion, our chances, our fear

 

But now there is no hope for us

We are doomed to be apart

Maybe I won’t feel the pain

if you completely break my heart

-          Spicy Icy

Justin van Vuuren

***

Grade 12

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Do Not Fall in Love With People Like Me - Justin van Vuuren

 1.

Do NOT fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums and parks and monuments and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible, and when I leave you will finally understand why STORMS are named after people.

-          Spicy Icy

 

 

 2.

There are many types of monsters in this world, monsters who do not show themselves and cause trouble… monsters who abduct children. Monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood and monsters who always tell lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance… they are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat even though they’ve never experienced hunger. They study even though they have no interest in academics. They seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to ever encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by them, because in truth I am that monster.

-          Spicy Icy

 

 3.

The very thing that distinguishes us both is that I wouldn’t hesitate to choose you in every lifetime. But you wouldn’t choose me in this one and although I gave you my flesh and bones. I know I cannot love you into loving me, so there you are overflowing with my love and here I am pleading foe a droplet of yours or whatever I could salvage but there must come a time where you recognize to grieve someone hurts a lot less than forcing them to be a part of you. And I know I should not beg for love but just once I wanted someone to be afraid of losing me.

-          Spicy Icy

Justin van Vuuren

***

Grade 12

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Oh what were the joys back then? by Nkazimulo Mvemve

Oh what were the joys back then?

In the simplest way we’d tend to each-others wounds, licking the blood saltier than sea and heal the ends.

It was never difficult when…

That was the trend, although too natural we lent our time to lie on each-others side, by side, by side – like a cube stationary in space and time, Schrödinger’s Cat vol-you-tile.

It was all too different when you meant…

The bending backwards that made my spine auto-correct, the alignment of my shock-ras, when the world was not content with covering our faces.

It put me in dark places.

The spaces that wore a nice black-on-white styled piece - that was the time I understood fashion emotionally - we did an experiment I wore white latex gloves.

I never experienced that excitement.

But it was always vibes when we’d shoot the shots and chat the times, laugh and giggle, sober and high, melancholy and delighted whenever we’d eye-to-eye.

A moth flew in my tea.

The dust it dissipated reminded me of a cold winters night outside those doors, we’d talk and come to light, it felt so right so nice, those stars the crowd  to our comedy.

I remember one about a girl.

And this wasn’t you it was him, that locational coincidence coincided our lives, he knew my name before he met me so fate was destined in that timeline.

 We were all there, back then.

I had dreams after I left of others that weren’t the same or you or them, one of them of my ‘ex’ I hated her guts in there, I’ve never seen you in stages of sleep.

But the memories I hold dear to me.

Although my mind is a clouded and forgetful shade of grey, memories of then piercing reminiscent light that take me back.

To my favourite place, to those always cold days, to those relationships that could have worked, to those emotional explorations, to that last light, last laughs and to that last hug I’ll never forget.

Nkazimulo Mvemve

***

Matriculant 2019

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Heidegger's Being by Naadir Vorajee

Two great creatures deep within

fighting endlessly without sin

to win the war that plagues my mind

to take control of the fate I’ll find

one is a lion, of Nemian sort

that lures all notions of man and thought

He consumes and digests the Socratic soul

and reveals to Himself the ideas stole

He’s a beast that knows the light at the end

but knows not how or where it does bend

to find its source is his ultimate quest

until then his war will not rest...

The other a beast of gentle might

that sores on Plato’s platonic height

A gleaming soul that wishes to learn

the wings that flew the Arctic Turn

A beast that stares into the stars

and wonders why the night has scars

and feels to learn and learns to feel

of all the beauty the world hath wield

He cannot consume what lies beyond

but wants to envelope what is among

to learn through feel and touch and taste

instead of harsh consumption haste.

And so the carnage must continue

to find the truth that lines my sinew

so that I may become the man I must be

when no beasts fight deep within me.

Naadir Vorajee

***

Matriculant - 2013 

***       

Your Love is Transactional ~ TK Lushaba

 I can't really say I’m surprised

Or even that I’m disappointed.

But,

The love I was offered before we started 

Had me feeling like I was appointed

Had me feeling like I was chosen 

Had me feeling like I was important 

Like I mattered, you know?

I bought into your promise, 

Bought into your proposition,

Thinking it was a proposal.

Your silver tongue made it difficult 

To see that all I was being offered was Fool's Gold.

I was just another asset,

Just a product for you to "invest in", 

Another prospect for you to exploit.

My value to you was held only

In what you could gain from loving me.

The love I was delivered was different.

It had no warmth, no humanity.

It was inorganic, unnatural, used 

Like Currency.

Purely transactional.

Acquiring your love required labour, 

But that labour was never fully compensated.

© Thokoza B. Lushaba

Matriculant 2020

Fire Flower ~ Keara Singh

 The world is cruel to us flowers of fire.

They pick at the gardens of the frostbitten land in search of us,

to find us, hold us, steal our flames.

They use our warmth and leave us drained

petal after petal after petal...

We insist we have enough embers to sacrifice 

seeing us withering they still greedily take as we begin to freeze.

                We fall from our phoenix grace

                   Plummeting towards what we promised to never become

Reborn from pain.

     we change.

The twinkle and wonder in our once stardust ridden orbs 

dulled by glacial walls

We cage our wild hearts under bitter bars built of icicles 

to protect us from ever being punished again.

the ice becomes our new home.

Winter flowers,

I now understand why you are so cold

© Keara Singh

Matriculant 2020

I'm Still Standing ~ Mfezi Sibisi

 Despite your continuous effort to end me i'm as alive as can be , despite your over usage of my amenities and your depletion of my resources i am still active in my existence tending to those you injure in your devious process or attempt to dominate me .

I have made efforts to retaliate but you continuously defy me. The anguish you have caused amongst my residence cannot compare to the agony you will face if your defiance of my laws is a road you are not willing to cut off. Your animosity shall not go unpunished as you continuously ignore my mercenaries amongst you which was my last attempt for peace. Till your species is extinct i shall not me be at rest.

As the impulse to do the right thing is imbedded in every single one of you , yet you choose not only to ignore it but you do the exact opposite , i am far from disappointed i'm neck deep in rage. Mhh man-kind what irony, though i admit there are some decent souls amongst you , there simply aren't enough for the word kind to be situated adjacent to man.

I haven't much to say accept if you deem it fit to defy your co-creator i personally do not see the positivity in your existence .

[Unedited]

© Mfezi Sibisi

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Grade 10

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A Disappointed Mother ~ Mfezi Sibisi

 I've seen tons of organisms come and go but none like this species, i'm quite proud that my climate gave birth to such smart creatures or better yet provided the preferred sustenance for such a marvelous race of unified organisms.

Throughout the love i disperse amongst my organic children there are none i value more than humanity , allase humanity does not value me . I'm afraid i've let humanity suck on my nourishing teat of life for too long , "i've corrupted them"

I provided too much of a sanctuary for them gleaming with an array of resources fit for the gods (meaning gold and diamonds end product -"jewellery"),they've taken advantage . As the parent of this race i blame myself for their actions as i am the catalyst who favored them overall my children hoping they would bring peace among my continuously conflicted kids but now i've come to realise i was sorely mistaken , (sigh) i have a co-ordinated monster "who will eventually become the death of me.

[Unedited]

© Mfezi Sibisi

***

Grade 10

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Paper Plane ~ Nkazimulo Mvemve

Nkazimulo Mvemve

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Matriculant 2019
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An Open letter to Nobody in Particular ~ Uwais Coetzee

Phrases in motion continue to be spoken to ears that feel no remorse for ignoring pleas. Eyes drift, hearts beat, and feet keep shaking bodies from succumbing to gravity and pain working in tandem to bring us to the earth. You see, life never waited for you and I. “Time waits for no one” and so I write letters to no one in particular hoping that time wait for them to be read. Your mind may race. Your feelings may be potent. Your ideas could be revolutionary. “Time waits for no one.” No matter how gutting it may be. Whether tears roll or shoulders shake, your eyes may be swollen, and your hands chafed from wiping salt from your face. Your soul may be trying to sell itself for liberation and your heart beats itself up every day without another heart taking pity upon it. Regardless of all these things the rain continues to fall even when you do not see it.

© Uwais Coetzee

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Matriculant 2018
***

Proudly Black ~ Zanini Msomi

Her smile,
Her dark hazelnut eyes,
Her coarse African hair
And her brown chocolate skin.
She is a black woman.
No, she's a proudly black woman.

Her confidence runs till the ends of the earth.
From the way she sways her hips as she takes on the world,
To the way she clicks her tongue as she kindly picks her words.
She is proudly black.

From her dark skin,
To her frizzy hair.
Her tongue, her tongue is of confusion
And her eyes an illusionment.
She has Rwanda in her blood
And Africa in her heart.

Many have tried to take her down fearing her rise,
But many have failed, underestimating her drive.
She holds the world in her arms,
The stars in her eyes and the universe in her heart.

She is a masterpiece of art,
Made with no mistakes right to her heart.
She is not beautiful for a black woman,
She is beautiful because she is a black woman.


©Zanini Msomi

***
Grade 12
***

Welcome Home ~ Zanini Msomi

Welcome to our society where looks come before character, where fame comes before hard work and where a good time comes before a good thing.
Welcome to our broken society where the bullet comes before the interview,
where hate comes before love and where money rules the world.
Welcome to our shattered society where love equals abuse and speaking out means attention seeking.
Welcome to our flawed society where we see colour instead of hearts and judge without understanding.
Welcome to our damaged society where rape is asked for by the victims and abuse is an honest mistake.
Welcome to our torn society where police brutality is a norm and helping others is frowned upon.
Welcome to our wrecked society where our obituaries are written before our graduation speeches and our homes are our living nightmares.
Welcome to our damaged society that has a problem for every solution, that has more grave sites than the world can handle and that swallows you whole and spits you out broken.
Welcome to our society where silence is no longer an option but betrayal, where your tears mean nothing and your screams are silenced.
Welcome to this our society, that we have all created. I hope you have a good stay.


© Zanini Msomi

***
Grade 12
***

Redemption ~ Malwazi Moholi

Can we work it out?
The differences, the flaws, the negligence...
Can we work them out?
Can we come together and try again?
This time with conversation,
not pride.
This time with resolved minds,
not with naive hearts.
Can't we just sit down and confess?
Confess my I love you's
and my letdown's,
You're I wasn't happy's
and your affections.
Can't we work it out?
Can't we work them out?



© Malwazi Moholi

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Matriculant 2018
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