Artery to the East

Christa Kuljian

Born in Hillbrow
you threaten to settle in Alexandra
but they say
you waai all the way to Kempton Park.

Old ladies shun you
Taxi drivers rule you.

My husband knows
I meet you twice a day
grabbing time with you
in the morning,
planning to see you again
before the sun sets.
You’re my weekday special

As I round the corner at Brenthurst,
Jo’burg police gather
like a high-school gang
ready to pounce.

Traffic slows at Tudhope,
passing Brenda’s old pad
with respect.

With taxis hooting,
police horns blaring,
buses bellowing,
sirens wailing,
the crumbling flats of Beacon Royal
look across at the privileged boys of St. Johns.
Decorex, The Star and The Citizen
compete for my attention.

Try to be clever on the left, stranded
as the combi brakes ahead.
Dart to the right, stuck
behind the guy crazy to turn.
Drag race, to see who beats
the three-eyed monsters
as amber turns to red

Only those who read the flow
can ride the rapids.
I gooi the car
into a Yeoville tributary
where the waters are calmer
For a minute.

The Boer War general
is but a sweeping brush stroke on the map,
a diagonal to the East,
another spoke in the crooked Jo’burg wheel.

LitNet: 08 November 2005

Did you enjoy this poem? Have your say! Send your comments to webvoet@litnet.co.za, and become a part of our interactive opinion page. Or submit your own poetry to Michelle McGrane for consideration.

Click here to receive our newsletter - your weekly cultural fix! Check out what's sizzling on our newsletter this week

back    /     to the top

© Kopiereg in die ontwerp en inhoud van hierdie webruimte behoort aan LitNet, uitgesluit die kopiereg in bydraes wat berus by die outeurs wat sodanige bydraes verskaf. LitNet streef na die plasing van oorspronklike materiaal en na die oop en onbeperkte uitruil van idees en menings. Die menings van bydraers tot hierdie werftuiste is dus hul eie en weerspieël nie noodwendig die mening van die redaksie en bestuur van LitNet nie. LitNet kan ongelukkig ook nie waarborg dat hierdie diens ononderbroke of foutloos sal wees nie en gebruikers wat steun op inligting wat hier verskaf word, doen dit op hul eie risiko. Media24, M-Web, Ligitprops 3042 BK en die bestuur en redaksie van LitNet aanvaar derhalwe geen aanspreeklikheid vir enige regstreekse of onregstreekse verlies of skade wat uit sodanige bydraes of die verskaffing van hierdie diens spruit nie. LitNet is ’n onafhanklike joernaal op die Internet, en word as gesamentlike onderneming deur Ligitprops 3042 BK en Media24 bedryf.