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    Teeth of the Earth
    Teeth of the Earth
    Teeth of the Earth
    Ebook217 pages1 hour

    Teeth of the Earth

    By Phalafala Aphane

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    About this ebook

    Teeth of the Earth is a treasure trovea
    scintillating mix of fl avours with
    shattering experiences from a variety of
    locations that explore universal aspects such as
    love, life, birth, death, religion, disillusionment,
    politics, praise invocation and criticism of
    society and persons, as well as some more specifi c
    issues like prejudice and inequity penetrating
    comments on social and philosophical events
    ranging from the traditional rural tranquility
    to urbanized life that is modernity in Africa.
    The poems offer a banquet replete with irony,
    piquancy, sadness and joy. They have an intensity
    and a lightness of touch, the lines fl owing with
    effortless and pleasing rhythm like the river silent in the night. One poem
    gives much to think about in its own right, although the temptation to turn
    the page to read the next one is overpowering. The imagery and feeling seem
    to draw the reader into a deep sympathy and identifi cation of each poem
    crackles with its own unique intelligence and revelatory experience. These are
    just poems, poems of constant revelations that strengthen the bond between
    us rather than alienating us. This book will be found invaluable by scholars,
    pleasure and general readers. Savour it for knowledge enrichment.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris UK
    Release dateSep 16, 2010
    ISBN9781453576991
    Teeth of the Earth

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      Book preview

      Teeth of the Earth - Phalafala Aphane

      Copyright © 2010 by Phalafala Aphane.

      Library of Congress Control Number:   2010913683

      ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4535-7698-4

      ISBN:   Softcover   978-1-4535-7697-7

      ISBN:   Ebook   978-1-4535-7699-1

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      This book was printed in the United States of America.

      To order additional copies of this book, contact:

      Xlibris Corporation

      1-888-795-4274

      www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

      orders@xlibrispublishing.co.uk

      300856

      Contents

      1. Every petal of memory

      2. My fading heritage

      3. Tits of freedom

      4. Words can sing

      5. To become a Man

      6. My Pearl

      7. Eyes of the sky

      8. Destiny

      9. The Hungry City

      10. Past, present and future

      11. From the veranda

      12. Harvesting season

      13. In my Village

      14. Consciousness

      15. Memories . . .

      16. Sunshine through the Eyes

      17. Womb of time

      18. Wake up, wake up

      19. Grey hair

      20. Born with brains

      21. This dream

      22. Old age

      23. Survived the scorching sun

      24. My Africa

      25. Teeth of the earth

      26. Spirit of delight

      27. Prayer to the moon

      28. Milk untouched

      29. O, Rain

      30. Birds of love

      31. Blessing in the sun

      32. Beyond the grave

      33. This Twisted Poem

      34. Song for my homeland

      35. My birth

      36. My Angelina

      37. Archival feast

      38. Raindrops

      39. Boyhood memory

      40. Mountains remain

      41. Mama Ramokone

      42. The bones of the soil

      43. The locust

      44. Reminiscence

      45. Change of Faces

      46. Power of a gesture

      47. Cry for the unborn

      48. Xenophobia

      49. Lover’s dialogue

      50. Aftertears

      51. Eclipse of love

      52. The creative dreamer

      53. UnAfrikan Mind

      54. How will it rain again

      55. She’s a mom

      56. Paradox of growth

      57. A Letter to my ancestors

      58. Echoes and Whispers

      59. The death I wish to die

      60. True face of an elephant

      61. Joy is my Song

      62. Showbiz

      63. Silenced years

      64. Generation today

      65. This quiet dust

      66. Deculturalisation

      67. Ageing without pain

      68. Homage

      69. This Child

      70. Sexy poem

      71. If . . .

      72. The Rain Queen

      73. I is for Innocent

      74. Griots of African Renaissance

      75. City Robbery

      76. Romancing the shadow

      77. Ritual to unrest graves

      78. Mother woman

      79. Beautiful love

      80. Born an albino

      81. Funny ha, haa . . .!

      82. A lament to my father

      83. What kind of a Son

      84. Interview with the blind man

      85. Poems on music

      86. Shall I Tell My President

      87. A toast to the great Mattera

      88. My Flower girl

      89. Bones Speak

      90. In memoriam

      91. The voice of exile

      92. Not to speak

      93. Azania and truth

      94. Truth must dictate

      95. Massacre of my Soul

      96. In the age of lies

      97. Born before Shakespeare

      98. No rain, no rainbow

      99. Rural boy

      100. Things unsaid

      101. Painted Faces

      102. Storyteller

      103. Heart’s eye

      104. Death of the author

      105. Dreams and Drums

      106. It is written

      107. Housewife

      108. Exile is not my home

      109. Roots of my initiation

      110. Nature art

      111. Will she ever return?

      112. Crown of green

      113. Kraal of my ivory soul

      114. For thinking

      115. The marking ink

      116. A slice of wedding cake

      117. For oblivion

      118. Jungle of weeds

      119. Invocation

      120. Blossom flowers

      121. Under another sky

      122. A thief and a witch

      123. Dead ideology

      124. Horn blower

      125. Fluorescent thread

      126. Fragments

      127. On the periphery

      128. Talons of life

      129. In the Name of Mandela

      130. Firewood

      131. The Sun

      132. Reunited siblings

      133. White Power in Black Face

      134. Away from my father

      135. Who knows tomorrow

      136. Bald of thoughts

      137. Ha! God in the Book

      138. Oh, Brother!

      139. The Swallow

      140. The crowed world

      141. Grass suffers

      142. Like the wizard

      143. What a blow

      144. The Beauty of Cosmos

      145. The amorphous Virus

      146. Premonition

      147. Nothing remains

      148. Warrior scholar

      149. Blind Ambition

      150. O, stolen heart

      151. Anthem

      152. The Music of Clouds

      153. Our Milky Way

      154. Drug abuse

      155. Kiss sensations

      156. This ineffable star

      Dedication

      To my parents Mr. Lesiba and Mrs. Ramokone Aphane who have already passed this world, but whose remains still nourish the soil of my umbilical cord, for instilling into my infant mind a sense of responsibility which has thrived and proved potent synthesis ever since. As the saying goes: Where the front hoof of a cow has trod, there shall the back hoof tread.

      Acknowledgements

      WITHOUT THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE, this poetry book could never have been written and completed:

      My three elder brothers; Philemon, Abram, and Daniel, without your direct and indirect support, mobility would have been impossible. Also your faith in me has been an ocean of encouragement. Not excluding my young sister Ntswaki: thank for sharing wonderful memories of our mother. I just imagine how difficult and melancholic it was for our mother who worked as a kitchen-girl or and a farm-worker—after the death of our father—to support my brother, Matsobane aged eight, myself aged six and you aged two by then. Like the brave lioness, she fought with everything in her power to be who we are today without divorcing our father’s grave. Only that in itself reveals her true character traits to us.

      Mr Abram Mohlatlole that you opened the doors of your beautiful heart and so charmingly entertained me with this and that, restored my faith in humanity again in my difficult times when no-one was there to help me.

      Mr Walter Chakela: your unshaken belief in me over the years, has enabled me to write books such as this one. You are a giant of a man who taught me a lesson in fraternity.

      The editor of this poetry has approached the task with an open mind. He has not allowed himself to be influenced by any theory of what a poem should be—except that which requires that a poem should be within the bounds of poetry. His enthusiasm for this book was so huge that it re-charged and re-activated my batteries.

      Isn’t it odd that the epitome of man’s inhumanity to man also produced the epitome of man’s nobility? It is through your inspiration that my struggle to change myself and my country is as the same as my struggle to change this type of inhumanity world without sacrificing my humanity at the altar of desperation. Meteors are called meteorites when they land on earth, maybe I shall be counted among these fortunate meteors before and after dawn. Clouds are made by mountains but

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