Don Beukes is a South African, British and EU Poet and writer. He is a Poetry Chapbook Reviewer at The Poetry Café. He has written Ekphrastic Poetry since 2015 collaborating with artists internationally. He is the author of ‘The Salamander Chronicles’, ‘Icarus Rising-Volume 1’ (ABP), an ekphrastic collection and ‘Sic Transit Gloria Mundi’ (Concrete Mist Press). He taught English and Geography in both South Africa and the UK. His poetry has been anthologized in numerous collections and translated into Afrikaans, Persian, French, Kreol (Mauritius) and Albanian. He was nominated by Roxana Nastase, editor of Scarlet Leaf Review for the ‘Best of the Net’ in 2017 as well as the Pushcart Poetry Prize (USA) in 2016. He was published in his first SA Anthology ‘In Pursuit of Poetic Perfection’ in 2018 (eBook) (Libbo Publishers) and his second, ‘Cape Sounds’ in 2019 (Gavin Joachims Publishing Cape Town). He is also an amateur…
First Poetry Music Audio Recording “Voices of Freedom” -(Trying to add slide show)- Voices of Freedom -21
Dancing without a name She was naked in her silence Stone, statues, salutations Desires from a Hellenistic waterfront Ancient scriptures reveal hidden sources Among firey chariots and beat up taxis Neon lights flicker to the rhythm of abandoned youth In a Holy, Glory brought on by the Atomic age
Birds swell like waves in the evening sky Lighting fires of brilliance, in the skulls of men Heroes fall like mad children Women dine upon wine and gold Winter months take Persephone’s hand And fear takes refuge upon the land Freedom of expression is lost in Cancel Culture News We must break the shackles of Adversity Tyranny, Irony, Authoritative Views With a New Generation if we are to continue
Skating on a rift A fine line between hallucination, pain and party Lost in an array of consuming moments physical needs blind desires
The rush and pull a whipping boy a slave to yourself and substance A hostage to Pervetin Crystal shards blind Devour essence And soul screams out In agony cast aside And thrown Into a pit of Black vipers
Laughter guilt greed… Interchangeable middle names Your true identity has faded, some time ago
Electrical nuance enters your blood stream In these few moments This is where you define “Life”…
Chasing Ghosts Dragons down slippery slopes Only coming Up for air To the promise Of Mr D
Chasing Ghosts Dragons down slippery slopes
Silver refection catches the taste of fire Metallic taste buds Desert tongue Strange things Strange thoughts Secret sexual escapades that will be taken to your grave
If you wish to have your poetry chapbooks, poetry books, children books (prose and poetry) translated from English to French French to English Mauritian Kreol to English English to Mauritian Kreol please feel free to send them to :
vatsfrankness@gmail.com
Translation Fee: $0.06 (Rs 2.58 Mauritian currency) per word
Translation of Individual poems may also be considered . Please send a minimum of 5 poems if you wish to have a small number of your poems translated.
“At the death of her husband, Emperor Teriqetas – who died in battle”(Face to Face Africa), taking the throne in the the Kingdom of Kush, Queen Amanirenas would go on to become one of the most well-known female rulers of the ancient world. She was the most famous “Kandake” out of the four female queens who ruled in Kush. Amanirenas is known as the queen with one eye, since her fierce military determination led her to lose it in battle (History of Royal Women). In addition to her known war tactics, she goes on to negotiate a treaty with the most powerful male ruler at the time, Augustus Caesar (Lisapo ya Kama).
Phillippa Yaa De Villiers is a South African poet and performance artist. She was born in 1966, at the height of apartheid, as a “mixed” baby. Her mother was black African from Ghana, and her father was white Australian.
Phillippa in the second row, third from the left, attending a predominantly white institution.
Phillippa was adopted by the physical anthropologist who examined her. She was identified as “Mediterranian” so no one would be suspicious of her true Mixed identity. In her one-woman show “Original Skin,” Phillippa describes her life story. She describes how her parents constantly denied she was “coloured” to suspecting neighbors, busdrivers, or passerbyers. Phillippa grew up believing she was monoracial white. However, she wrestled with experiences like being rejected from the “white” bus and being told to wait for the “coloured” bus on the first day of school.
I have created this blog some time ago now and since then I have been thinking about what to generate as a first post. Then today, I decided to stop my fruitless cogitations and to just put words down:
Pick up your pen, and write. Breathe into your writing. Writing is your voice embodied. Create. Dance. Weave magic. Cast spells.
I stared at the blank screen for some time. Then as if by magic, ideas started swaying and swinging in my head as my hand rose to move to the beat of the words.
Write. Write. You must write. Women must write.
I have always wanted to write. I remember how as a child, I aspired to become a great author, of publishing a novel, of being recognized worldwide. I would close my eyes and visualize myself on a podium, speaking about my novel, and being applauded for it. But…
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