Boulders Beach, Simon’s Town, Cape Town PHOTOGRAPHY © Geoffrey Wright
“If only you could see
Souls instead of bodies…”
If you could see souls instead of bodies…
Because one is the driver
Because the other is the vehicle
In my own land of my own birth
I do not want to live as “the other”
In my Long Walk To Freedom
I do not want to listen to “a backseat driver.”
If you could see souls instead of bodies…
These are beautiful bodies believing.
These are beautiful bodies living together and not leaving.
Bodies to accomplish together what we can not achieve alone.
But you see only
Bodies to be your workers, working for you, on your own terms.
Bodies to be bullied.
Bodies to be bruised.
Bodies to be battered.
Bodies are now brutalised.
Bodies are now betrayed.
Bodies who are now beaten.
Brains to be battered.
Brains to be bamboozled.
Brains to be brain washed.
Brains awarded Awards through varying Degrees.
Brains buying the uniforms with fashionista rips on the knees.
Brains buying the “new black”… and blue jeans.
Brains buying into the dreaded disease.
Brains dying like flies to keep clothes on their back.
Brains living in fear of the suitcase bomber with no clear target on his backpack.
Brains on the border of breakdown from the Communist attack.
Brains never stopping to watch the end of The News.
Brains never satisfied at the The End of The Game.
Brains led to believe that we are not just the same…
Brains that are actually brilliant lead to overload and burnout.
Brains that are not so dumb lead to only labour or sell out.
Brains led to believe that they are not worthy.
Brains demarcated into different categories.
Brains marketed in ever new forms of slavery…
Boss man pushes the button.
Boss man buttered on both sides.
Boss man billions hid in his Bank account.
Bank man holds all and nothing.
Boss man holds nothing, nothing to account, to account for abuse and slaughter, to countless slaves in cultural waves, drowning instead in consumer saliva, in capital gains, in consumption of credit, at the feet of the priest, at gates of heaven, on bended knee… bodies by any means necessary.
Bodies who were nurtured like the grain in the Sun.
Bodies each were watered with rain in the right Season.
Bodies who took shelter but freely by choice from the Storm.
Bodies who would hunt, over borderless mountains of land where their ancestors were Born.
Bodies who could gather along Beaches and Boulders.
Bodies just being bodies, just being, left here and right now.
Beings, are you welcome here and now?
Behold it is he who is he who should never enter.
Great Spirit
Could you count my Strides Towards Freedom,
Great Spirit
Count the Souls,
like the feeding and starvation of grains of rice,
the trickery of cards in a promising hand,
like the boredom and motivation of sugar of spice,
trickling through my fingers like grains of sand,
teasing and tormenting with freedom of choice, or with a loaded dice,
dry in dustbowls in the palm of your own land,
blowing away the answers forever of elephant and mice,
when you thought you knew you would always understand…
“Souls Instead of Bodies”
by Geoffrey Wright
© 2023
Glenora Redemption,
Cape Town, South Africa
DEDICATION :
This work is dedicated to:
Clyde Otipody.
Thank you Clyde for taking me to witness the multi-racial choir singing at your Christian Church, and yes, there is “Something about the name Jesus”. And arranging with the Elders and tribesmen for me to come face to face with my childhood dreams of being a “Red Indian” at The Tribal Fancy Dance, Oklahoma, USA, July 2006.
https://geoffreywright.org/exhibitions/
Bianca Bates.
Family Constellations, doing the work for generations. Transformation from within “the” Corporates with Human Design. And delivering me to the black and white of crashing waves at Boulders Beach, Simon’s Town, August 2023.
https://biancabates.com/
REFERENCE QUOTED:
Cultural references to Songs and Literature which in South Africa, Globalisation, or a least in a Western Commercialised mindset has become part of our vocabulary and thinking:
QUOTES:
“If only you could see..”
Author unknown.
BOOKS QUOTED:
Long Walk To Freedom
by Nelson Mandela
Stride Towards Freedom: The Montgomery Story
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
LOCATIONS:
Beaches and Boulders.
Beaches: favoured and well know surfing spot on Koeel Bay, Dapads Gat, Caves Kogel Bay Nature Reservation.
Boulders, Simonstown, a favourite sunny spot for seasonal migration of Penguins from colder climes, and Humans from upmarket local and overseas heritage.