Your Shiny BEE Suit as published in The Sowetan

Found out some great news last week in that my poem "Your Shiny BEE Suit" was published in The Sowetan (http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/goodlife/youthtube/2011/06/20/your-shiny-bee-suit).

The peom is a direct attack on materialistic values I see exhibited in excess on certain individuals, and is my call for a shift in moral focus to the things that really matter.

Have a great week Ya'll!

Your Shiny BEE Suit: a poem (by: Gcobani Qambela)

(BEE = Black Economic Empowerment).

I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me.

Picturesque garments never match obnoxious souls,

Ignorant of the sufferings of many,

Lacking self worth and hiding behind your fake Armani suit

And ‘International’ souvenirs of days gone by

Oblivious to the light shining from the suit,

Clearly painting your inner insecurity conflict…



I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me.

It lacks authenticity

And oozes vanity in excess,

It screams your arrogance,

And lack of grace.

You are the master of flamboyance,

And a failed student of benevolence.

And yet you don’t even know why your suit shines.



I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me,

Because I know why it shines.

Your suit shines because it drips of blood,

The blood of young martyrs, who fought for the liberation of our nation,

Liberation for the de-enslavement of the oppressed mind.

Your suit shines of forgotten promises made,

It drizzles embezzled wealth and unearned riches.



I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me,

Because I know it shines of an insecure and weeping soul,

So out of touch with itself

That it seeks external manifestations for inborn confidence

Hiding your historical duty behind the plastic English accent

Hungry for confirmation from the world

You continue to shine with our forefather’s blood.



Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me,

It’s as meaningful as those fake Italian shoes you adorn with such pride

You have etched a memory of loss on the world

And have sold your soul essence

Spiritually poor, you keep searching the world

Ravenous and hungry for security and love

All you are is a little boy,

Who has forgotten who he is…

So your suit shines for you, but it does not impress me.

I see right through it!

*For you - "Black Diamond"*

(c) Gcobani Qambela (2011)

I AM... YOU: A POEM

I AM… YOU

I am… the one you confidently wrote down as insignificant

I am… the one you called derogatory terms without reading my core

I am… the one you judged for wearing torn down clothes oblivious to the poverty I endure

I am… the one you smiled at – but couldn’t wait to babble about

I am the one… I am the one… indeed I am

I am still the one you said would never make it beyond my father’s gold digging efforts in the Johannesburg mines

I am still the one you ridiculed for praising ‘non-existent Gods’

I am still the one you refused to sit next for I smelled ‘poor’

I am still the one, I am still the one, I am still the one…



I am… the Gold you failed to discover

I am… the stain you will never wash off

I am… the vision you will never see

I am… the song you will never sing

I am… the lyrics you will never utter

Because I am still the one, I am still the one, I am still the one…



I am… You.



© Gcobani Qambela (July 2010)



*Thank you Luvo... you are precious*

Eclipsed Dreams - A Poem

Eclipsed Dreams: A Poem

Thunder, lighting, power and light

Heartbreak, broken, devastated and hurt

Eclipsed dreams, shallow ambitions and sad songs

Perhaps it was the truth, and I needed to live it

I dreamt past morning

Missing morning, in a turn of sleep

He had always been

And I knew it

I never lived it...

By: Gcobani Qambela

(To be continued) ;-)