Poetry, Plays and Prose

I have moved

2011-11-21T14:38:00.001+02:00

Migrated to Wordpress guys. You can now find all my stuff here

Turtle-dove

2011-11-03T10:41:00.000+02:00

I am jealous of that turtle-dove,
Who flits from tree to dirt to sky
On wings stretched at but a thought,
For it is free and I am not.

I crave the freedom to leap
From the cliff of doubt to dreams below.
My roots,
Stretched by wanderlust,
Pull taut against barren, unmoving soil.

But is that dove truly free?
Free never to dream, hope nor love?
Let my anchored feet hold me down
And my dreams turn back to the ground,
For here I am free and it is not.

Dreaming Stars

2011-11-03T10:27:00.001+02:00

As you drift across the night
dreaming
I lay alongside
and stare after you.

Constellations flicker
in your covered gaze.
I long to share in
your solitary reverie:
a lone glimpse
into your sleep-shown heavens.

Am I one of the stars
of which you dream?

Should it worry me?

2011-07-31T15:10:00.000+02:00

Should it worry me?
That I can detach from crowds
and watch from a distance
while others are
laughing, talking?
I hide behind my pencil
and bent notebook.
Am I a coward
to secret myself in these pages?

Waiting, on a Winter's day

2011-07-31T15:06:00.000+02:00

I lay expectant on that couch
the blue one
with its back to the window
while my father's grandfather clock
my inheritance
ticked resolutely on.

Who was I waiting for?
I can't recall.
I only remember:
how bright the day was
how blue the sky
the dogs sprawled catatonic
absorbing dregs of heat
from the winter sun
while I lay on that blue couch
as my inheritance
ticked resolutely on.

Waiting Room

2011-07-20T17:39:00.002+02:00

I know this chair.
It's simple, no frills.
Completely ordinary really.
Nothing special.
Not very comfortable either.
I know this chair.
I have,
after all,
been waiting in it
for at least an hour.

part of me

2011-07-20T17:38:00.000+02:00

When i am still:
the entire world spins on without me.
But when i move:
i pull everyone along with me.

i am the burning passion of youth,
unquenched by experience.
i am dreams, put in motion,
in whose wake thousands eddy off
and spin their own.
i am the source and driver of change.
i am the best parts of Me,
the only ones I want You to see.

Lights on the Night-road

2011-07-08T09:51:00.001+02:00

The darkness rolls on.
I sit here in silent motion,
watching oases of light
slide past my window.

I am not alone of this road.
Pairs of ruby-embers burn brightly ahead.
A wall of white-diamonds
flows steadily on my right.
Where are they going,
these people of the Night-road?

I am one of them,
yet separate.
We roll onwards
with the sunrise at my back.

Mossies

2011-07-08T09:43:00.000+02:00

You wouldn't know they were there.
Just a flick of a wing
or a hop to the side.
Their shadows in the setting sun could
just as well
be the shade of a tuft of grass
or a small rock

They move. As one.
A rolling wave of wingbeats
on the parched ground.
A trill from the sergeant bird,
the disordered ranks
vault into the air.

Their cloud drifts away.
An avian shoal
silhouetted
against the dry tawny grass.

*Mossies: Afrikaans name for Cape Sparrows

Sunflowers

2011-06-18T09:09:00.001+02:00

Love poems are easy to write:
Full of simpering words and weak clichés.
If I had to,
I would write you thousands,
Maybe in their sum
They would mean something
But no.
I will never sink that low.
Instead:
I bought you sunflowers.

RAPS 2011

2011-06-14T14:11:00.000+02:00

So for these last couple of months I was involved in the RAPS 2011 One-Act Play Festival. This annual festival takes place every year at the Wits Theatre and on average 40 schools compete each year. As usual, Parktown put in two plays. We only open these auditions to grade 11 and 12 boys and send the juniors to the EADS festival. I was lucky enough to be cast in our 2nd or "B" play; Are you normal, Mr Norman?, as Mr Norman himself.

I was so happy to finally get a role I could sink my teeth into! Admittedly though it did scare me playing such a fractured role. I was so worried I would take the issues home with me but I lucked out and really got into my character without him getting into me.

We performed in the first round on the 31st May and by some miracle made it through to the second semi-final on the 10th of June along with Greenside and St Benedicts as well as collecting six nominations (two more than our "A" play, Attitudes). I was nominated for Most Promising Actor and we also got ones for Best Actor, Best Stage-Manager, Best Cameo, Best Comedy and Best Hand-Drawn Poster. Attitudes was also nominated for Most Promising Actor and Best Comedy as well as Best Director and Best Ensemble. That's ten in total for Parktown, more than any other school.

Unfortunately we didn't make the final but as my nomination earned me a free ticket I attended anyway. The three plays on the night were all incredibly good and way above student standard. I dare say that if we had made the final, we would have been royally thumped. Randfontein performed a heavy drama about lesbianism and love triangles (which was by far the pick of the plays and easily collected Best Production) followed by Greenside's physical theatre piece written by the same woman who wrote the Vagina Monologues ( so not my style but still good) and Cornwall Hill's version of a RAPS favourite, This Is A Test.

In the end my fellow Parktonian, Leighlind Daniels, collected Most Promising Actor and I fully think he deserved it. Parktown also won the three best awards on the night by far. Mr Norman won the Spirit of RAPS award which gets us season tickets (with a +1) to all three theatres at Montecasino (SCORE!), Attitudes as the first play to ever produce a video trailer in history of RAPS were given a secondary Spirit of RAPS award that gives them season tickets to the Theatre on the Square and yours truly walked away with the Tweeter of the Year award, although this isn't an official award, which gets me a day on set with Passionfish Studios, which is run by Megan Godsell, the festival director, which is sooooooooo exciting!

All in all an unforgettable experience and one that has me seriously reconsidering my decision to study Journaliam and not Drama next year.

-Stu

PS You can check out the trailer for Attitudes at:
http://bit.ly/mUeTSq
The little coloured guy in the white scarf is Leighlind

A slight change...

2011-06-14T13:34:00.000+02:00

Ok so I'm gonna be changing the format of this blog a little bit from now on. I'm not simply gonna be posting my literature on here but also news of anything I'm involved with at the time. Also since I'm turning 18 next week I'll also be monetizing this blog so you'll be seeing a few ads here and there but they should be targeted to my audience as it's using Google's AdSense program.

Cheers
-Stu

I got published!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-03-13T09:02:00.000+02:00

Guys, I finally got published! Pick up the February 2011 issue of Wordsetc and turn to page 60. You might just see a little something by yours truly :D. I am absolutely humbled to be included in the same issue as greats such as Lewis Nkosi and Kimon Neophyte. Way to kick off a career with a bang!

-Stu

On the outside

2011-02-26T22:18:00.001+02:00

By nature and choice
I stand, apart.
A Watcher and Listener,
Plaintiff and Prosecutor,
Of the selves I judge.
Yet, I cannot deny
The urge to join and express
Amongst the tumultuous voices.

I hold myself,
Oft awkwardly,
Aloft from them.
Those I would view me bared,
Pared to desires and impulses
To wishful nerves and dreaming bones.
The should-be comrades of youth:
I despise and desire.

Though it is briefly visible,
When known,
The divide of longing pain
And painful longing
Stands conspicuous
Like a scar on the air.
In those transient moments,
I feel the acute Pariah's pain.

Long Time No Post

2011-01-15T12:28:00.000+02:00

So it's been three months and change since I last posted any writing here. To be truthful that's because I haven't written anything important at all in the meantime. My laziness + Too chilled holiday + Start of matric = EPIC FAIL! But if you wanna check out a small writing job of mine that I did manage to do this holiday, get your hands on the soon-to-be-released copy of WordsEtc (For those of you not in the know that's a major South African literary journal. Check it out at: www.wordsetc.co.za) and read my review of Richard North Patterson's The Spire. I will post the review on here as soon as the issue comes out but do yourself a favour and buy the magazine. There's sure to lots of other interesting stuff in there.

On a sadder note, the chances of me posting much of anything this year are pretty slim. I'm three days into Matric and and I already have a veritable mountain of schoolwork *grumble grumble*

Cheers
-Stu

Back-row Blues

2010-10-05T19:13:00.001+02:00

Here I am,
aisle-seat in the very last row,
just before the toilets.
Headphones tight to my skull,
I observe.

Empty-seat to my left
then middle-aged stock trader,
buying
selling
imaginary money.
He has closed the window-cover.
Bastard.
No white, rolling cloud-scapes for me.

I peer right.
Two women, both asleep.
Blond aisle-girl with
disregarded book in lap.
Window-girl gently snores,
mouth open.
Coffee goes cold, banana brown,
before her.

“Here is your Coke, sir.”
White teeth and fake cheer,
break my reverie.
“Ah, thank you,”
I say,
pretend smile versus pretend smile.
“About damn time,”
I think,
but keep inside.

Service is slow enough already in the
aisle-seat in the very last row,
just before the toilets.

Beware the Darklings

2010-09-26T15:06:00.000+02:00

My father, he said unto me:
Beware the Darklings, take heed.
They are things of flesh and fire
touched and burnt with cold desire.

Your mother told you one last time:
Beware the Darklings, daughter mine,
darkness to fill an earthly hole.
They will tear your heart and rend your soul.

There is nothing so naive,
as the fools that they surely be.
Though 'tis plain before their eyes,
'tis not the truth they see, 'tis lies.

You and I, we are the same.
Human by manner, face and name.
But in the dark, where no-one sees,
Darkling twins, our nature free.

One of moon, one of earth.
Joined eternal by darkest birth.
Beware the Darklings, all of ye.
We will find you, where'er you be.

Moonshine girl

2010-09-14T21:27:00.000+02:00

A dark-eyed moonshine girl,
of faerieblood and folklore,
unsure of her role in fate.
Her mood changes with the tide.
She only needs starlight and lunar glow
to keep her afloat.

Playing with water / On the early

2010-09-14T21:25:00.000+02:00

There is something in me
that stirs only
for the glass-golden surface,
moved not by wind or ripple,
but still.
It is almost sacrilege
to disturb it
with the feather-touch of my blades.

But the reward,
of smooth-running silence,
of early-morning glide,
outweighs the danger.

I will play with water again.

The Sculler

2010-09-14T21:23:00.000+02:00

Sunrise shards on a mirrorshine surface.
The snap-squeeze of his legs
Drives a wake through sun shimmer.
Unseen,
A wind-ripple moves in opposition.
A sudden too-deep bow catch
Wind-grip, wind-lift on stroke.
Heartpound angled suspension.
Imprisoned,
A god's plaything.
A memory calls:
"Don't let go of your blades!"
He sits the shell steady once more,
With backbend and legpush
He moves again.
Three.
Hard.
Pulls.
A mine-dump windshadow
Saves him.
The scull leaps forward.
The Sculler is free.

Oh yes!

2010-09-14T21:07:00.001+02:00

Well we're up and running! Look forward to me posting my poetry and shorter pieces of fiction on here as well as details on how to purchase the longer pieces (assuming I get published of course) as well as whatever my craziest/latest (yes, they mean the same thing) theory. Enjoy folks!