Needed -
a sense
of calm
CALAMITY! Stage 6 rolling blackouts for the first time ever. Can the economy survive it? Do we hear the gurgle in the drain? An independent analysis of Eskom speaks of "severe financial and operational challenges, corruption, fraud and malfeasance …"
Don't let the fuel level in your car drop too low – you might struggle to find a service station where the pumps are operational … beware of using the large parking garages – getting out again during a loadshed can be a nightmare.
How one longs for some respite from the frenetic stress, a slowing down of things. And that's exactly what we got this week at the St Clement's arts soiree.
Buddhist poet Mervyn Croft was reading from his book, Without Limit (Leopard Press), a collection of poems that exude calm, a slowing down, a contemplation of life in all its beauty and complexity.
The sky
an infinity of blue.
The sun's heat like a predator
claws its way into the rocks.
I am sitting, longing
for the rains to come,
and you.
Lovely. And the poems, all in this gentle, contemplative mode, are accompanied by the most evocative illustrations by Hayley Berman, that not only illustrate but make their own statement. There is a remarkable complementarity in this little book.
The readings were shared by Durban poet Mari Pete, who has collaborated with Mervyn in his work and encouraged him.
Mervyn gave up a 20-year career in the hurly-burly of the financial world for the serenity of the Buddhist Retreat Centre, near Ixopo, (13 years) then the Emoyeni Retreat Centre, in the Magaliesberg, Gauteng, where he is based today,
Political aphorisms
READER Nick Gray sends in some political aphorisms, some of which have a more than slight bearing on current developments::
· The problem with political jokes is they get elected. - Henry Cate, VII.
· We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. - ~Aesop.
· If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven. - ~Will Rogers.
· Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. - Nikita Khrushchev.
· When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become president; I'm beginning to believe it. - Clarence Darrow.
· Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. - ~John Quinton.
· Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. -Oscar Ameringer.
· I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. - Adlai Stevenson.
· I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. - Charles de Gaulle.
· Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson.
Tailpiece
HE ALWAYS gets her anemones for her birthday. But, to his distress, on the day he can't find any. All the florists seem to be out of stock of anemones. So instead he buys her a giant fern.
No problem. She's delighted. "With fronds like these, who needs anemonese?"
Last word
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted. - Fred Allen
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