His was a belated conversion narrative, Adequate perhaps, and seemingly benign But it rather belied the question, Was the structural adjustment genuine? For the jury was still out ...
Let's have a feature: > Talking Drums's coverage of the apartheid regime in South Africa > . Head on over to read it from the source. As usual, I have some commentary. Talking Drums...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/05/talking-drums-on-apartheid-in-south.html
First comes shame, that old friend, ever reminding of inadequacy It's never enough, however, for it merely highlights the unspoken Then comes fear, primal, with its forcing function Fear promp...
The bride still wore white, standing there on the porch Over the fence, we made sure she got a round of applause The sole entertainment we'd had in this era of lockdowns A porch wedding, how t...
Sensualist by avocation Every touch is significant Leading, probing, teasing, lingering Every look weighted with flirtation Promises of escape and fulfillment A prelude to restless joy Pa...
Serendipity. I'd been listening to José James's new album, 1978, on repeat all week and came across all the issues of Ebony magazine from that year at the library. Let's take a look at the year ...
The best minds of my generation devoted to optimizing clicks With an insight a minute they can overwhelm you with their tweets It was a shrewd bet after watching the inexorable rise of Wikipedi...
Once again, the bean counters are having a field day Ever since the tanks started rolling across the border Every bullet, every missile, even if wayward, must be tallied Every drone, every tan...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/04/ammunition-analysts.html
The documents "are not utilized in themselves" Is the official word per the agency, They are used for flash purposes and pocket litter Entire identities created out of whole cloth, ...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/04/flash-purposes-and-pocket-litter.html
Bound together in blood and sin An odd couple really, the mother and the leader Death made the introduction, arranging their first encounter Shock and loss exchanged small talk with guilt an...
I give you the archive of Talking Drums , the West African news magazine, a window into the continent's life from 1983 to 1986. > https://talkingdrumsmagazine.com Head on over to the site t...
Now it's come to this, an inglorious chapter Did they really have to go this far, I wonder? Some things in life are just so disconcerting Now I'm facing the body wash situation You see, some...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-body-wash-situation.html
We descended the hills, Walking down the slopes, Meandering And skirted the border, The imposition and the scrutiny For it was manifest that we controlled our own destiny We s...
Gee kindly Dr Fauci they tell me you retired But this pandemic is still a raging fire: Everyone at work is out sick Oh, some say "personal responsibility", It's on them, they could have worn ...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/03/gee-doctor-fauci-once-again.html
Before the stray, early blossoms Before the green shoots announced themselves It was the birds, dozens of them that morning That descended on the bare tree branches The small ones this time, ...
Time for the post mortem, as you know, some take it seriously The need to revisit, the urge to explain what happened previously For an ounce of prevention is said to be worth a pound of cure ...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/02/root-cause-analysis.html
Regret is all, it's only human An emotion with an intimate audience The tinge of shame and imperfection And the taint, for we were never innocent For some can never descend the mountain of r...
My hope is to disappear into you Dissolving slowly as you forget my name When our first encounter becomes a distant memory And the phantom sensation is all that remains Streams of thought, t...
The Pope and Archbishop were coming And so we waited in the morning sun Sensible, well pressed skirts for the girls Boys in sharp shorts, our khaki school uniforms At the behest of stern teac...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/02/waiting-for-pope.html
The kind of man that says unexceptionable and significations without irony His every pronouncement comes weighted with ballast and profundity The stylized pomp is deadly earnest and has no end...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/01/brow-of-discernment.html
Off kilter, your life is bassa bassa Just look at the mess that you've made Believe me, you need to shape up You've really got to change your ways Your affairs are bassa bassa, in such disar...
The familiar arc of disappointment The sweet scent of repeated failure Once again facing the brutal letdown The aftermath of howls and moans First the raised hopes, the glimmer and uncertain...
Buried on Ash Wednesday, the reading was from Revelations "Come", said the preacher, the message was an invitation But to the funeral goers, the reference to Lent was no consolation When in ...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/01/solemnity-premiums.html
With the full knowledge of what lay ahead, he chose And this was no mistake, there was no buyer's remorse Having climbed, at length, this mountain of regret He'd made his peace with the decisi...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2024/01/decision-to-forget.html
We'd passed the tavern on the same night but decided to go somewhere with more color We woke in the morning to hear on the shortwave radio about an overnight massacre As a good jou...
https://koranteng.blogspot.com/2023/12/heidelberg-tavern-massacre.html