I went with friends to Kirstenbosch today, to see The Soil, and I came home and wrote a poem. The poem doesn’t really say how amazing The Soil are (totally, unbelievably amazing) but it is a follow on response to last year’s post after they played at Kirstenbosch last year. Here it is.
Where the Revolution Should Start
When there is a revolution let it start
At a The Soil concert
At Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
Let it start as the people
In their gorgeousnessandhighheels
With cooler boxes stuffed
And sun block and sun hats and lip gloss
And mirror shades
And torn jeans and huge gold bling
And shweshwe skirts and loose fitting pants
All arrive to take over the space
And the sun-red tourists
And old people in comfortable shoes and walking sticks
And parents pushing sleepy babies in complicated prams
Scurry from what has been a silent, almost holy white place
When the revolution starts let it be
As the gates open and we rush in to grab our spot
On the manicured lawn in the tiniest section
Of blessed shade because kushushu, I’m telling you
When it starts let it be
As we wait and check out our new neighbours
Even the ones who stand on our blankets
Spread tight and wide as possible
To hold our bodies.
Let it start as we cluck in disapproval
At that one, too much make up, and that
A white woman with a big doek on her head
And that one, it hasn’t started and already so drunk.
When there is a revolution let it start
As people turn in their spots
And see a sea of faces, a sea, and it’s there
Where black seas are foreign and white faces,
Like small sails, dot the ocean.
Let the revolution start in our bodies
As we jump up to dance
And pata pata ourselves, showing where we
Want to be touched
Even though it is our hearts, our hearts on the inside
That are being touched, squeezed, shaken, awoken
When the revolution starts let it start
With everyone who is there
Whose intention is shared
And where everybody is singing that same song
When the revolution starts
Let it be in the spontaneous singing
And the staying and holding
And dancing and loving
And owning, yes owning
That place.
Vanessa
I felt exactly like this poem today at The Soil concert. It was a most beautious thing.
Sipho
I missed the show but let me just say it, it gives perfect description. I feel like I was there. favorite part “As we jump up to dance. And pata pata ourselves, showing where we want to be touched. Even though it is our hearts, our hearts on the inside. That are being touched, squeezed, shaken, awoken.