xenophobia

[JASON]

In South Africa most of our black people still live in very poor areas,even 20 years after apartheid.
Foreigners (indian,pakistani,somali) set up businesses + shops here and become targets.
their shops get looted,they fall into the hands of extremely agitated crowds and sometimes
they even get killed.I heard that it has started again in the rural areas outside our town.
The serpent has awoken.




So you raise your head again sleeping giant
crepuscular - always favouring the gloom
up again from the nether regions
seeking out the depraved heart of man.

Hatred drives you,mobilizes every keel
fills your serpentine lungs
spurs on your ectothermic heart
readies you for the kill...

Old enemy,time to hunt again
gorge yourself on fattened fools
quench your thirst for blood
release your rage...

[dwells]

A grand extended metaphor Jason - the haves against the have nots; as history repeats for the next generation with a better way. Cheers!

[everhopeful]

The way you embody this poem with the serpent references gives off such a sense of loathing and disgust for the collective of racist violence that it translates well to the reader. I can taste the bitterness and understand how much it stings, especially after the great strides taken by your nation to get past human division.
This is the kind of poem to inspire a fierce reaction, which is a good sign for your writing, and I won't comment on the politics aside from saying that it seems like a trend in tough economic times for people to turn against each other - and politicians often fan the flames.

[JASON]

the story so far:
A black youth with a knife entered a somalian shop - the owner shot + killed him...
The residents went ballistic - tore the shop to pieces,stole all the stock
+ if it wasn't for police intervention would definitely have taken a few lives...
Tuesday morning 3:00am an alert put out to millions of people that the water supply
has been compromised.Forensic testing is underway as I write...

[Farkas]

Hi

South Africa has been the center of much racial haltered through out its violent history. When you add to that class warfare, it is a miracle that the country is not in a perpetual civil war. Old wounds fester for generations poisoning the souls of the vulnerable. If you add to all that race baiting the outcome is a foregone conclusion. What is the saddest part of it all is that the well-meaning, innocents are usually the ones who suffer most at the hand of racist thugs bent on anarchy. You’re poem clearly outlines the causes and the devastating results of the hatreds that infest the souls of men.

I just read you’re post about the killing and the riot that followed. I presume everyone is dependent on a common water supply. Why would someone poison his own well?

[godsplat]

Hello JASON

This is a seriously brilliant work of poetry; I feel like a just saw a demon rise from the depths of hell to set its curse on all. I also appreciate your opening, setting me up for a better understanding of the motivation behind your poem, outstanding! Sounds like a sad situation there!

godsplat

[JohnFeddeler]

well crafted write. a report of on-going violence & retribution, & no sign of peace. stark & tragic...

[Ladywildalice]

Often, we sense evil, see evil and recognize it for all it's ugliness. But we do not, personally, know what to do to combat it, to diminish its acidic reign over people. It is the artistic population that has the most effect. Like graffiti, underground papers, secretly posted fliers, and even "letters to the editors" getting the word public and repeating it over and over, louder and louder, is often the sharpest dagger. Writers have always led that campaign for change. Your spotlighted write demonstrates better than anything, the power writing can have. It stirs the blood, it angers the complacent, it educates and informs, and it shakes up the Ostrich Syndrome. Keep at it.......it is a gift. Congratulations on the Spotlight, deservedly so.

[tangerinepie]

Jason..I have often wondered about life in South Africa, and what the current climate is like.This sounds very ominous, especially as it spreads deeper and closer into the towns.Like other readers, I find this poem so exceptional because it takes us into the heart of hatred with your incredible metaphors.One of the most gripping spotlight pieces I have seen in a long time, and well deserved.But more than anything I wish safety for you and your family..All the best..Tangie..

[dornicks]

Cast an eye round the world and this sort of behaviour is being repeated,almost everywhere. AND the politians love it.Subtle warnings in places to remind us it's never far away,even in the civilised West!!. Congratulations on the spotlight,

dornicks

[jsol]

As far as a social issue, an issue of living together, you have captured this in a very meaningful and powerful net of words.

As far as a poem, you have managed to go beyond the politics to that something that marks a poem as a poem. You have taken all the brutality, corruption, greed and immorality beyond their context of social issue and made them live in the heart of the reader, in the everyday actions of a member of the human race. I feel the forcefulness of this poem, how it burst out of you, how it had to be written and that makes it very powerful for me to read it.