Don Beukes: Poetry (Western Voices 2021)

Bio: Don Beukes is a South African, British and EU writer. He is the author of 'The Salamander Chronicles’, 'Icarus Rising-Volume 1’ (ABP), an ekphrastic collection and ‘Sic Transit Gloria Mundi’ (Concrete Mist Press). He taught English and Geography in both South Africa and the UK. His poetry has been anthologized in numerous collections and translated into Afrikaans, Persian, French, Kreole (Mauritius) and Albanian. He was nominated by Roxana Nastase, editor of Scarlet Leaf Review for the 'Best of the Net' in 2017 as well as the Pushcart Poetry Prize (USA) in 2016. He was published in his first SA Anthology ‘In Pursuit of Poetic Perfection’ in 2018 (Libbo Publishers) and his second 'Cape Sounds' in 2019 (Gavin Joachims Publishing Cape Town). He is also an amateur photographer and his debut Photographic publication appeared in Spirit Fire Review in June 2019.

Sleepwalking

 

Mustard sunrise scorching eyes

time for this daily structured ordered expected

life – Get up get ready fit your chosen mask

your daily ritual now second nature but do you

know who you still are?

Blink breathe scream rage echoes of cream

nightmares sinking feelings forgotten murmurs

emotional scars not healing – Rush hush

join the daily brainwashed throng avoid acid

stares join the pavement chess burning chest

flaming stress strangers in obvious distress

Secret glares yearning for kind eyes if only

for just one human connection before succumbing

to an inevitable permanent emotional culling...

 

 

 

Hymn of Humanity

 

Daily rising hymns of utter despair

as nations struggle to survive to thrive –

Their morality shaken their leaders failing

causing shared helpless wailing reverberating

throughout our global village reaching the

highest peaks echoing our fervent urgent

existential pleas for assistance deliverance

but what about the children?

Their cries rise above the clouds hoping

and praying for a God their God our God any God

to answer if only just a sign that a higher spiritual

power exists to soothe fermenting hopelessness

in this deepening startling bottomless abyss –

How to absorb this?

Corrupt governments inept governance failing

mentalities profiting from ill-conceived ideas thrusting

their dishonest verbal spears into willing soulless ears.

A rising chorus of desperation across global nations

Yearning for freedom equality acceptance understanding

and shared profits but all they hear are false notes

of empty promises from rehearsed insincere speeches...

 

 

We the Children

 

You urge us to educate ourselves but your

mismanagement of the society we exist in

ring alarm bells we cannot ignore amidst this

global cultural societal war we are trapped in –

You mute our voices prevent our choices

Yet we unite despite your pathetic attempts to

divide us silence us mute us ignore us –

We are determined and resolved to heal the scars

you now leave us but your selfish arrogance prevents

our foretold liberty march to gain momentum

our resistant  multi-coloured flags surely must convince

you of our seriousness to oust your warped chirality

your unfounded claims of our necessary liberty gains!

Our defiant freedom songs we hope will penetrate

your hardened stubborn hearts – If only you would

open your darkened hearts to our final chorus!

We are here. We live here. We breathe here.

We share the same sphere. Our legacy determines

your healed mentality. We rise! We unite!

Now you need to allow us to save you to save us

As we congregate for a new era of peace of humility

of unity of shared dreams of common decency of

shared experiences of urgency to heal humanity...

---

Western Voices 2021 :: Setu, February 2021

Don Beukes (Western Voices 2020)

Exclusive: Western Voices, 2020: Edited by Scott Thomas Outlar

Bio: Don Beukes is a South African and British writer. He is the author of  'The Salamander Chronicles' (CTU) and 'Icarus Rising-Volume 1’ (ABP), an ekphrastic collection. He taught English and Geography in both South Africa and the UK. His poetry has been anthologized in numerous collections and translated into Persian, French and Albanian. He was nominated by Roxana Nastase, editor of Scarlet Leaf Review for the 'Best of the Net' in 2017 as well as the Pushcart Poetry Prize in 2016. He was published in his first SA Anthology ‘In Pursuit of Poetic Perfection’ in 2018 (Libbo Publishers) and also 'Cape Sounds' in 2019. His forthcoming third book 'Sic Transit Gloria Mundi' is to be published by Concrete Mist.

have you seen the lights?

  

I'm leaving Sanaa, Yemen – I remember my mother whispering from far away as the

sky started to turn ash grey or maybe it was the stinging dust raining into my exhausted

eyes – Dry from too many a wailing hollow cry, frantically calling out just to make sure

my brothers and sisters made it out in time but only I remained as faintly I whispered to her –

“Have you seen the lights?” I wondered why she hesitated but realised she was not here with me.

Others whisper around me smiling half-heartedly but all I can hear is the comforting purring hum

of the jet engines propelling us along on this medical bridge high above the clouds to a new

future and a foreign voice asking me – “Have you seen the lights?”

No Stars in Bethlehem – My childhood view was once my uncle's house and olive trees beyond

but I am now surrounded on three sides by a cold dull dividing concrete wall rising ever higher,

dimming the stars at night – Darkening my liberty vision. My future rapidly darkening but now

and then my mother runs into the house again as I hear a rush of high pitched ringing symphony

in my ears from familiar invading fears as she begs me to hide whilst whispering, “Have you

not seen the lights?” – The darkness now blinding, lighting up that wretched wall!

Our land shrinking. Our lights dimming...

As there are no more stars in Bethlehem.

Echoes from the Shadows 

Our mute voices have long since

lost its resonance even at the height of

our social and corporate relevance – We

loyally followed an organic order

predestined from generations of

perceived proven excellence but not

all of us possess the required essence

to fulfill expected targets or so we are

told – By day we emerge from our doomed

catacombs you, yes you cursed us to by your

dismissal of our potential to matter – Even

if only one person we influenced gained

to leave their own legacy – Oh what a fickle

fickle fantasy as you glare through us, hoping to

maybe just maybe you have not really seen us

but we see you, straining your eyes to glance

over us hoping we are mere dust from a former

existence to be blown into thin air as if we were

never here...

Exodus

Translucent clouds singing false notes ringing

ears popping eyes burning insides churning

vision blurring sudden realisation fight or

flight dead of night hesitation heightened

frustration the end of a proud nation all around

unmistakable fermentation of ideas potential

fears shattered prayers broken dreams religious

screams drowning bleeding hearts choosing

safe paths leaving hurried existential footprints

but even those are wiped from history no evidence

human settlements in cultural harmony religious

acceptance in turmoil the urge to question it all

raging in moral dark corners if only these tyrannical

power hungry wars would spare young souls to treasure

their heritage sadly not to be as rivers of souls leak into

oceans of discontent swirling with dark divisive entities

cleverly drip-dropping toxic charcoal whispers eagerly

chewed by weakened influence chaos disciples unable

to speak their own minds so they bite into sweet chaos

hoping to get a seat at the victory feast unfortunately

their devotion rewarded with extinction of their minds

molasses senses leading to our forced fatal

cursed detrimental consequential exodus...

Setu, April 2020

Western Voices: Don Beukes

Bio:

Don Beukes is a South African and British writer. He is the author of  'The Salamander Chronicles' (CTU) and 'Icarus Rising-Volume 1’ (ABP), an ekphrastic collection. He taught English and Geography in both South Africa and the UK. His poetry has been anthologized in numerous collections and translated into Persian, French and Albanian. He was nominated by Roxana Nastase, editor of Scarlet Leaf Review for the 'Best of the Net' in 2017 as well as the Pushcart Poetry Prize in 2016. He was published in his first SA Anthology ‘In Pursuit of Poetic Perfection’ in 2018 (Libbo Publishers).

Chrome Dreams

My nightly journey into buried memories

missed opportunities forgotten stories even

existential muted soliloquies test my very brittle

essence every liquid drowning night trying my

best not to remain frantically swimming in

unforgiven regrets, whilst searching for those who

have gone before me –

I never got the chance to say goodbye or seeking

a last earthly blessing before parting ways from

this life not knowing the day the second the moment

which could be our last, so I wake up drenched in my

regrets unable to find answers knowing that each

new day I will have to serve my earthly masters –

My chrome dream sequence becomes my self-made

hindrance to find inner lasting peace, whilst being

swept away by bottomless rivers meandering, languishing,

punishing –

I try my best to reach those who I have lost

but I just float further away from my own being

and just find myself washed up to this existence –

My inner screams are faded now as I allow

myself to accept my fate with no regrets

in cream chrome dreams...

Voices from the Shadows

You see an invisible fellow human being

hovering within the fringes of your urban

dynasty hastening your increasing daily

accusatory melancholy –

I see a lonely human being ghost walking

through a decaying failing faltering city

filled with over ambitious chosen fat

soldiers flashing gleaming dagger smiles

surviving the daily financial grind –

Unable to sustain a paper facade whilst

offering false promises turning into

inedible corporate bitter molasses –

You say your sort deserves to exist within

the upper cohort of your honey crust

man-made opportunistic exclusive resort –

I say this to you, oh what a sad fool of

your own crumbling destiny you are

for believing your own desperate toxic

rhetoric, thinking we are unable to recognise

your well-oiled smooth talking publicity

tricks, painting us as the subjects of your

latest social project freaks in need of

upliftment and social mobility, whilst

we mourn for your damaged moral compass

unable to guide you along the expected

moral highway but you welcome your

soul drowning in your hunted earthly goals

whilst our voices ring ever louder to

lift the choking muffled veil you

hoped would eternally cover us ...

Departure

Leaving – A chance opportunity can open

a door to foreign shores to explore other

worlds, different cultures, unknown

adventures and meandering opportunistic

paths – Whatever the reasons for leaving

loved ones behind and chasing an

existence of another kind, many of us

feel compelled to shut a door and open

another in a perceived forced utopia

although our actual day of departure

becomes a strange living hell disaster –

A last traditional home cooked meal

gobbled down with excitable zeal,

knowing foreign cuisine would not yield

the same satisfactory appeal – The drive

to the airport silent, contemplative and

hesitant with each step another distance

closer to a new chosen future – The

hurried sip of coffee, an extended hug,

a last tender touch, the emotion crippling

then waving goodbye through a veil of

hot salted tears past that dreadful security

wall , suddenly catapulted into a transfer

ghostly corridor forcing each step in a

dream state regret...

Arriving – A different time zone to welcome you

into the past or future as you are faced with border

control staring at you suspiciously, lifting a questioning

eyebrow due to your nationality even your foreign accent –

You instantly feel like an alien but there’s no turning back

as you open the doors to a new land in which each

face, voice, stare, sound, even the air becomes an

existential welcome nightmare...

---

Western Voices :: Setu, February 2019