Some nights. Some days. #nothingrhymes #poetsofinstagram
Sometime in January, I spent a day with the photo team of Fairlady Magazine. We were for most of the time in a calm little river just outside of Stellenbosh, with a few mountains on the side. I was holding a light and practicing my one-liners. These a few pictures including the model Silibi Kidane I took of that day. Which today feels a bit surreal.
”Am I a hero now?”
My friend @lizaphoto sent me these pictures this morning. When flights still crossed the ocean. #dubai
Somewhere in between cute and adorable.
Driven to penning poetry. #freereadings @thevoicepoet
By now, cooped up in the house for days and days as so many. Some people started cleaning, their hands too, and hidden parts also; some started watching Tiger King some dance some bake and cook. The creatives paint the motivated began doing push-ups. More drink and others smoke them if they have them. I started reading poetry out loud; so here I present to you exhibit A.
For more life-changing words that will lift you and carry you over the highest mountains and the broadest seas come and find me @thevoicepoet
Ride the dragon.
From the mind, dreams flow to pen tips.
There are forests within in us to explore. You will find open meadows where the sun shines. In darker parts, you will find beasts that will eat you. There are well-trodden paths to stay on. But there is also perhaps a hill to climb where a new vantage point could bring some unknown joy.
For the time being, sitting asymptomatically and watching society from a distance posting with clean hands, generally speaking, avoiding zoonosis. Over yonder, someone sneezed. I said, ''Bless you, Sir." The man said, "Thank you." He walked on. And then, I finished this post.
Just waiting for my Uber in front the Great Fosters, ano 1528. #michelinstar2020 #justsaying
Joe, the pride of London pouring me a London Pride.
After spending two months of summer with the two most important people in my life its time to say farewell until next year. May the wine stay red and the sun warm.
Mom's 80th.
I found myself overlooking rows upon rows of grapevines that lined up and formed a perfectly square block of Shiraz. I was halfway into my lamb ribs, which, by all measures, became a familiar eating theme throughout my ten-day stay in Stellenbosch. Before I arrived, I had plans to visit the city, the sea, and even some friends. I also had aspirations of finishing or starting a novel. That first day, I sat on a shaded porch, sipping my way through a winery's entire tasting menu. That's where it dawned on me that with a hundred and thirty wine farms in the region, and as sure as grapes make wine, I had my work cut out for me.
Well, nothing inspires strategy quite as positively as sitting with a glass of noteworthy Cabernet Sauvignon, especially as this particular sauvignon was starting to tell me how it was held captive in French oak barrels for a grueling twenty-four months. And the Zimbabwean waiter was describing to me how this particular cultivar tends to linger on one's pallet. And he was right; this red was sitting on my tongue with a reluctance to leave. What other forms of idle vino was out there to meet was the question that formed. So there I sat, sipped, and contemplated while the heat of the valley was scorching the barren-looking earth. That hotness appeared to be the very force compelling the vines and grapes to escape the sand the vineyards grew from.
Soon my daily routine became quite simple. Get up, have coffee, read from the Oscar Wilde novel I brought with me, then decide which farm to visit.
By day five, I had bought seven bottles of wine and had visited five top-tier wine farms. By then, I nearly single-handedly depleted the region of its lamb, however through intuition, I knew their cheese and olive supplies were still mostly intact.
I visited Boshandal, Warwick, Kunjani, Leeu, and Simonsig the following days.
Like a promiscuous lover, I fell in love with all the bottles I did end up buying. So, for the most part, it wasn't an easy decision. Until once again, I tried on the last day the Paul Sauer at the Kanonkop Estate. Here I am seen walking away with the final price—the cherry on top—hands down my favourite of all.
My day started like any other here in South Africa, with sweetener and coffee included. Except that today I was invited to join a shoot with my friend from Fairlady Magazine. We were meeting up with a female stunt driver aged twenty-two at her home in Soweto. Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg. My friend, Liza, at first took us on a drive through the neighborhood to scout possible places to get her shots. It was immediately apparent that we were like two foreigners in these parts. Dogs walked the streets freely with an attitude of belonging instead of being missing. An intoxicated man on the street corner was shouting directions at us. Graffiti was a hallmark on most of the buildings and rundown looking apartments. People were selling stuff under beach umbrellas on every other corner. Funeral parlors seemed to be the most lucrative business in town as we saw several bold painted signs on walls with names, such as Highend Funeral Parlour, Flamingo Funeral Home, and Dummy's Funerals. Are we supposed to be here was the question I did not ask out loud.
We finally got to Stacey-lee May's house, where a group of men, including her dad, was working on her 1989 BMW. Their home was on a quiet street, a rare commodity in this township we were told. Stacy, I found out, is the first lady spinner and stunt drive in South Africa. She showed us some clips of a show she was on Netflix called Hyperdrive. It is my understanding that the actress Charlize Theron helped her get some exposure and even visited her here once too. All while her dad, who taught her to drive, was getting her black and pink car shoot ready. She got bullied in school, which was hard to believe with her shy and sweet demeanor. A wave of admiration slowly started as I learned more and more about this family. Here they all were in the most hostile environment known to South Africa. They were creating a vehicle literally for this young girl as and out towards a better life. And with smoking tires and a revving engine, she was getting it done for all of them.
SOME OF MY FAVOURITE INSTAGRAM PHOTOS THAT I HAVE TAKEN WITH MY iPhone.
