On the farm, how many types of cattle
are there, how many donkeys, sheep?
Draw seven of your favourite mammals.
Which one do you see?
‘Listen, here is bush. This one is
the kwe-voël – the boesman used to think about it,
something – in English, go-away bird.’
At Warmquelle, they said not to stay outside.
At Chobe, lay and looked through reeds.
Twyfelfontein: rock art, huge, red hills.
Brandberg: slept among the chickens, with stars.
Yes, Cape Town, District 6; in Durban, was mugged; Johannesburg, felt watched.
Fish River Canyon: camped alone. Vast.
What else did we learn?
At Uis, something you wouldn’t believe.
Go across the alphabet, draw me one for ‘e’.
Always came back to the farms, school: nothing
else to see.
Namibia, August 2012 – July 2013