Hello my lovely readers
With gratitude for the kind responses to yesterday's entry, today's continues the theme of the past emerging in (and merging into) the present. It is about one of the people, beyond my immediate family, who was crucial to my childhood development and remains important now - my godmother Jenny.
We are staying with her in Cape Town, to where we've just returned after a long drive from McGregor. So I apologise (both to her and to you) if this isn't my finest example of a poem. But I didn't want to miss a day so soon into this series; nor a chance to cherish this awesome feminist activist who is so kindly opening up her home for the majority of our time in South Africa. Below the poem is a selfie she took of us in the sunshine outside Pony Cottage, where we stayed this weekend.
2nd December 2019
Today I write an ode to my dear Jenny
who has, since my young years, been an example.
It's nigh impossible to list how many
things she has taught me - and yet the number's ample.
I learnt from her to love Joan Armatrading
and how to navigate the world online.
She showed me ways to begin arbitrating
between opinions and start forming mine.
She even offers space for us to argue,
by teasing out exactly what we mean,
and (though, sometimes, we might find it quite hard to!)
a kindred spirit she has always been.
For, above all, we share a sense of humour
and her laugh's cheekier than any rumour.
With gratitude for the kind responses to yesterday's entry, today's continues the theme of the past emerging in (and merging into) the present. It is about one of the people, beyond my immediate family, who was crucial to my childhood development and remains important now - my godmother Jenny.
We are staying with her in Cape Town, to where we've just returned after a long drive from McGregor. So I apologise (both to her and to you) if this isn't my finest example of a poem. But I didn't want to miss a day so soon into this series; nor a chance to cherish this awesome feminist activist who is so kindly opening up her home for the majority of our time in South Africa. Below the poem is a selfie she took of us in the sunshine outside Pony Cottage, where we stayed this weekend.
2nd December 2019
Today I write an ode to my dear Jenny
who has, since my young years, been an example.
It's nigh impossible to list how many
things she has taught me - and yet the number's ample.
I learnt from her to love Joan Armatrading
and how to navigate the world online.
She showed me ways to begin arbitrating
between opinions and start forming mine.
She even offers space for us to argue,
by teasing out exactly what we mean,
and (though, sometimes, we might find it quite hard to!)
a kindred spirit she has always been.
For, above all, we share a sense of humour
and her laugh's cheekier than any rumour.
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