Abu: Inhabiting Love

Solomons Abu

• Publisher: Botsotso Publishing
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781990922497
• eBook ISBN: 9781990922503
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: African Poetry
• Index: Literature

In this second collection, following his debut A Season of Tenderness and Dread (published by Botsotso in 2018), Abu Bakr Solomons continues his exploration of the unfolding social and political milieu -worlds in transition - both locally and globally; the threats and compelling beauty which coexist in these complex human tragedies and triumphs so that the past and the present intersect in the psyches and consciousness of individuals and delivery of social movements. Love always forms an integral element in these engagements of upheaval and healing. Ultimately, the poems assert that the manifestation of love, in its various forms, personal, romantic or patriotic, is more than a mere outpouring of sentiments, for love spawns a context - a habitat - in which individuals battle to converge or combat in order to define their purpose.

II

The geography of remembering

In the old Medina, Marrakech

The allure of your antiquity radiates

from you and your children, Marrakech;

cobbled streets save footprints of invaders.

High clay walls enclose a fortress;

winding enclaves conceal discreet favours

hammams promise perfumed bliss.

An adhaan subdues for pious prayers

then your restless, beguiling avenues

pay obeisance to a call from the faithful.

Droves of tenacious lives compulsively

ply their trade on every corner;

caftans and crafts seduce in Bab Doukalla.

And in souks robust Berber eclipses French chic,

boisterous bicycles impede our wanderings –

fortitude is palpable in postcolonial charm.

* hammams – hot baths

** adhaan – call to prayer

Two women and Als

On the edge of our garden

a hardy als endures winter bite;

tough green foliage glistens

with silvery drow as day arrives.

Its leaves brought trusted relief

for childhood maladies; bore

mother’s conviction about their

reliable and restorative power.

For it’s a tree that nurtures;

favouring nature’s universe, alerts

where we detoured in the name

of progress – profitable enterprises.

There’s a sturdy, lone woman who trades

at what’s left of the Parare,

promoting assiduously her duiwelstrek,

wilde dagga and buchu.

Our als bush protects this panacea

indigenous to rural Ethiopia; cures

while courageously resisting harsh

remedies sold at an exorbitant price.

* Als plant Artemisia Afra

** Parare the Grand Parade, Cape Town

** wilde dagga and buchu indigenous herbs

Soles of our shoes

Old newspapers stuffed into my shoes;

craters in the soles since there was

no money to purchase new walkers –

… my tongue still tastes sugar

dissolved with water on white bread;

soggy, yet so deliciously inventive

…oily, milky vetkoek fried•

on a neighbour’s Jewel stove, spread

lavishly with melon and ginger jam

…outings to the Company Gardens,

feeding peanuts to squirrels;

candy-floss gripped, enchanted

…on Friday after school, making tums –**

melted brown sugar rolled hot in our hands –

with hungry children of St Francis Home.

All recalled when we need to endure,

practise patience, lie and wait for better days;

tying our souls into three fold knots

shielding against dour despair.

• Vetkoek – Fried bread rolls

** tums – melted brown sugar rolled into sweets when cooled

A city’s fury

Mrs D posted me that morning:

They burned my house down last night.

Do you have any blankets for my kids?

I read this browsing in a second-hand bookshop;

rich aroma of percolated coffee streaming through.

I will bring you blankets soon.

What else do you need right now?

She replied succinctly: Alles.

Flames consume mercilessly;

raze a humble household into rubble.

Yet what was ‘everything’?

Just a small flat, a few pieces of furniture –

ashes made with matches and cans of gasoline.

Reconstructing would take a lifetime of sacrifice.

But again the city’s fury may easily flare.

Perhaps tomorrow.

• Alles. – Everything

Georgie’s grandmother

Her face like bark of an embattled oak

seemingly empty...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• I Inhabiting love
• II The geography of remembering
• III Signs
• IV The arithmetic of forgetting
• V Where we live
• VI Cleaning
• About the Author