flowering in times of the Coronavirus

Dear all So here we are where no one thought we would be just a short while back. I myself had to go through a whole process of coming to terms with the realities around this particular virus and the pandemic it brought about. One aspect that took me off my high horse was the …

dirty soils and secrets

emotional heap-ups. intense moments, coming and going. each one worthy of a book, a song, a speech, a plan of action. and yet our lives stream on. burning to say something. not knowing how and where. social media. online subscription post. newsletter. stage.. well, now the moment has arrived. just to say. say it all, say it all since the time of Brett Kavanaugh...

The Heartbreaking Unfairness of Poverty

Dear all I met Nyebho during rehearsals for a theatre play in Grahamstown (now Makhanda), in 2000. I was the live musician for the play. The director picked on Nyebho, or should I say, there was difficulty between them. What I sensed was that he possessed almost an uncontrollable urge to express. He could do …

The Upsurge of the Feminine

Dear all I just finished reading Joke’s newest short story. I had to cry and cry and cry. This is no selling point for the talents of my life-partner. It is sharing with you how I am moved by yet another woman. It is a personal sample of how the feminine can and is moving …

A River is Flowing

In front of me the Vaal River slowly makes it way. across the breadth of South Africa to the Atlantic. We have been kindly put up in a guest lodge just outside Sasolburg, the town built for the turning of coal into oil. The Vaal actually joins the Gariep at some point, along which our …

hey dude I’ve got something to tell you!

Dear all An imaginary conversation I had with “dude” recently hey dude, I need to tell you something. dude? who’s your dude? ag man*, just someone that has an ear right now I’m your dude, but keep it snappy ag* thanks. listen, I have this new online thing! online thing. what do you mean online …

catching up

Dear all I sit in a flat in Vigevano, near Milan, Italy. Joke just went out to catch a moment of writing while Mira is asleep. I do not have an extra adaptor for Italian plugs, so this laptop’s battery will switch off at some point but I MUST write this newsletter now. It is …

The story of Mira’s birth, seen through my perspective

By Joke Debaere As my pregnancy was coming to an end, I often googled “water, breaks, signs”. Facing the Big Moment, Google was my refuge. Just like it had been the first couple of weeks. I had found a Dutch website that compared the growth of my fetus week by week with a piece of …

that which flows

water Joke stood in the kitchen area of our little cottage in the mud (so much rain these days). her water broke. it was making a potent pool on the floor, just like in the movies. is this the water she has been drifting in all these nine months? yes. this is the water she …

silent force of nature

One morning, about seven months ago, I woke up with this feeling that someone had switched on the lights inside my body. I looked in the mirror and there I was, staring at myself with unusual big eyes. Some weeks later, a home test confirmed it. Pregnancy had entered me and Francois’ lives. Since then, …