Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I woke up

I woke up

There was no way I couldn’t

I woke up on the floor

My heart had almost stopped

I looked up

My face was wet

Tears have no colour

I got …

No I dragged myself up

My face

My face had heated up

My nose was leaking

The floor…

I was down again

I looked up the world

My world was a blur

My eyes had clouds

I stayed down a minute longer

I stumbled up

I could hear shouting

Down again

This time my chest had fire

Breath floating into the air

Picked up

Yanked up…

I attempt to stand tall

Against the wall

My back touches the wall

My head kisses the paint

I am floating away

Consciousness flying past me

I land butt first

I wait

A minute passes

I get up

Behind me

No back of my head

Wine bottle

My head embraces the glass

The bathroom

Door locked

Cold floor

Shower

Tears are not red

I see red

The mirror

Swells

Bruised

Emotional swells

Blood

Mouth cut open

Banging on door

Begging

Sobbing

Apology

Bruised beyond recognition

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Date to Date on a certain date.


It’s a cold Johannesburg night and I am out with a few friends, For once I am surprised because I am not bored (not the people – the nonstop soccer mania that continues to torture me day in and day out). I wasn’t bored because after a two day mission we had finally found ‘hot Ghanians to hang out with. I know we are so bad). I refuse to mention whose company I was in as that would be incriminating evidence.

Now as beautiful as these Ghanian friends were we all knew that it was a passing phase, because they were here for the World Cup and well, we have or rather had, because they were our fix, been hungry for eye candy for a while, some of us having spent a total of two years not having uttered one word to a hot guy ( we have spoken to guys, just not the hot ones). As I sat there wiping drool off my heavily made up face to hide my desperation an annoying screeching missile dropped, or rather knocked my skull to the ground. What was this missile and where did it appear from? Well, I like to look at it this way; when you meet new people, there are points where the conversation runs dry and then you have to improvise, although a clever improvisation – it somewhat compromised my chances with a dark chocolate man ( chances being near impossible as these people are just here for the WC). Some moron mentions how Wayne Rooney has a receding hairline ( at this point I cringe, because according to my friends my ex crush has a receding hairline) I was hoping no one would grab that delicious opportunity to put me out there, but alas – I became the evenings first target. My Friend swiftly turned around and said: “hey Chumi, where’s your crush with the receding hairline?” This is the point, where everyone turned around and glared at me. The No1 hot Ghanian chocolate god asked me: “So, who is this guy with the receding hairline?” All I could say in my defense is: “Noooo, he just has a big forehead.” I get laughed at all the time, but the laughter from that night stung a bit more.

As the night progressed we proceeded to discuss relationships and why three beautiful women under the age of thirty were still single? Our answer was a united: “There are no good men in Johannesburg and the ones that are close are gay or in the closet.” Obviously, with each of us having and equally horrid, but unique story to tell. These gentlemen were in shock and awe at some of the behavior that we described to them. While sitting there I began to realize that a new trend was on the rise. The men are starting to behave like the women, for the longest time we been saying that chivalry is dead and we gonna find that bitch that killed him, but not only is he dead, he has also been buried forgotten and his grave stolen by some weirdo in some weird place in Polokwane.

I remember wearing the pants a few times, working, changing the lights, carrying up the groceries, fixing broken doors, fetching drunk people – hell if ,we had a garden I would have done that too. My question is when did the roles become blurred? I am as liberal as Aretha Franklin’s hat, but I was still raised to believe that men and women have roles. Ok ,but also in the guys defense, you may say blah blah feminism and we wanted to be equal… ok given neh, but we are sooooooo not equal right now, the guys are taking advantage and all they do is … what do guys do these days? The simple act of men approaching woman has also drastically changed, I swear it’s the guys that flutter the eyes and the girls have to walk over and buy them a drink. Next thing you know women will be buying boys cars and paying the rent…. Wait… oh, that is already happening.

I am confused here, what is it with this new wave of Himbos (male bimbos)? Don’t get me wrong there are good guys out there, lovely young men and like I said they may be gay, in the closet or married.

We also spoke about the good guys, like how I grew up with my dad being the ultimate hero and I refuse to accept a second rate man, but at some point in my growth and confusion I had accepted a himbo man. As we spoke about these bad men I recollected an incident where I was in a car accident, not too far from where ‘the love of my life’ was, after about 5 missed calls, he answered: “What do you want?” “Baby, I just had a car accident” “Ok, I will see you at home later then” *blank stare.* Wow the dude was down the road… if it was the men I was raised around they would have been there in the shake of an elephants tail, needless to say I did not see him for at least a week after that call. Now this was just one example of many stories and not just based on my life, a lot of women have met up with these (iam not sure what to call them anymore).

Obviously my point here can be argued and I know that this point is flying around everywhere, but the real reason I wrote this was to answer this question: Why are there so many single women in their 20’s in JHB? The answer is simple, there are not enough real men for the real woman that are out there. Chivalry died… Gender seems to be following. Will we ever date again?

Monday, June 21, 2010

I sent a word out

I sent a word out

I spelt that word out

It returned but not it

There was a new word that returned

The new word answered my first word

The second word was your word

I kept sending these meaningless words

And every word I received meant life to me

Every time I touched the pen my heart raced

I sent more words

1 word

2 words

3 words

Then you sent me your word

In one line

A series of words

That series that meant a world of word s

Brought love

Life

It became home

I love your words

Love is your word

Word is love.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The bruise movement

So, I have not written to you guys in a while, well I have been busy, just get over it. A lot has been running through my mind lately and I thought that today would be the best day to get a few things off my supple chest.

Last week, I realized to my udeniable joy that I had been in fact single for a year, well kinda (there were a few non work outers in the months building this year). This of course (after popping a bottle of Moet) brought on thoughts of the last ‘real’ relationship I was in, the one that nearly drove me to Tara. In my thoughts I remembered all the good times, many of the bad and of course I discovered the unique madness that was not just him, but was me too. I took a moment to try and figure out where I had gone wrong, as perfect as I am I can be fucking annoying at the worst of times. Now this thinking catapulted me into a state of analysis. Of course I must explain myself, when I say analysis I mean I have been judging my friends relationships and throwing my Oprah opinions at them *tears have been shed at these sessions*.

So, in my judgments I came out with this - the age old women let men shit on them waya waya, type of thing – don’t get me wrong this is not all women, just the ones around me and by women I also mean the gay friends that end up with asshole that mistreats them because they are sweet (stop nodding **Tiesetso** we are not talking about you yet). At some point when I was on one of my trips I met a lady who was engaged to a nice young man who from a distance should be the perfect man. Whilst in conversation with *Kholeka * she told me the ups and downs and the unreasonable things that she has to deal with in her relationship and mind you in the EC this seems to be a norm to have many girlfriends, they even have tag names for the girls in order of rank. Really?? Yes they are as follows 560 is the top chick, 220 follows her and so on and so on. We might defend this by saying the President does it, but this crap has been going on down there since I could understand what Bold and the beautiful was about. She went on to tell me how she has to deal with his moods, him kicking her out when he wants and taking her back when he wants and throwing things at her. This can’t be right I thought. She seemed to hang on the fact that at least he does not hit her. I sat and wondered when we will realize that abuse is not just a fist to your face or a kick on the chest, it is way more than that. I myself have said some horribly abusive things to people when I am angry – it does not make it ok… (see there’s that Oprah bitch coming out again).

The things she said got me upset, but I remembered from my experiences that no matter how much I get angry or discourage her , she won’t leave him because she thinks that he will change. Which, brings me to another friends who wasted 7 years of her life with a coke addict, gave him a baby and realized just last week, that he would never change, everything was just a trick to get to the next fix. I spent years protesting on her behalf getting angry packing peoples clothes, shouting at people, picking up people etc – totally nothing compared to the fighting for him that she did… needless to say she stopped talking to me for three of those years, because I was the bad guy… I never realized how much she needed me even though she fought me until, I fought my own family only to be left bruised and homeless.

Our three situations made me wonder how many women who actually seem ok and happy are with men that just drag them through the mud. I mean we have been taught that whatever happens in your relationship is just between you and him. What if behind those closed doors he is killing you?

So, when I was dancing with my Champaign, busy reminiscing… I asked myself is it possible that he may have changed?… Big mistake by asking that I must have sent some squiggly Morse freaking code to the universe, he called to see how I was. The conversation didn’t last, then I called then he called, then I realized I was hoping for change, I was walking straight into the lions den. I stopped myself before I could get bruised again, before a simple conversation on the phone became an addiction, before my bank card was funding some other life, before I found myself, bruised and homeless once again… I stopped. The allure of the sweet drug (his scent) had grabbed me intensely for a moment, I faltered failed and fell, I cooed at the possibility of our existence side by side again, but I forgot that I was imagining him. What I had at that time was a figment of what I hoped him to be since I believed he could change or rather wanted to believe so badly. And there it was, I had found it, I had found where and why all these women and I get it so wrong. These men don’t know any better, because we have not taught them better, we allowed them to act that way because we thought they would change. I would be damned before I change who I am for anyone. So, why would I expect him to change what he is what he knows? It’s even worse when they think what they do is right. So, my conclusion: “Cut your losses” I kept repeating in my head, this is a celebration right, a new beginning. Almost like moving into a new bigger house, it’s different, but it’s much better than the old torn up one.

**Names have been changed to protect my ass more than anyone else’s**