Turning off the lights

Celebrating Earth Hour here. I guess the phrase "We should do this more often" applies :)

On spring and poetry

I've come across a wonderful book by Zubeida Jaffer, a South-African journalist and activist. Our generation speaks of the struggle against the apartheid, from the perspective of a young mother (the author herself). The Preface of the book is an astounding poem by another illustrious South-African, Njabulo Ndebele. It's a simple yet, as it often happens, impressive piece of work which reminded me why I should start reading (and perhaps teaching) poetry again. Before I post the poem, I'd like to mention Poetry Archive, a great reservoir of poems destined (obviously not exclusively) to educators and students. Still on the topic, I strongly support and recommend this Creative Writing course. It's the same one I took as a student, and I can safely say it's a rewarding learning experience.

And here's Be gentle, by Njabulo Ndebele, taken from this blog:

Be gentle on my mind
please do be gentle,
soft;
do not crowd my mind
with studied images of my past;
let me feel it first:
do not display my carved rituals
at the British Museum,
for little do they say;
let me feel them first.

It is the fairy tale in me,
the story book
that is the pure tale of my being.
Do go gentle on my mind,
softly please,
soft.

I'm going back to my book now, enjoy spring and the rest of the weekend :)