Madiba and Other Poems

By Godfrey L. Brandt

This anthology of poetry is first and foremost a tribute to Madiba - Nelson
Mandela, the inspiration for the volume and the subject of the title poem.
Th e collection features poems written at various points in Brandts career as
a writer, cultural analyst and academic. Marie Village Beauty goes back a
long way to his childhood and is a first experiment with Guyanese Creole.
Notably, there is also a tribute to Stephen Lawrence, a young black Briton
who sadly lost his life in terrible circumstances and has been mourned by
the nation ever since.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jul 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496982995

Godfrey L. Brandt

Brandt is a writer of prose, poetry and drama. Th is is his fi rst published anthology, though individual poems have been published in the past. He is an arts management consultant interested in exploring human relationships and the socio-cultural dynamics of contemporary society. Having trained as an actor/director and teacher of Drama, language and speech at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Brandt’s credits include a number of plays, including Fugard’s ‘Blood Knot’ in which he played Zach. Other credits include being a former lecturer and programme director at Birkbeck University of London (Arts Policy and Management; Head of Education at the Arts Council and Deputy Director General at the Commonwealth Institute; theatre director. His written work includes poetry, drama and prose including academic papers and books. Brandt is the founding director of Couvade (Consultancy and Artistic Productions), and consultant development manager for Voice FM Radio in Southampton. UK.

Book preview

1. MADIBA

I never met you but

I knew your struggle

Your politics of fighting oppression

fighting repression

fighting incarceration and more

fighting for the right to your own name

I never met you but

I knew your brain

A mind for hope a mind for change

A mind with a vision

of a new tomorrow

A mind for progress

for the good of your people

for the good of South Africa

for the good of the watching world

not personal gain

I never met you but I knew your hurt

The intensity. of feeling

Shared by me and many others that you would never meet

in far flung places around the globe

Feelings of pain and want and

longing for recognition, one’s own identity ;respect

A Feeling that tomorrow would have to be better than today or yesterday

for you

for me

for everyone

and especially for your people suffering the ignominy of separation,

the ‘inferior’ separateness, of

pass laws, brutal labour; poor or no housing and above all the restrictive personal laws

restricting access, movement, life and love

immoral acts of the immorality act

Madiba,

I’m sorry I never met you but I knew your heart

Your intense feelings of the need to fight injustice

Feelings for your family,

your friends

your foes

And this is your magic, your feelings were inclusive

You knew how to just love your fellow human being

because you seemed to know

Amor vincit omnia

Love indeed conquers everything

Madiba

I never met you but I visited your old home

Like millions of tourists and visitors

pilgrims and fans

I walked on the floor that you and Winnie walked

and saw your bed and reading table and chair.

And I saw bullet holes and evidence of fire that sought to purge the city

of your love and peace but most of all of your power—most of all your power

the power of a committed heart

the power of a brilliant mind,

the power of a dedicated spirit

the power of a resolute will

the tide that would not be stemmed by lashes or bullets or imprisonment;

a will that would not bend under the pressure of unequal negotiations

would not exchange your cell for the renewed chains of oppression in ‘open’ un-open society

I had a glimpse of your dream as I watched through bars, from inside your old home, a wedding parade going past ;

Black bride in a white dress and black groom in a black suit with a chief bridesmaid walking unapologetically alongside the celebrating couple

She, adorned in her ‘normal’ whiteness’ which neither privileged nor hindered her from participating in the joyous dance of celebration down Mandela’s old street

Whiteness no barrier to friendship or