Friday, July 2, 2010

Tangerine Tootsies


                 Samantha Nicol

TANGERINE TOOTSIES

Simplicity itself; some paper and some drops.
But now imagination starts and the purely factual stops!
By accident or by design? By some neat manipulation?
Or just a clever artist summing-up a situation?
Did an eye-dropper do the deed, particle by particle?
How have we come by perfection in this, the finished article?
Maybe there was never moisture and we are being fooled
By an artist who in 'trompe l'oeil' is very surely schooled!
'Trompe l'oeil' just means 'trick the eye'; are these 'tootsies' an example?
Pere Borell del Caso gave this very clever sample....

The boy appears to leave the frame and yet the paint is flat
And, for a moment, we're not sure what we are looking at.
Many see some paper money lying on the ground
Yet, when they stoop to pick it up paint is all they've found.
By whatever means it's come to us, this tangerine delight
Is very pleasing to the eye!
Someone got things right!
*
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


OLGA.


When I knew her,
In South Africa,
Over thirty years ago,
She was a non-person,
A 'coloured'.
*
Her name was Olga.
And she was my 'char'.
But, first and foremost,
She was a Mother.
*
Still in her twenties,
She had several children,
And she lived in a shack
In 'the Coloured Area.'
*
I was guilty of thinking
That this was normal!
*
When she came to 'do' for me,
She brought Wendy with her.
Wendy was her latest child,
But not, I'm sure,
Her last.
*
My two young children loved Wendy.
She was so pretty, so placid,
So pleasant to cuddle.
*
In the end
The 'wrongness' of South Africa
Impressed itself upon us.
We prepared to leave.
*
On the last day Olga came to me.
'Please take Wendy with you, Madam.'
*
I couldn't believe my ears!
I knew she adored her baby.
I remonstrated with her.
'You couldn't give Wendy away, Olga!'
I explained to her.
'It wouldn't be allowed, Olga!'
*
She cried then.
*
'But her life in Australia
Would be so much better.'
*
Her unselfishness impressed me mightily.
I have thought of it, often.
*
Wendy!
Are you a smart young thirty-something
Working in Capetown
At a high-powered job?
Have you a computer?
Is there the slightest chance
That you may ever read this?
*
If you do,
You will read of a wonderful Mother.
*
And she is yours.
*

1 comment:

Annie Jeffries said...

Oh Brenda how I hope that little ripple you have sent across the web will find its way across the sea to Wendy. Our world is so small now. It surely is possible.