Sticky images tornado
like oceans. Ebbing
rivers flow and crash
on the wastelands of my mind.
Makers make, and
creators create.
As the sparks of revelation,
light and cascade, and
cast shadows on my innermost surface.
“They are mine you see, they litter the landscape
they cluster and clutter” I hear the manic whispers of
figments and phantasms.
“I keep them safe here,
like pearl to oyster,
I keep them near here,
like nuns to cloister,
I keep them dear here;
untouched,
undisturbed,
safely
unrealized.”
An old man materializes.
“My name is the idea keeper,
how do you do?
Look!
Do you see how they sparkle and shine,
collected and boxed one through nine?
Look!
I mouth off to the sky,
as pretty things impale my eye,
as I flit and fleet,
spit and sheen
and rub forgotten
present moments.
Look!
I mouth off to the sky,
as every man’s mind awakens.
and every muse’s touch straightens.
I know,
keepers keep
store and steep
stack and shine
For the do-er that stands,
next in line.”
Deon C Visser
Deon C Visser is a South African writer that writes about; political issues (what it means to be a White African), childhood, and queer trauma. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Creative Writing at Rhodes University, South Africa.
He has been published in literary journals in North America and Asia (5thwall Press and Insignia Lit, 2018). In 2018 he started work on an epic Afrikaans children’s fantasy series called ‘The Klippenkraal Kronieke’ which he hopes will spark curiosity for South African cultural and mystical contexts.
This entry appeared in The Memory Issue
Photo by Jeremy Bishop from Pexels