DON BEUKES - POEMS

Don Beukes is a South African and British writer. He is the author of  'The Salamander Chronicles' (CTU) and 'Icarus Rising-Volume 1’ (ABP), an ekphrastic collection. He taught English and Geography in both South Africa and the UK. His poetry has been anthologized in numerous collections and translated into Persian, French and Albanian. He was nominated by Roxana Nastase, editor of Scarlet Leaf Review for the 'Best of the Net' in 2017 as well as the Pushcart Poetry Prize in 2016. He was published in his first SA Anthology ‘In Pursuit of Poetic Perfection’ in 2018 (Libbo Publishers)

​You Me Us 

​You – You cannot deny the fact that it was you 

who turned your gaze towards my expectant 

cadaver eyes hoping for an excited reactory 

glance before introducing yourself during our 

very first dance – Yes it was you unwrapping 

my decaying captured heart to beat once again 

for a chance at eternal happiness after a lifetime 

in my self-inflicted sarcophagus hollow loveless abyss. 

It has always been only you for me, how you completed 

me revived me breathed new life into me, so if I seem 

agitated even emotionally intoxicated it is because of you! 

How dare you treat me this way? Turning your dulled gaze 

away from my healing halo telling me to take it slow – 

“Shut up! Get out before I eternally end this for both our sakes!” 


Me – I agree, if it was not for you I would probably have withered 

into nothingness, so I confess – I love you no less than that bright 

eclipse moment you shone your radiating light on me. You gave me 

the spark of life after a lifetime of strife and disintegrating porous life 

but you now pierce me with shards of discontent and knife edge spiteful 

doomed fate of imprisoned fake love. “I hate you I love you I despise you 

I adore you... I curse you!” 


Us – I used to imagine the utopian idea of us but your image has turned 

into charred ash raining down onto the memory of us. 

You destroyed the potential of us the reality of us 

the mystery of us the allure of us the success of us 

the power of us the fire and ice of us – 

But we will never again be us... 

Love Canvass ​

​Blanc – White, the color of pure love for a mother a father a brother a sister a carer even a guardian – That inner feeling of radiating love from a place we still do not know the origin of but which we all share, well that is what we hope to believe as part of a human race quality and yet the reality is that some of us just do not have the capacity to love or offer love or be loved for reasons we might not like or know but as a global citizen each one of us come from love is inspired by love witness love imagine love want to be loved and attempt to love. 


Noir – Black, the color of twisted love forcing another to submit his or her essence to unknown expectations outbursts insecurity unrealistic hopes and fears, imprisoning a heart willing to give love share love and develop love unconditionally yet ending up having to offer only dagger smiles and cadaver stares whilst decomposing from within and morphing into a living statue to be stared at chipped away and altered whilst simultaneously presented for public viewing now and then, dressed up propped up polished and told to shut up smile and pretend... 


Jaune – Yellow, the color of love for a dear friend like a sunrise even a sunset warming your heart and soul without knowing how or why but certainly sure of the fact that when that person enters your essence and personal halo their hello could be all that is needed to calm you uplift you even save you from the darts of life – Such love is truly unique but when it is tainted by the jealousy of others the wrath of others the insecurity of others even scorned lovers, the separation is more damning than losing a loved one who you have known from birth almost like a part of your soul gets chipped away with only poignant memories remaining of a love so unique it never truly dies within the cavities of your memories. 


Rouge – Red, the color of love scorned withered punctured betrayed insulted and ultimately left to die in a writhing pool of deceit insincerity falsehood misunderstanding and emotional decay seeping out into the lake of unrequited love, there to dry up and evaporate into the indigo sky of nothingness with just echoes of lamenting sound waves haunting a galaxy yet to be discovered. 


Vert – Green, the love of nature daily witnessing the awe and wonder of flora and fauna healing our inner daily turmoil for some even therapeutic a kind of necessary magic soothing our inner demons keeping them at bay at the gates of our brittle psyche. 


Bleu – Blue, the color of love for the Divine, of creation or revelations of a spiritual kind, of signs of life in the hereafter, of a different soul sanctuary preached about since time began but in the end it will be a case of personal deep inner reflection and revelatory and sincere offered prayers by each and every one of us in our destined search for an existence beyond this earthly life no matter what nationality mentality or fatality... 

Invisible Nation ​

​You might somehow be aware that we actually exist 

or vaguely familiar of our rumoured urban myth yet 

you could not care any less as you embark on your daily 

expected cadaver march to earn what you call 'an honest 

living' as you bow down to your corporate earthly masters 

flashing dagger smiles to falsely impress even morally regress 

in the name of financial advancement, like baying wolves gnashing 

tearing others apart just to impress a supervisor a team leader 

in a daily macabre sickening survival immoral feast in order to 

feed your own hidden selfish insatiable beast – 


You walked past me once as I stretched out my shameful 

undernourished discoloured hand. I could hear your sharp 

dismissive intake of breath, your pursed lips so tight I could 

smell the drop of blood as you prayed for the traffic light 

to go green to allow my stench to seep out of your precious 

halo – Leaving me to shrink in the shadows of your elitist 

footsteps to remain invisible unspoken of dismissed silenced 

cut off, deleted hoping that my existence bleeds down into 

the sidewalk cracks, feeding the rats of disdain and provide 

bitter molasses for the dregs of society trapped deep inside 

the slimy halls of success as our hopeless screams rise up 

only to escape as hissing steam spitting choking volcanic 

smoke to further rise beyond this earthly existence where 

you cover up the soot and reminiscence of us with fake 

skin products to hide your nightmare down demon alley 

at night where we chase you around before letting you 

slip back into your cosy doomed rotten flaking lives – 


You blind yourself to our needs as you uncover the selfish 

deeds of your kind not really that kind but you are too weak 

to fight for the social justice we seek so our plight remain 

existential as you still choose to ignore the existence of 

an invisible nation suffering from your cleverly orchestrated 

annihilation...