lemmingpoetry
A selection of poetry rooted in domestic humor, Cape Town and South Africa
Sunday, April 06, 2025
Saturday, February 22, 2025
To Will and Cait
The Indigo Children
To Will and Cait
Wordcount 1595 words
By Ross Ian Fleming
Once upon a time there was a busy little sperm called Bluey and
the very first thing he ever felt was a deep happiness that moved him from Marvin
into Mary and all that his tiny heart knew was that he must now swim and so he
swam and he swam and he couldn't stop swimming and he didn't look behind him he
didn't look before him he just wiggled his wiggle and looked to the future he
didn't know where the future was located but my goodness he knew forward was
the way to go there were no words there was only the soft pink shadow that
changed colour as he got nearer and he was so excited that he was winning the
race and kerboom he landed with a lovely sound on the outer surface of Pinky
and then he dived down towards the heartbeat of this lovely soul and he found
her inner child lying sleeping there at the bottom of the pool and so he
tenderly, gently lifted her up and in that beautiful moment the heart of Bluey
fused with the soul of Pinky and a kind voice from The Above said I christen
you Mauve it’s your true and proper name and Mauve remembered this throughout
the rest of the time he spent inside as he transitioned through old wrinkled
monkey to aqua-aerobic dolphin and basic beginners then finally fully fledged
flying flamingo and after this full to bursting set of interesting episodes he
became the centrepiece for Mary's stork party where by mistake her waters broke
when she laughed at Marvin's joke about getting a brain transplant and Marvin
had to rush the pair of them one inside the other to the maternity ward but she
was only three centimetres dilated and so Marvin brought Mary home and she
relaxed in the bath with a glass of rose but Margery came storming into the
bathroom and started using words like dangerous and dry-birth and
oxygen-deficiency and brain-damage and foetal alcohol syndrome and all these
words meant nothing to Mauve he just quietly waited for someone to tell him when
to come out but nobody really noticed that he was waiting and they all
continued arguing regardless and then next thing he knew someone was shouting
Push and then he did a cartwheel and saw the light at the end of the tunnel and
floated down to the bottom and all he knew was an urge towards the light and
then there came the sudden shock as his warm unused lungs experienced cold
oxygen and nitrogen and carbon dioxide otherwise known as air and he coughed to
clear his throat and shouted Hi I'm Mauve
it’s my true and proper name pleased to meet ya but nobody realised what
he was shouting about and so they slapped him around a bit to bring him to his
senses and then he slept on Mary's boob her milk hadn't come in yet but it was
a happy place with her heart beating close to his and he started to settle down
and his breathing slowly steadily gentled into a rhythm and his heart calmed
and he was glad that that little experience was over and right there and then
he resolved to tell the whole story to his best friend at his first birthday
party he couldn't wait but then sadly he forgot and the story stayed untold
until today.
It was late in the day and Merve was a long way from home.
He had missed the bus back to Goodwood from Cape Town. The kids shouting Merve,
Merve the Mongol Perve had distracted him and he had lost his ticket and so he
had realised that he would have to walk home. He was now in Kenilworth trudging
along 2nd Avenue when he heard the words Help Me glug glug come over the wall.
Being in grade 6 he realised that sometimes one must act to save a life and so
he sprung onto the pedestal where the cat statue still to this day stands guard
over the corner of Smith Street and 2nd Avenue and he looked over the wall. He
spotted a little stream of bubbles in the water of a kidney shaped swimming
pool now I don't know what shape swimming pools are in your country but in this
land where Merve lived they were kidney shaped. God is a mysterious being with a
deeply ironic sense of humour and in the country where you are living he may
make swimming pools of every shape and size and colour but down here in Cape
Town every pool is kidney shaped and coloured deep midnight blue. All will be
revealed when you visit us here but just trust me. Kidney shaped pools, deep
blue, are the way to go.
So Merve jumped the wall and dived into the water and took a
quick breath and swam down to the bottom of the pool where he found a little
toddler dressed in a pink tracksuit saying Penny FartingH and the Purple People
- her seamstress mom was slightly dyslexic-- resting on the floor of the pool
so as gently as he could he took her in his arms and swam her to the surface
and got her into the recovery position on the poolside and softly got the water
out of her lungs and then he just as calmly checked her breathing and pulse and
was very, very happy that she was alive. Just then a huge St. Bernard called
Mad Marmaduke came round the corner and padded towards him and licked his hand.
Normally Mad Marmaduke would savage the ankle of anyone who came onto the
property and bark in his deep masculine voice and scare the living daylights
out of them but today he held his peace and welcomed Merve into the family with
lickies and love.
If you have ever wondered how Japanese pearl divers manage
to hold their breath under the water for long periods of time, you are not
alone. In fact, never dive alone
is the refrain of one lullaby that has been used by the Ama mothers for over 3000
years. Or certainly for as long as Maruna’s grandmother had been around.
Maruna had been told from a very young age that she would,
in her 21st year, discover a hugely valuable pearl in an unlikely place and
bring great beauty into the world. Well so much for the prophets of the city.
This is just what you might expect from a bunch of old fogeys who spend their
days resting on their recliners instead of partying hard, was her humble opinion. Maruna was intent on living
life to the full and drinking deeply of the draught and having a total blast.
Prophecy schmoffecy was her angle.
Mauve had spent three years making moolah in Hollywood after
Penny's rich but slightly dyslexic mom
had paid for him to go and learn. You saved my daughter’s life. Go. Have a
ball.
High functioning Down Syndrome kids had prime position on
the requirements lists for actors there. He was bright. He had a future. This
trip to Tokyo was his reward to himself
at the end of a frantically busy year. He looked over Tokyo Bay and along the
side of the fishing boat he was privileged enough to be able to charter. As he
looked across at the stunning view of the bay he saw a similar charter boat at
rest next to a jetty and as he glanced across he saw a young girl about to be
mugged. As he watched her, two men knocked her over the head and took her cell
phone and flashing pink peak cap and quite unceremoniously pushed her over the
side and into the waters.
Without thinking Mauve threw his wallet and cell phone to
Miko, his helmsman and dived into the beautiful warm water. The boat wasn't
going terribly fast, and he was quick to reach the spot where the girl went
under. He gulped air then dived downwards. He felt around in the darkness and
found her slender wrist and gently pulled her close to him then brought her to
the surface. His chartered vessel had circled back and Miko pulled them both
onto the deck. Merve put her into the recovery position and gently coaxed the
water out of her lungs until she opened her tired eyes and met the midnightblue
gaze of Merve anxiously watching her.
The joy just bubbled out of him and he remembered ‘I'm Mauve.
It’s my true and proper name pleased to meet ya’ were his first words to her.
‘Hi Mauve, my name is Maruna, and it’s really cool to meet you,
too.’ Mauve realised that Maruna was the
friend he had meant to discuss everything with at his first birthday party. He
now remembered everything. ‘There is so much I need to tell you,’ said Mauve, and
Maruna totally, totally understood and they began to chat the day away. Miko, who
was sensitive to colour, watched this
little performance and realised there was a gentle indigo, purple, pink, blue, mauve,
maroon circular bubble that was growing around
the boat and the surrounding sea and that the two kids were the centre of this slowly
expanding circle. They had always listened to the same music from the very
beginning. It was meant to be. The first
thing Mauve taught Maruna was how to
swim. My Goodness I never realised it was so easy she laughed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_children
Wednesday, May 05, 2021
My short stories
More good news - won the June 2024 my writing journey competition.
Last year I came 2nd in the world for the SA Writers College short story competition!
Read the story here .
The judges wrote some beautiful comments. To be heard is akin to being loved.
It is good to celebrate together.
Here is my September 2011 winning entry for my writing journey
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Garden Angel
A connoisseur of the formally informal handshake,
Usually I gloss, grip and release,
Quick eyecatch, then it’s business as usual.
Chronic avoider of the most distracted kind,
Often missing names first-off,
I normally duck and dive,
But the day I meet you,
Something shifting and warm
Under your twinkle moves,
A quiet laughter, gentle, amused,
And I understand gay,
Though I'm as straight as Nelson's column,
And I laugh too,
Just for the sheer joy of the morning,
And as the twins respectfully watch the upended lawnmower being coaxed
back to health,
We all find a graceful ease from your mystical, faraway Lake Malawi
Overcome the household,
Birdsong somehow more audible,
The light, different?
Even the lady of the house
Has a kind word to say
about your way with weeds
And, cynic that I am,
I find myself humming,
thoughtfully, almost consciously
'And did those feet, in ancient times...'
Digging
Who ever engaged, held, or released me
(Go on!)
In 40 years of intelligent adulthood
(Theatrically lights ciggy, ignoring looks)
The winner is an Irishwoman
Who engaged me with
(Blows smoke ring)
excitement, intrigue, interest
(Exhales ecstatically into space),
So I choose to replay a broadcast
Of my teenage experience
Of a lazy lilting lass
(Stubs it out and eyes reader thoughtfully)
On the edge of losing it forever,
As her deeper delving
Delivered me from my dull lonepain,
Picking me up on an
Unstoppable wave of ideas and associations as
(Faraway look)
Her canny Celtic clevers carried me into
A universe of undulating understandings,
(Naughty blue-eyed smile)
This gift that would govern every poem or person
I would ever truly enjoy -
That longago catchup conversation with my Mother.
Monday, July 08, 2013
A spider converses with God
You the sun light up
you my eyes and warm
you my body and move
you my legs across
you my web towards
you little gnat and I bite
you delicious neck until
you the food go still and I spin
you the thread over and around
you the prey and I deposit
you beloved egg and
you another egg and
you more eggs and I sit still,
No selfishness, doubt or anxiety
just the certainty of you,
you
you.
When the heel, spray, child's stick comes
the you stops,
and becomes, finally,
finally,
finally,
Us.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
The Child
The Child
There is a child
sitting in your lap
Right now.
Look down for a second
And she or he will
Meet your eyes.
You don't need to
Have given birth
Or suckled
Or even parented.
You don't need to
Be clever or special
In fact having a streak
Of ordinariness
Can help
In the recognition
Of the acceptable nature
Of the need to
Daydream and find
A house in your lap
Where the two
Of you can get to
Know one another
And be comfortable
And make tea not war
And play tiddly winks
And dream of
A fine day here
In the light of
This blue Planet.