March 21 was World Poetry Day and to encourage those who have poetic talent, the IOS invited people to enter our poetry competition.
The winner, Thirusha Naidu, whose poem is printed below, will receive a canvas print of her poem, courtesy of Rudra Productions.
We thank everyone who submitted their poetry for this competition, and congratulate our winner.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTIVISM
When you're not black or white
You may be brown, mestiza
Mixed race or mixed blood.
Mulatto, coloured or Mètis.
Indian is my favourite,
Because most times that's a lie.
Some of these you can take as your own.
Don't get too attached.
These are names that can drag you
Through the mud by your good hair,
When some yellow-hair-suited sycophant
Tells you which one is the current ticket.
No questions. No exchanges. No returns
Scalp it at another show at your peril
If you find yourself in places
Where your ancestors walked
You'll want to add "native" to your name.
Who needs to know you belong?
And why?
Your grandmother was Negro, Indian or Coloured.
Sometimes all three. Always nothing.
Your mother was Black, Asian or Native.
Free to choose
Anything but White.
You might want to calculate your percentage
Of the now popular "Indigenous"
With a capital I
Whatever gets you ahead
in the Race
Stop to ask and you'll lose your place.
Who needs to know where you came from?
And why?
Be careful where you go
Travel is dangerous for brown girls
A Southern gentleman once asked me,
Do think of yourself as Black or white?
Black! I learned that at Apartheid school.
Well I think of you as white.
Another test, set by a white man,
I failed.
In Australia I played mind games
With a psychiatrist.
What are you?, she prodded.
I'm a psychologist
Yes, but what are you?
I'm South African.
Where do you come from originally?
South Africa?
Before that?
Heaven?
She gave up.
I didn't win.
The Independent on Saturday