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The poet seeks refuge from the pouring rain under the eaves of St George's Cathedral in Cape Town.
There he meet a homeless Coloured couple who are also sheltering from the rain. They are looking after
a baby. Instead of begging money from the poet as he expects them to do, they wish the rain would stop
so that he will go away and leave them alone.
ABOUT THE POET
Tatamkhulu Afrika was born in Egypt in 1920 and was given the name Mogamed Fuad Nasif. His parents
moved to South Africa when he was two years old but, when they both died of Asian flu, he was fostered
by family friends who changed his name to John Charlton.
Still in his late teens, he fought in North Africa during World War 2 and was captured at Tobruk. After the
war, he decided to leave his foster family and moved to South-West Africa (now Namibia) where he was
taken in by an Afrikaans family. He became known as Jozua Joubert.
He converted to Islam in 1964 and so once again his name changed - this time to Ismail Joubert. He
had himself declared to be Coloured rather than White and took up residence in District 6, a well-known
mixed race suburb near Cape Town's city centre.
In 1967 District 6 was declared to be a White area in terms of South Africa's "Group Areas Act" of 1950.
Ismael Joubert took up a fight to save it. He failed. The suburb was largely flattened and became a
wasteland for several decades.
He now took his battle against the apartheid regime itself, joining the banned African National Congress
and its armed wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe. Because of his age, they gave him the nickname
Tatamkhulu Afrika (Grandfather Africa).
In 1987 he was arrested for terrorism and was imprisoned. He was forbidden to write but continued to
do so under the name Tatamkhulu Afrika. He was released from prison in 1992 but he chose
thereafter to make his nickname his own.
Tatamkhulu Afrika published his first novel (Broken Earth) when he was only 17 years of age. His
second book (Bitter Eden) was written when he was a prisoner-of-war. He published his first
anthology of poetry when he was 51.
Since then he has won no less that six literary awards. He died in 2002 after being run over in a
car accident. He was then 82 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Comment on the STYLE of this poem. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet focuses on the story and the emotion contained in this poem, choosing to ignore such things as
rhythm and rhyme. Indeed, it's a good example of FREE VERSE, a form of poetry that does not use
consistent rhythm, rhyme, or any other lyrical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
This therefore makes it easier to read and understand.
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"I wheel my bike under
the cathedral's dark overhang.
Seized by a rictus of the wind,
the trees shed rain.
Rain slides down
Wale Street's sleek, steep fall."
- In what city is this poem set? How do you know? (4)
[Need help?]
The poem is set in Cape Town. The entire scene take place outside St George's Cathedral in Wale
Street.
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- Explain what the poet means when he says that the trees were seized by "a rictus of the
wind". (4)
[Need help?]
A "rictus" usually means "open-mouthed" or "a gaping grimace". In this case, it is the wind which is "open
mouthed". In other words, the wind is so very strong that it appears to be blowing with an "open mouth".
On the other hand, everyone is probably grimacing in the face of this wind.
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- What is "Wale Street's sleek, steep fall"? (4)
[Need help?]
Wale Street in Cape Town descends a steep hill before levelling off as it runs past the cathedral. It
therefore has a "steep fall". On the other hand, its tar is shiny and wet ("sleek") in the pouring rain.
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"air is an ocean booming round
high bare walls."
- Explain the meaning of these two lines. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet could be saying that the air is wet with rain, or that there is so much rain that it would seem that
the entire ocean is falling (remembering that Cape Town is next to the cold Atlantic Ocean). It could also
refer to the noise of the gale-force wind and rain, booming round the tall buildings.
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"My hands freeze on
the bike's crossbar,
seek the sodden saddle, toy
with the ice-cold bell:
I am suddenly fugitive,
homeless and cornered in
a caprice of pressure and cloud."
- What time of year is this? How do you know? (4)
[Need help?]
It is mid-winter. Not only does the poet refer twice in these few lines to the cold ("My hands freeze on the
crossbar" and "the ice-cold bell") but it is also pouring with rain. Although it does sometimes rain in Cape
Town in the summer, the region is known for its intense, cold winter rains.
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- Why does the poet refer to himself as a "fugitive, homeless"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is indeed temporarily a fugitive, fleeing from the rain, taking refuge in the protection of part of
the cathedral building. His homelessness, on the other hand, gives him the opportunity to introduce his
theme: homelessness. He is about to meet two Coloured people who are homeless and also seeking
shelter from the rain.
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- The poet says that he is cornered, "a caprice of pressure and cloud". What does he mean by
this? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is referring to the atmospheric conditions which produce wind, cloud and rain: high pressure and
low pressure systems. It is a "caprice" of the weather: the weather is playing around with him, forcing him
to take refuge at the cathedral and therefore forcing him to meet the two homeless Coloured folk.
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- Comment on the poet's use of the word "toy" in "toy with the ice-cold bell". (4)
[Need help?]
When one's toys with something, it means that it has no real significance. There is therefore no
significance to his toying with the bicycle bell. On the other hand, what is about to happen will have real
significance. His meeting with the Coloured folk will be truly meaningful and not just a passing insignificant
incident.
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