By Ockert Greeff

Featured Art by Karen Renee

He will come to live with you
Make him feel welcome 
My mother says 
Her eyes turning away from mine 
Before I can search for the meaning 

I imagine I might have a small, empty room off to the side 
With a reddish glim 
That might bother him at night 
When he takes off his thick, black-rimmed glasses 
And his eyelids become soft and white 
Butterflies in his leathery face 

I would have to get a night-side table for his glasses 
And his teeth 
And his cowboy book 
So that he feels welcome when he comes to live with me 

I think that old single bed will be fine 
Now that he is alone 
He wouldn’t want more anyway 
But I will get new sheets 
For his old, pale body and his tanned forearms 
And maybe a soft, new pillow for his sunken cheeks 

I will ask my sister for that old painting 
With the open plains and hazy blue mountains 
So far, far in the distance  
The one she took when he died 

So that he has something to look at 
And so that he feels welcome  

When he comes to live with me, in me 
In a small room off to the side of my heart 
So very far from the plains where he grew up.

---

Ockert Greeff is a South African Canadian poet and drummer inspired by the ancient traditions of drumming and storytelling. Born in Namibia and raised in a small town in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa, he earned his BA Hons. in Afrikaans Literature before settling in Johannesburg, where he was co-founder of the Afrikaans cult band Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes. In Montreal, Canada, he has recorded with underground bands such as Light Bulb Alley, Sawtooth, and Death Drive. His poems and poetry-drumming works have appeared in publications such as Ons Klyntji, South Florida Poetry Journal, and Thimble Literary Magazine, and was honored by Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards. His drum poem films have also been shown at various international film festivals.