Roberta Writes – d’Verse: Poetics: “I Have No Word in English For” Ubantu #poetry #Zuluculture

Dora gave the poetry challenge ” Use within your poem a familiar word(s) or phrase(s) from a language other than English, transliterated if using a non-Roman alphabet, which you feel expresses a distinctively peculiar thought or emotion.”

You can read other contributions here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/05/13/poetics-i-have-no-word-in-english-for/

I chose the word Ubantu.

Ubuntu is a term from the Nguni Bantu languages of Southern Africa, which encompasses a philosophy emphasizing the interconnectedness of individuals within their communities and the broader world. The word “Ubuntu” is often translated as “I am because we are” or “humanity towards others”.

Ubantu

I am because you are

communal existence is vital

to our collective survival

I am interconnected

to my surroundings

and to all humanity

By showing kindness to others

I make the world more welcoming

My environmental choices

ensure a better future for us all

and gives a voice to the voiceless

through proactivity in political and social matters

I help resolve injustices peacefully

Helping others is important to me

whether through donations or time

it all helps make my society better

Most importantly

by thinking before I act

I am a positive contributor to this planet

South Africa is a melting pot of interesting and vivid cultures.

This is my video of traditional Zulu dancing on New Year’s Eve:

My reading of a traditional Zulu story:

In this video you can hear the undulating call of the women:

Roberta Writes: d’verse prosery: Ada Limón #prose #ostriches

Merril asked poets to write a piece of prosery, no longer than 144 words, using a specified phrase from the poem “The Magnificent Frigatebird” by Ada Limón. I used the phrase as a heading for my piece. I wrote an initial piece and then I edited it down to achieve the 144-word requirement. I have included both pieces as the longer pieces includes a lot more details about one of my favourite birds, the ostrich. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/05/12/prosery-ada-limon/

“I have no skills for flight or wings
to skim the waves effortlessly, like the wind itself.”

This is the 144-word piece:

“Mama, why can’t we fly. We’re birds, aren’t we? All the other birds can fly.”

“Well, Little One, we are ostriches. We don’t need to fly. We have evolved to become flightless.”

“But Mama, I want to fly. I want to be the same as my friends. I don’t like being different.”

“You should be proud to be part of a species of bird that has adapted so well to its desert home. It’s more useful for us to have speed and endurance. We can sprint at over 70 kilometres an hour.

“And we do use our wings, we just don’t use them to fly.”

“I remember how you sheltered me and my siblings from the rain and the sun with your wings, Mama. Thank you for explaining. I feel much better now and I’m going to tell my friends how special I am.”

This is the longer and more detailed piece:

“Mama, why can’t we fly. We’re birds, aren’t we? All the other birds can fly, even my friend the kori bustard.”

“Well, Little One, we are ostriches. We no longer fly because we don’t need to. In the distant past we did fly but over time we have evolved to become flightless.”

“But Mama, I want to fly. I want to be the same as all my bird friends. They say I’m not a proper bird because I can’t fly and my wings are useless. It makes me sad.”

“Ostriches are proper birds, my son. You should be proud to be part of a species of bird that has adapted so well to its desert home. We don’t use our wings for flight because it was more advantageous for us to develop speed and endurance on the ground. You must remember that ostriches breed on the ground and we also take advantage of abundant ground-level food sources. Our main predators are hyenas and lions, so we need to be able to outrun them. And we can outrun them. We are the fastest runners of any bird or other two-legged creature in the world. Did you know that? We can sprint at over 70 kilometres an hour.

“And we do use our wings. We don’t use them to fly, that is true, but we use our wings for many useful purposes. Our wings reach a span of approximately 2 metres and we use them in mating displays, to protect our chicks, and to cover the skin of our upper legs and flanks to conserve heat when it’s cold. We also use our wings as rudders to help us change direction while running.”

Little One cuddles up to Mama. “I remember how you sheltered me and my siblings from the rain and the sun with your wings, Mama. You are right, your wings were very important to protect us. Thank you, Mama, for explaining. I feel much better now and I’m going to tell my friends how special I am.”

Picture caption: Mama ostrich with brown and white feathers
Picture caption: Papa ostrich with black and white feathers
Picture caption: Mana and Papa ostrich together

Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s Writing Challenge, Thursday Doors Writing Challenge and the Pilanesberg Volcanic Crater #poetry #photography

Esther Chilton’s writing challenge this week is special place. I know this wasn’t what she had in mind, but this is what came. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/05/07/writing-prompts-64/

Special Place

There’s a special place in my heart

I keep just for you

My youngest, my sunshine boy

The one I kept alive

Through determination and willpower

Every word you say

Every action you take

I wrap in fine tissue

And store in my special place

Where they will be with me always

My treasure trove of memories

Little one,

You are my greatest achievement

This is my eighth poem for Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors Writing Challenge which you can participate in here: https://nofacilities.com/thursday-doors-writing-challenge-2025/

Picture caption: The above photograph inspiration was provided by the remarkably creative Resa whose amazing blog you can find here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2018/03/27/ocean-life/

Blocky Mindset

“Your style is blocky,” my art teacher said

I was offended by this remark

A misunderstanding; on reflection

He is actually quite right

My art style is blocky

To match how I conduct my life

I paint in small sections of colour

Mapped out in advance

According to my plan: I’ll do this bit today

I don’t jump about like other artists

Each piece is created separately

And is self-contained and complete

Just like everything else in my life

If you are interested in my creation process for my painting: Lion Amid Flowers, you can see my post on my art blog here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/lion-amid-flowers-painting-process-acrylicpainting-art/

Pilanesberg Volcanic crater

The Pilanesberg mountain is an ancient volcanic structure, circular in shape, that rises from flat surrounding plains. It is formed by three concentric ridges or rings of hills, of which the outermost has a diameter of about 24 km.

According to https://pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/about_pilanesberg/:

“The crater of a long extinct volcano, where Pilanesberg is set, is a fascinating alkaline complex produced by volcanic eruptions some 1300 million years ago. It is one of the largest volcanic complexes of its kind in the world. Its rare rock types and structure make it a unique geological feature.”

It was very cold the morning we stopped at the viewing point for the Pilanesberg volcanic crater lake for tea.

Picture caption: TC and I in front of the lake and volcanic mountain ring view
Picture caption: The temperatures dropped so quickly the lake was steaming

This is my Youtube video of the mountain volcanic ring:

This is a YT short of the same setting:

Roberta Writes – Thursday Doors Writing Challenge and Bridges #poetry #photography

I am sharing two poems today. The first one is for a lovely digital art design by Teagan Geneviene who blogs here: https://teagansbooks.com/2025/05/08/thursdaydoors-tdwc-greatest-of-all-time/

The second photograph is provided by our host, Dan Antion. You can find all the doors for this writing challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/thursday-doors-writing-challenge-2025/

Picture caption: Picture of the inside of a modern caravan with a window to a past scene of caravanning.

Don’t believe everything you see

Don’t make assumptions about other people

What you see, or what you think you see

May not be accurate or complete

In fact, it might be totally deceptive

Don’t say to another “You are wealthy”

Without knowing what burdens they carry

Don’t assume someone is privileged

When you know nothing of their challenges

Don’t presume someone’s life is perfect

Without understanding their traumas

Some people chose to hide their pain

Don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves

Some people elect to make the most of life

Accepting that adversity is part of living

Some people play the cards they receive

Knowing the game includes a roll of the dice

So don’t make assumptions about other people

Because what you see is rarely the truth

It is merely what you want to believe is true

Picture caption: Two small sheep behind a slatted door

What’s That?

“Mom … Mom … What’s that animal?

I’ve never seen one like him before”

“Just a moment, children. I’m helping Granny”

“Mom … Mom … I think he likes us

He staring at us with lovely golden eyes”

“Okay, I’m nearly done. Give me a minute”

“Don’t worry, Mom. He’s leaving.

He’s walking back into the trees

Wait! Mom! He’s running towards the fence

I think he wants to visit us”

“It’s a lion! Run, children, run

He wants to make us his lunch”

Bridges

Lastly, here are a few bridges photographs from my trip to Amsterdam last year. These are for Dan’s CFFC: Bridges and Ferries challenge which you can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/05/05/bridges-and-ferries-cffc/

Picture caption: Red and white stripped bridge across a canal in Amsterdam. There are houseboats to the right of the picture
Seven bridges sighting point on a canal in Amsterdam
A boat coming through an enclosed bridge on a canal in Amsterdam

Roberta Writes – Book review: A Noble Bargain by Jan Sikes #bookreview #adultfiction #readingcommunity

Picture caption: Book cover for A Nobel Bargain by Jan Sikes featuring a young man in old fashioned working clothes with a dog and an old fashioned vehicle.

What Amazon says

A true testament of character, resilience, and the magic of never giving up.

The year is 1948 and folks in the sawmill town of Crossett, Arkansas, work hard and play hard. Oliver Quinn does both. Oliver is the son of Irish immigrants who firmly believe in pursuing the American dream. His deepest desire is to play major league baseball. He only needs one chance to prove himself.

Rose Blaine is living in a nightmare where dreams don’t exist. She’s suffered for years at the hands of her violent moonshiner father and his partner. During a brutal attack, she must fight back or die. The aftermath is devastating.

Fueled by desperation, Rose strikes a life-changing bargain with Oliver. If he’ll take her and her brother to St. Louis, Missouri, she’ll introduce Oliver to her uncle, a baseball legend.

While their journey is fraught with unseen perils, they forge an unbreakable bond and make surprising allies.

When destiny throws them a curve ball, they must find the courage to create a hopeful future out of the ashes of shattered dreams with newfound fortitude.

My review

A Noble Bargain is a delightful tale that starts of with the main character, Rose, in one of the worst imaginable situations for a young woman and lightens and brightens considerably as it progresses, despite some dramatic events.

Rose and her two brothers, Harlan and Jack, are victims of their alcoholic father’s moonshine induced rages, their abused mother having passed away some years previously. Sadly, seventeen year old Rose, is also a victim of her father’s lecherous partner.

Oliver is the son of Irish immigrants who, despite suffering loss, are a loving and close knit family. He has a good job and is working hard to improve his situation and help support his family but he dreams of playing professional baseball. He has no idea how he could go about making this dream a reality.

Oliver meets Rose at a dance and is immediately taken with her. It quickly becomes apparent to Oliver that Rose’s home situation is far from idea and he sets out to try and help her and her brothers.

This is a lovely story about overcoming adversity and achieving dreams. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to all readers as everyone could use some upliftment and happiness in their choice of reading material.

The story is well written and the characters are well developed and believable. Rose is a strong minded individual who has drawn a very poor set of circumstantial cards in life. You just can’t help rooting for her and hoping for the best possible outcome.

I enjoyed the previous book, A Beggar’s Bargain, and it was nice to see those characters making an appearance in this second book.

Purchase A Nobel Bargain from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Noble-Bargain-Bargainer-Book-ebook/dp/B0F6HB5YT8

Roberta Writes – Thursday Doors Writing Challenge: Sharing Tea #poetry #photography

Picture caption: Door featuring two fashionable young ladies having tea. This picture was provided by Willow Willers who blogs here: https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/

Sharing Tea (Shadorma)

Young ladies

Share tea and gossip

Dressed to kill

In big hats

And smart dresses with full skirts

One version of life

Three lion brothers we saw during our recent trip to Pilanesberg National Park.

Picture caption: This is the dominant brother. That is why he has a collar and is tagged. The tagging is so they don’t escape the park and wreak havoc in the surrounding community lands not to help the game rangers find them.
Picture caption: This is the first of the brothers. A gorgeous boy.
Picture caption: This is the third brother. Another gorgeous boy.
Picture caption: Given their tender years (they don’t have proper manes yet as they are juveniles), these boys are HUGE!

Roberta Writes – Thursday Doors Writing Challenge: The Teacher #poetry #Writingchallenge #ThursdayDoors

Dan has some fabulous doors to inspire writers and poets for the Thursday Doors Writing Challenge.

You can see all the doors here: https://nofacilities.com/thursday-doors-writing-challenge-2025/

Picture caption: Door picture by Resa McConaghy

The Teacher

I see you watching me

Observing my every move

Noting my habits, choices, truths, and lies

I can hid nothing from your probing eyes

You learn from my example, good or bad

Everything I am moulds you

Into everything you will become

If I strike you, I teach you violence

If I snap at you, I teach you impatience

If I lie to you, I teach you deceit

If I envy others, I teach you discontent

I try to control negative impulses

Knowing you will grow up in my image

I read to you, teaching you to thirst for knowledge

I show compassion to others, teaching you kindness

I encourage you to build on your strengths

Thereby giving you the tools to succeed in life

I encourage you to work hard on your weaknesses

Thereby demonstrating the power of perserverence

But, most of all my son, I love you

I put you first, I give you my time

Teaching you to be a giving and loving man

I’m sharing one photograph from my recent trip to the Pilanesberg National Game Reserve. We saw a leopard early in the morning. It was just getting light and the leopard sat like a queen on top of the rocks.

Roberta Writes – Reblog of my poem on Chewers by Masticadores #poetry

Thank you to Nolcha from Chewers by Masticadores for publishing my poem, Postcard from the other side.

I am going to the bush tomorrow for a long weekend so I won’t be around much.

“Postcard from the other side” a Quirky Response Poem by Robbie Cheadle

Roberta Writes – The story of the Pink Panther for Esther Chilton’s writing challenge and Reena’s Xploration Challenge #378 #prose #poetry

Esther Chilton’s writing challenge this week is toys. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/04/23/writing-prompts-62/

Reena’s creative writing challenge this week is creative non-fiction. You can join in here: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/reenas-xploration-challenge-378

This piece fits both topics perfectly.

The Story of the Pink Panther

When I was a young girl I did not like to knit. I like to sew. I liked sewing so much that I designed an entire wardrobe for my younger sisters and my Barbie and Cindy dolls. I also hand sewed a dress for myself with a dropped waist and a frill around the bottom of the skirt. I liked to create. I created a dolls house out of a wooden tomato box and decorated it with doors, windows with views, and curtains all cut out of old magazines. But, I did not like to knit.

Unfortunately, the nuns thought that all young ladies should know how to knit. Not just passably. Oh no, they wanted us to knit well. To this end they ceaselessly gave us knitting tasks of greater complexity involving adding and dropping stitches, measuring, changing pearl stitch to garter stich and vice versa. They even made us learn ribbing and how to turn the heel of a sock. Oh, the incredible unkindness of it all to a girl who hated knitting.

The last knitting assignment I had was to knit a Pink Panther. The toy in question was not small. No, it was an significant trial of knitting reaching a height of 60 centimetres … if you followed the pattern. The assignment did not, however, give a required size for the horrid task. It provided a pattern and said a knitted Pink Panther had to be handed in on a certain date.

I left it and left it. Suddenly, it was the day before the knitting assignment was due. I spent the entire morning at school contemplating different ways of managing the disaster. Mom wouldn’t let me stay at home the following day and even if she did, I couldn’t do all that knitting in one day. And then inspiration struck.

When I got home I went straight to my room and got started knitting. I knitted and knitted and by the early evening, the Pink Panther parts were made. After dinner, I sewed the toy together and stuffed it. I sewed on the face. By bed time I was finished. I had a perfectly knitted and stuffed, 15 centimetre high Pink Panther. The pattern divided perfectly by 4.

The following year, the instructions were amended to include a required size of 60 centimetres. I still regard this as one of my greatest school triumphs. I wasn’t even marked down. Sister Agatha knew when she was outwitted.

Tiny pink toy

Creative thinking triumphs

Earned a perfect score