you will be a cover-girl
boys will lock themselves
in bathrooms with magazine copies
men with tired dicks will
visualise you before
they go into their wives
schoolgirls will skip
lunch & supper for your shape
housewives will not miss
a single print of cosmo
for a model figure
you will be
on skype with oprah
motivators will find
citable quotes
from your mere remarks
on how you get on with life
dr phil will google you
for a punchline
emcees will see\use
you as a metaphor
preachers will sing your name
to tell us for what
or for what not we are here
you will be in periodicals
professors will be indebted to you
for their outcome-based education
lessons on gender & sexuality
finance minister will mention
your name in the budget speech
incumbent president will cancel his tour
the former will suspend his retirement
from politics for a mouth-to-mouth with you
the mail & guardian will list you first
on the catalogue of 100
people to die to dine with
you will be a candidate
for united nations ambassador of
some cause or another
or a serious contender
in the genius books
of records
surely you will find a place
in the world’s hall of fame
you will be a sex symbol
chief executive officers will
indulge in office sex with you
in the privacy of their minds
corporates will strip their
social responsibility purses naked
to grant you a fat salary
to be the human face of
their ad campaigns
of market expansion
you will be in the tabloids
newshounds who never
interviewed you will be
worth no pinch of salt or dash of soup
careers of the paparazzi will
depend on your daring poses
the mainstream will be abound
with your break into the underworld
the underground shall claim you
the establishment shall award you
just to state its final word
in defining the perimeter
gossip columns will be a bore without your daring poses
the press will tale you down
for cover stories
academia shall file you
under enigma
theology under heresy
dialectic materialism shall hold you
a symbol of the contradictions
& hypocrisy of capitalist morality
you will be on cyberspace
information technology whiz
kids will pimp you on blogosphere
perverts will suck themselves dry
in electronic orgies
of them and their internet lovers
you will be the alluring part of the threesome
called in to fit the occasion
appearing according to the fantasy
starring as a virgin or a professor, a sex-starved nun or a babywhore
materialising as a naughty teenager or an experienced adult
a man or a woman
sometimes simply a she-male
or a mermaid even a goat-person
you will smile to the bank shop till you drop
…….and then
you will drop dead on the floor
coke in every drop of your blood
the tears of your fans a flood
your role model status in the mud
your wallet no longer the size of a hut
you will be in the news
bulletins carrying reports
of creditors on your case
reviewer of revenue on chase
you will pick up your pace
rise up from the claw of the grave
you will be back on track
on a raving comeback trail
soirees on the deck
a platinum selling record
a novel and a movie on your life
your chart-bursting song a soundtrack
groupies and parasites on your back
every jack will bid to be your manager
you will care no heck
fire and rehire
at the drop of a hat
fall in and out of love on the roll
a newly found love every jiffy
associates at every turn
you will have buddies in all corners
your fan base will take a climb
the nation will declare you a legend
you will be a brand of success
your name will be
a subject of patent rights
businessmen will slug it out
for a sole right to you
you will be at the centre
of copyright rows
many will live in your shadow
you will be a flower
with such a splendor
when the spell of shrink has come
it will not be easy to see
your colossal glamour will
obstruct discerning listeners & judicious audiences
to note a star on the wane
your astute eyes will not notice
when you have arrived
at the point where even you are
now living in your shadow
now and then a cynic will
see and point the signs but
experts will silence him
with one line of learned words
and connoisseurs will concur
vintage wine is eternal
you will be in the news
at government functions
having a chat with royalty
you will be heard at premier venues
mesmerising the haves
you will be seen in Yeoville or e-point
catching a sniff with the tjaros
you will be at Gallagher Estate or International Convention Centre
receiving a SAMA
you will be seen in Dubai or Dublin
buying designer clothes
you will be spotted
in Mayfair forlorn and broke
in the arms of a boyfriend
alleged to be a motor-mechanic
you will be seen in houghton
chauffeured in a merc
with a girlfriend
reportedly a retired prostitute
a retrenched nurse according
to another version from
a reliable source, your confidante
you will be a riddle
ridiculing straight answers
you will be a puzzle
shunning easy solutions
you will be a super star
your star shall forever be on the rise
you will be a living legend
your legend will not die
you will be a diva
your status will never take a dive
worshippers will build you a shrine
you will not be a straight portrait
neither a sketch of what is not straight
you will be a tornado
riding air & stirring fire-storms
in deep waters and off the hook
in and off the bottle
in & out of rehabilitation
forever in ventilation
in-between sobriety and inebriety
straddling bliss heights & dizzy concaves
and then
your story will become a déja-vu
you will bore the most ardent
of your groupies to slumber
with the monotony of your dramatics
your cheer-crowd will follow
the cameras in search of another spectacle
perhaps an old civil strife boiling
into a bloodbath or
simmering to ethnic-cleansing
it could be a celebrity turned politician
or a politician may turn into a celeb
a pariah might be a messiah
a messiah might become a rogue
it might be another young girl
catapult into limelight and media frenzy
by an unfortunate providence or doom
a shot at luck
a dreadful experience
or just a confluence
of time and circumstances
or aided by the nation’s
desperate need for heroes
media and capital
in cahoots with academia
might make a new drama queen
when you are out of the spotlight
with no cent to your name
you will return to your village
or hide yourself is some hovel
somewhere at the back room
of a druglord-cum-landlord
or be lucky enough
to squat with an old friend
you will die an ordinary death
from pneumonia or some unknown disease
your death will be announced
in one fatal sentence
forgotten as soon
as the newsreader
jumps to other news
or you might as well be lucky
to die in a brothel in the arms
of a client happening to be
a CEO of an oil multinational company
or suffer death from overdose
a suicide suspected as foul-play
in which hellen zille’s chauffer is involved
if you are that fortunate
to get a dramatic death
you will be back in circulation
your corpse will be with us for sometime
it might even lie in state at the national stadium
there will be inquests and enquiries
autopsy and forensic what-what
a commission shall be set up
lawyers will fly from london
the parliament will discuss
possibilities of a state funeral
for quite a long time
wars and famine
& all suffering in the world
shall be forgotten
the centre stage will be you again
obama and oprah
at your funeral
osama too disguised
as a gay socialite from kimberley
speaking setswana and english
both with an afrikaans accent
there will be talks
of your home
turned into a monument
any book \ dvd \ cd \ t-shirt
whatever bearing
your name will sell
like snoek-fish and koeksusters in rapetown
your manager will smile to the bank
the brothers and sisters
you never met will
emerge from nowhere
there will be legal battles
brawls over your estates
every baby born
when you were eighteen will
declare you its mama
every man who lived in your time will
swear by nothing but the truth
you are\were his wife
married in community of property
at a private ceremony
you will be a cover-girl (again)
little girls will fancy being you
your body will be on the net
boys with brittle pricks will
visit your site for pleasure
you will be a super star
your star shall forever be on the rise
you will be a living legend
your legend will not die
you will be a diva
your status will never take a dive
worshippers will build you a shrine
just make sure your death is also controversial
(or your name will be a footnote on the pages of textbooks if it’s lucky to be there)
