Kuthiwa Art is subjective.
We are all welcome to interpret Art as we experience it.
The way it "moves us" or not.
The way it heals us or harms us.
The way it makes sense to us.
We are also welcome to not do anything with Art.
We can just experience art with/for no particular reason or need to fulfil expectations.
The decision, as to what to do with Art, lies on the individual and it differs from person to person.
Indeed, as global as Art is, it is an intimate and isolating experience.
Some get it. Some get it for others. Some don't even bother. Some don't get the point. At the end of the day, it is Art.
Most of it, at least.
Ok shap, with that said, whatever you make of it, please allow me to show you how I experience Somdanger Instragram, these days.
SomDanger Instagram is a poem by one of the most important poets of this generation, the gifted Makhafula Vilakazi.
In this masterpiece, the wordsmith illustrates to any reader/listener why he is regarded as the new-age People's Poet in some pockets of this occupied country.
With Somdanger Instagram the People's Poet poignantly diagnoses, way before the fact, what we will term, the Dr Nandipha Syndrome.
You know, the celebrity Doctor who is said to have left her husband, who is also a Doctor, and children for the techno-smooth, mixed-race rapist worth billions on the screen.
The Dr Nandipha Syndrome, if Somdanger Instagram is to be used as a measure, is a rather old syndrome.
"Lento iqale sisakhula...."
It is as old as when the speaker, in the poem, was still a kid. It goes back to childhood.
This opening line also tells that this is a grown person speaking, addressing the one that he calls the one he loved to death, esakhula.
"Lento iqale sisakhula, ngikuthanda ukufa Thanga Le Instagram."
Fully aware of the fact that they were still growing, yet so in love that death is the only metaphor to explain the feeling.
"Ngikuthanda ukufa." And there are many ways of dying.
The grip that Thanga Le Instagram, as the person who is being addressed in this poem is called, has on the speaker is relatable. It is relatable to anyone who has ever "loved to death" and got shocked back to reality with disappointment.
It is relatable to anyone who has ever been curved because of the way they look, the shade of their skin, and their lack of material things including designer clothes and smart gadgets.
"Lento iqale sisakhula" is as relatable as the dream of a better life, in the suburbs, with a Doctor wife.
But, poverty is bad out here.
Such dreams are hard to materialize.
It gets worse as you go down the pyramid.
People are inspired by Algorithms, Big Brother and The Real Housewives of the scriptwriting room.
What we aspire to is artificial.
What could be essential evades us.
We have no land to plant cabbages, let alone trees and good hemp. Global warming is relentless, so what shall we do?
Lento iqale sisakhula connotes a past-present-continuous tense. It started then but it still feels like it is continuing... until the speaker says, it ends here... in the penultimate line of the poem where he says "...ngeke usadlula ngale two touch yakho ngine cover."
Two-touch. Touch and go. Trap and pass. Quick things. A form of a ball game, especially in street soccer, played by children.
Because, essentially, "lento iqale sisakhula."
I will not labour this poem line by line, that is the juice I choose to reserve for my classes.
Let me highlight how Makhafula predicts the future by diagnosing the present here.
He uses vulnerabilities of a relatable situation, ukuthanda ungenamali, to calmly drive several points home.
How SomDanger overlooks what could be "true love" for unogwaja kagesi - a wild dream.
How the love of a perceived soft life drives SomDanger to the hands of a deadbeat - now she has to face the scorching sun, at the maintenance court, to get him to account.
SomDanger does not appreciate the speaker's love language, he hustles hard, legally, to buy her isphathlo saka Baloi.
Isphathlo samandla okugcina.
Isphathlo that she burps and forgets in the face of ibhari yase Stellenbosch.
Still, can we honestly blame SomDanger for following her heart?
For following idushi lakhe elifanelwa ama bougart.
The term dushi or khalathi does not fail to call to mind a fair complexioned, Cecil, switching between Afrikaans, isiZulu and English effortlessly.
The way Makhafula addresses consumerism, confusion and colourism here is north of brilliant. It's the work of a gifted people's poet.
He presents SomDanger's chosen love as a bhari with sneakers that the speaker does not have. This could be one of the other reasons why SomDanger loves the guy.
The thread between the love of algorithm-inspired softness and the painful ending thereof is eloquently articulated from SomDanger flirting nama tourists in front of the speaker to her saying she is not going back to Spruit nge van elinga clutchi yena une class. Knowing this coutry, one cannot help but wonder, uphelelaphi?
Does she get to Spruit that night?
Where does she really end up?
Abo Thabo Bester are always there, lurking. They know themselves and they never miss a target. Bayamosha.
Towards the end of the poem we hear how SomDanger's star has faded.
She now has "...umkhab' onuk' ikhovithi."
An unsettling image considering that she once had it all. Maybe it was nothing compared to what the algorithm markets to us daily, but she definitely had it all.
Dr Nandipha is SomDanger in Makhafula's poem.
In all honesty, SomDanger could be a regular makhelwane from front opposite, ready to risk everything for unogwaja kagesi.
And the adrenaline.
SomDanger disregards everything, for ibhari yase Stellenbosch.
Whenever lebhari goes online, everything melts away.
The world becomes an ocean for the two of them to sail.
SomDanger has the Dr Nandipha Syndrome.
