A materialist epic-social horror-tragicomedy-wordy film in poetic dammed-dramedy
Render unto Caesar what is Caesars!
by Kyle Allan
the trolley dash
for years there has been this tradition
of a trolley-dash; one lucky viewer or
shopper wins the opportunity to fill a trolley
in thirty seconds
today, and tomorrow, and part
of the next day, all members of the un+working
class and relevant opportunistic members of
the slowly sinking/bubbling/fermenting middle class
are hereby invited to attend a trolley
dash of note; trucks and trailers may apply
as well
note: some will be trampled
to death in the process, this
is a normal fact of capitalist
life anyway;
in the end, after the brutal interludes
of smashing running burning,
normal programming
mzansi fo sho
the godchild of simunye we are one
will resume
as history repeats
itsel(ves)
consumer activism
we are all consumers,
even the activists
protest for things, not causes nowadays
there is a reason
fees must fall
consumed
rhodes must fall
there’s a reason
causes have followers
and not thinkers
there’s a reason
we consume knowledge
these days
and do not
understand it
there is a reason
we are a culture of data
and not of experience
there is a reason
we are called data exhaust
and not humans now
the scramble for africa; in reverse;
people running; faces, eyes open, hands
grabbing, then running like the birds
of myths and izinganekwane
to where the seed of capital’s
erotic flatulance is scattered
there;
a hunger for the dark gold of flatscreens,
for cell phones and appliances the texture
of tombstones that shine like sunlight
when polished;
lizard shaped appliances, boots made
of synthetic leather, and selfie sticks
that flail like whips
and scourge the flatulent skies
in search of the perfect self-image
filtered
thrashings that provoke
our nothingness
into dead
images
beyond,
selfies titillating
in the drownings
of dry mirrors;
all-knowing devices
that chirp like
the artefacts
of caged birds
it’s the new struggle for freedom,
bastard child of telefucken
ideologies and panicsonic
strategies for empowerment
and the googly mastery
of discourse translated
as assets
cos-cos siyaphela indaba
gps
the gps in a robotic voice
informs you
that the destination cannot be reached
it will be upgraded
before the aspirant class
attains it
violence ensues when the truth emerges
enough violence to make us forget
the truth
enough violence to inspire a new
movie or gospel show and another
moral regeneration
roadshow
q & a
by the eighth question,
the intellectual could only think of
one good (very popular in the 2020s) response;
“it is what it is”
live
outside,
the children smile, maskless, for a picture;
it is history the grown ups play, in masque
reverse; the cameras click
outside, is it sarafina for 4IR they are rehearsing,
freedom is coming tomorrow
has been replaced by siyatapa namhlanje
which has been
the unofficial slogan of the ruling class(es)
for centuries
aka
divide and rule
colonialism
or the recent press infused moniker
of state capture