Performed Poetry
Ntokozo "Ko"Wandile Mobokazi
Haunted House Humans
Spoken word... part poetry, part performance. This poem which Ko has written and performed, he describes as a piece that explores how a person is likened to the state of a haunted house. "I've always found that humans carry with them the scars of yesteryear into what becomes a marred tomorrow. This is an attempt to explore the cobwebbed souls for a pursuit of crystalline windows. Shitty, creaky flaws for foundation friends, and yesterday skeletal closets for you". This metaphor is a continuous reference for viewers, as he explores the existence of troubled individuals... where realities of being a "haunted house human" are more common than we think.
Within the poem, Ko makes multiple references to the phrase "palimpsest paper people".
pal·imp·sest
ˈpaləm(p)ˌsest/
noun
-
a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.
-
something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.
This act is personified in the ways people have come to cope with memories, thoughts or realities they try to escape, or at the very least hide from. As Ko simply states, "surviving is not living and one can only survive a haunted house".
Haunted House Humans
(Abridged version)
I’ve never known a haunted house like a human being
Haunted house humans who are often of fence for protection.
We’re palimpsest paper people.
Impromptu sketching’s
There, a diagram of broken diaphragm from lover’s fall.
Formula shows our output will always be influenced by how we carry the one.
Palimpsest paper people
With scars parked hard, marked from almost raised
And architectural bully, words will always hurt me razed.
Inked with liquor coast…er marks, unphased cyclical drink
Of sorrow drown leaves whirlpool sockets
Livers spotted.
Palimpsest papered people
Marked with unsigned birthday cards.
I’ve never known a haunted house like a human being.
Haunted house humans
With stained welcome mats that tried to dry other wilting souls. (Stained wel co, leaving me)
Broken readily replying sounds from ding dong ditches.
Now incessant preemptive ringing of ding dong, “no, I won’t leave” ditches.
Ding dong “no I won’t leave ditches” Why can’t I keep.
Only ping pong visits, in out in out but never in house,
Insistence on a door.
Now, now one has to walk cumbrous convention on person private property and “hello”
Signs of keep out “hello ”
Haunted human house has opened a door to far too many bad joke knock knock, laughing with but never coming in.
I’ve never known a haunted house like a human being
Palimpsest paper people
Who mark and mark remarks that mark them
The dear diaries, dear dire re’s of 54kg’s your fat!
YOU’RE FAT!
Red inked with corrective measure pain stains from risked wrists
Palimpsest papered people
When cornered and trampled on do fold
Cornered and trampled on do fold, words in pieces
Only there in pieces
These haunted house humans
Boxed and in suitcases- so much life skeleton closeted and
Too much yesterday suitcases, same wear and
That before, more and more before and
Nothing laid to rest or blanketed
Haunted house humans who closed curtains
Always mourning always darkness
Closed curtains too quickly on cloudy.
But God knows how many times the sun never came
And you felt like you were made for drained
Haunted house humans can’t keep their heads up
Avoiding plastered leaks
And it’s just dragging feet to puddles, hoping, desperately for final bucket
A human haunted house is not a home, where do you keep your heart?
Huh, haunted house humans
Do some porch perching
Peek past peeping hole of facial distrust decisions
Open the blinds to your feng shuied interior day core (décor)
Perfect arrangements of sofa (so far), unlock playrooms
Don’t be on old marks for your run
Palimpsest paper people
It’s always worth the risk and not the wrist
Direly disappointed palimpsest paper people
Try ambidextrous: try your hand at new hands
“Be my friend?” No? “Be my friend?” No? “Be my friend?” Best friend
All worth risk of wrist and not wrist risked
Yes, scars parked hard, but paint.
Haunted house humans
Away with sad old blueprints
No more palimpsest, new arch texture (architecture) for light
“I love you” No? “I love you” No? “I love you” Best friend
“I love you” No? “I love you” Best friend, marriage, divorce…”I love-“ I still love you “I love you” child
There will always be room to love you
Lay with you
Play with you
If you don’t associate your flaws with what you’ve worn
Stand on flaws
Creaky? Make original melody!
Haunted house humans
Even broken and forcefully entered
It is time…it is time to stop bolt to a door (adore)
Haunted house humans
Not every visit desires treat or to trick
Surviving is not living and one can only survive a haunted house
There is no living in them.
It is time to let your soul work
Come back to today and say honey, I’m home
Today,
Today I am home.