The Obvious

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The pieces were scrambled
The task was rearranging
The doable attracted attention
Prompted by the obvious
A hidden convolution was elusive
Like a slithering snake in the grass
To make him sweat for the unproductive
To slow him down with the syntactic
To regain virginity of impervious
After deflowering by the obvious

Swift recovery like ballistic
Is minimized by the syntactic
To fragment the roots after deflowering
A golden finish begins to fade like brass
Having lost anchoring on the ground
The daring attempts at recovery
Curtailed by syntactic artillery
To solve the puzzling is inviting
Despite the clouds gathering ashore

Contextual Commentary

When the parched ground of the great Kalahari unexpectedly gets wet, the most obvious reaction of the desert flower Mponeng is to want to come out of the underground by breaking through the wet patch. Until she decides the right course of action, the ambiguity of the new ground subdues her initially enthused spirits. As she struggles to disambiguate the puzzling situation, her life hangs in the balance of wanting to be or not to be on the surface. The gravitational pull of the obvious is sometimes too powerful to resist the temptation of exiting the safety of the underground. Nonetheless, she must consider the stringent consequences associated with believing the unbelievable and accepting the unacceptable. It is for this reason that she must trust her instincts and remain underground until she has complied with the painstaking process of disambiguation. By postponing self-gratification for future success, she becomes resilient and strengthens her readiness for the coming rain.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.