Poetry is a wonderful thing . This is an awesome entry by Jacqueline Jorgensen – editor.

Small Town Blues

Long before Hulett dreamt up the canals
we would holiday here with our miniature pals
A tiny white cottage with thatch for its hair
Sea Vista was simple and life was still fair…

The dredgers arrived and carved water-roads,
where once thrived the fynbos and leapord toads
Hard-hatted men came and built little bridges;
the ocean withdrew and the dunes raised their ridges….

White houses with thatch popped up all along them
(In ‘Cape Saint’ down the road you could buy for a song then)
A Hotel, Swiss Cottage, Convenience Store
This once ‘best kept secret’ became known all the more….

Now know without doubt that if secrets abound,
you should never, not ever, move to a small town,
for something grows here, and it’s called A Grapevine,
it is planted in boredom and watered with wine,
(or whiskey or gin or the latest craft beer)
– but you’d better be Jesus if you want to live here –
(although, come to think, even He had it hard
in parochial places, and being a wild card)

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of good
There’s a whole host of angels saving strays from the hood
Nick, Gav and JP feed fabulous fare
While Nikki and Franki breathe life to bad hair
Lizzie and Sascha make sure we stay skinny
(while Jilly and Sassi make sure they ain’t winning)
Flavi and Terri keep our home-bods in style
and Harry and Jules Save our Seas all the while;
the Lion’s Gate Band keeps us skanking and grooving
While Foster makes sure that our future keeps rooting…..

Thing is, you see, in our tiny metro,
which in forty-nine years we have all seen explode –
with our glorious beaches and a lighthouse iconic,
– a poisonous vine makes it all quite ironic,
the dichotomous nature of beauty and beast
beauty her best and man at his least….

Be you rich and retired or a poor run-away
there is only so much here to do and to say
Whether up at the club, or down at the pub
Whether A-team or B in this miniature hub,
If you open your mouth in this BeautyFull place,
Be Kind
or be True
or shut-uppa your face.

Jacqueline Jorgensen
12 June 2023