(Creative) Journal Entry 8- The Woman in the painting

When the first morning rays dawn on Flower Street Villa
And I tumble out of bed to start another day at the station
I think to myself as I rub my eyes
How routine things have become unlike a vacation

Like always we wait for our noble steed Excite Cab to pull up
It arrives late, we climb in, stuff our bags in and it races away
Weaving in between traffic, honking at unruly drivers
And then it comes to my favorite part of the day

The ride goes by a bridge that glides over the glittering city
Over the blue bay, with the mountains towering above
But no it’s not the view that I look forward to
There is this picture, art I have come to love

This painting adorns the side of a large building
And must have taken a very very long time to do
It shows a black woman in a long flowing dress
With a television in one hand and in the other, children; two

She carries an air of simplicity that cannot be called ignorance
But strong and confident, a steady gaze and a small smile
You can tell she is a modern woman in touch with her roots
African beads, large hoop earrings, wavy patterns, a frizzy hair style

Her stance would seem a cliché pose of a village woman
But on her head in place of a pot is a television set
and on her opened palm stand two miniature children
Both backs turned, they belong to her, I bet

She has only eyes for them, only them
And they for her, the girl and boy
Or they could have eyes for the television
Seeming mesmerized by this entertaining toy

Somehow I see her as embodiment of the nation
That the children are the South Africans
And the television could be the different media
Guiding or corrupting through communication

Or the woman can be the media itself, nurturing South Africans
Whatever it may mean or be
I feel inspired renewed and changed
Every time it rises, by what I see

It’s like that picture is meant for me
To remind me about why I am doing this
Why I am a journalist, why I am in South Africa
The picture’s point is not easy to miss

She keeps her gaze on her children but leans over the city
Her appearance every morning wakes me to reality
Brightens my day and drives me along
To do a good job at Bush Radio and serve the community

Who the artist is a mystery to me and maybe I won’t know
I don’t want to ask and find out or understand
The true meaning of the painting for I fear
It may not seem the same to me and less grand

But I do know that weeks after I leave
That picture will stay in thoughts with me
In all its pink, blue and yellow hues
Looking lovingly down on Cape Town and sea