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The poet comments that he is like his father in every way. He behaves like his father, speaks like his
father, and even has his father's temper. They differ only in the fact that he is a poet whereas his father
is not.
ABOUT THE POET
Chris Van Wyk was born in Soweto and lived his early years in Newclare before moving to Riverlea, a
poorer suburb of Johannesburg.
He was educated at Riverlea High School before working for a non-government organisation known as
SACHED - South African Committee for Higher Education - where he was an educational writer.
He was also the editor of Staffrider and started the short-lived Wietie magazine with
fellow poet, Fhazel Johennesse.
Van Wyk showed signs of wanting to be a writer as early as five years of age - and since then, he says,
he has had a love affair with words.
He credits much of his success in storytelling to his love of "skinder" (gossip). "I skinder more than most
women," he says, and explains that he listened to all the gossip between his mother and her friends. This
eventually found its way into the many stories which he thereupon wrote.
"You will not believe the kind of information you can pick up just by keeping your ears open," van Wyk
says, although there are certain little tricks you have to observe to prevent yourself from being caught
eavesdropping.
These include not behaving like a quiet little mouse but rather making noises, "like drinking a glass of
water" or singing bits from pop songs or calling to the dog outside, or doing something like reading or
writing while you are also preoccupied in listening.
But above all, he says, don't give yourself away by laughing at a joke that you have overheard. "If you do,
it's a dead giveaway and means that you've had your ears tuned on them all the time."
Van Wyk has written over 20 books, including poetry collections and children's stories. He published his
first volume of poetry in 1979 - It is time to go home - which was to win him the prestigious
Olive
Schreiner Prize the following year.
He would win other awards for his novels and short stories, including the Maskew Miller Longman Award
for Black Children's Literature in 1982 and the Sanlam Literary Award for the best short story of 1995.
His first novel - The Year of the Tapeworm - was published in 1998 while, in 2004, his
childhood memoir Shirley, Goodness & Mercy became a successful play by director Janice
Honeyman.
Unlike many South African writers who wrote "as a weapon against apartheid", van Wyk preferred to use
humour as his primary weapon. "We've got our own magic, lots of it," he says.
He married his childhood sweetheart, Kathy, and they reared their two sons in Riverlea where he has lived
most of his life. "I want to be part of this community," he says. "There's an element of the writer that
keeps me here."
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Comment on the STYLE of the poem. (6)
[Need help?]
The poet focuses on emotion and humour contained in the words, choosing to ignore such things as
rhythm and rhyme. Indeed, it's a good example of FREE VERSE, a form of poetry that does not use
consistent rhythm, rhyme, or any other lyrical pattern. Instead it tends to follow the rhythm of natural
speech.
The poet employs humour throughout. His purpose is not only to reflect on his childhood but also to make
the reader laugh. Laughter, says the poet, is at the centre of everything.
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"When I walk into a room
where my father has just been
I fill the same spaces he did
from the elbows on the table
to the head thrown back
and when we laugh we aim the guffaw
at the same space in the air."
- List the ways in which the poet is similar to his father. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet says that he behaves in an identical way to his father: He sits with his elbows on the table, holds
his head in a certain way, laughs in similar fashion - loudly and with head thrown back.
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[Need help?]
A "guffaw" is defined as "a loud or boisterous burst of laughter".
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"Before anybody has told me this I know
because I see myself through
my father's eyes."
- Explain in your own words what the poet means here. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet knows precisely how much he and his father are alike. He doesn't need other people to point
this out to him. Indeed, they are so similar, he says, that it is as if he looks through his father's eyes.
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"When I was a pigeon-toed boy
my father used his voice
to send me to bed
to run and buy the newspaper
to scribble my way through matric."
- What is the significance of his being "a pigeon-toed boy"? (4)
[Need help?]
Being "pigeon-toed" is a condition which causes the toes to point inward, causing the person to walk much
like a pigeon does. In this case, the poet is using the expression as a humourous way of explaining that
he was just a very young child, that he hadn't yet learned to walk properly.
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- Give ONE word for "used his voice" as it appears in these lines. (2)
[Need help?]
What about "ordered", as in "he ordered the boy around"?
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- When the poet reflects on his childhood, does he reveal that he had any academic effort? Was he
good at school? Be able to justify your answer. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet gives no indication here of any academic inclination. Instead, he uses the expression "to
scribble
my way through matric [Grade 12]". When one "scribbles" something, it is usually done quickly and
casually, with no great effort.
On the other hand, there is a possible reference here to the fact that the poet enjoyed writing. Indeed,
writers are always "scribbling" notes and anecdotes, thoughts and ideas which can be used later in their
writing.
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"one sock in hand, its twin
an angry glint in his eye he flings
dirty clothes out of the washing box."
- The poet speaks of "one sock in hand". Where is the other sock? Explain your
reasoning. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet's thought appears to be sidetracked here, doesn't it? One sock is "in hand" but he doesn't really
say where the other is. The hint, however, is that the other sock is in the "washing box" with all the dirty
clothes. In other words, only one sock has been washed.
On the other hand, the missing sock has become the "angry glint in his [father's] eye". In other words, his
father sees the sock in the washing box and is angry at the boy's negligence in not putting both into the
wash at the same time.
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"anagrams of fee fo fi fum"
- What is an anagram? In what way could "fee fo fi fum" be an anagram? (4)
[Need help?]
An anagram is a word where the letters can be rearranged to spell another word, e.g. the words "bade"
when rearranged could spell "bead".
In the case of "fee fo fi fum", however, the poet is turning it into
another humourous situation. There is probably no anagram here but the poet has nevertheless used four
words each beginning with the letter "f".
What word beginning with the letter "f" might the father have been
using? In other words, the poet is calling on the reader to look at the words and reason out what he can't
say in a family poem.
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"Everything a poet needs
my father has bequeathed me
except the words."
- Explain the meaning of these three lines. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet says that he is similar to his father in every way except that, while his father blusters, the poet
uses a poetic way of explaining what his father says. He is a poet whereas his father is not.
His father calls
a spade a spade (he says it like it is), whereas the poet has learned to speak poetically, using both
alliteration and assonance. (Be sure to know what "alliteration" and "assonance" is.)
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