Amelia & Poetry

Poetry and Amelia.

I remember my first poetry competition back in Primary school; Lyndhurst Primary school, Grade 3B, Mrs. Bosman. It was a Sesotho poem about three little birds. We went to this other school and there were other kids from other schools. Man, I was nervous but I had been practicing with Mrs. Bosman and she told us to do what we did at practice, don't be scared, stand up straight, open your legs, be grounded and affirmed, count to 5, take a deep breath and relax, then perform and then after you can sit, when you're done you'll get your certificate. Mrs. Bosman trusted me, she had deep confidence in me. I loved her and her encouragements. I went on the stage and did the best that I could. 3 more learners from my school went and then we were handed our certificates. There were learners who got Diplomas at the time but it wasn't a lot, it's difficult to get a Diploma when you are 7 or 8. A Diploma certificate was prestigious. It had a red scroll, big Gold foil and the certificate itself was A2. Gold and Silver certificates were A3 & Bronze certificates were a miserable A4 size. Getting a Diploma certificate was like winning a trophy, in fact it was a trophy - the highest achievement one can attain. A Diploma was way better than a Gold certificate. It was better than a "A". It was a score of 90% or more. On that day, one learner got a Diploma. He was so good, I won't lie. Little cute kid with glasses, he was 7 years old, he recited a Afrikaans poem with deadly precision. When he was done the crowd were on their feet cheering and clapping. A lot of the really good poet's got a Gold certificate, which is a 80% or more but not 90%. I got a 72% score, a silver, it was just like a Gold but the color of the foil was different. And it was the same length as the gold certificate. The Diploma was the biggest certificate of them all when it comes to dimensions and size. The other learners I came with all got Bronze certificates and they were smaller than mine in size. I was the best from my school, Mrs. Bosman was so proud of me. The judges also gave good advice, I heeded one particular comment from the judge I know was meant for me, he even memorized my poem, he said I was too fast, slow down. He also made a remark that motivated me, he said that if I can just work on my speed, I will win a Diploma. I took it to heart and a year later I won my Diploma. I got a 93% score - one of the best in the district and among the very best at school. There was no doubt, I was a future great. A year later and I was in the school choir, one of the youngest chosen, the school choir consisted mostly of Grade 6's and 7's. I was one of the few Grade 5 students chosen. With the school choir, we won everything and achieved everything. Winning Diplomas was the norm. Fame was high and I was on TV, a child actor, a superstar, sometimes I missed school to make Ads, I had my own money, bought anything and everything I wanted.

I had achieved everything at Lyndhurst, I needed to branch out. We were already living in Kempton Park. My mother asked if I wanted to finish Primary at Lyndhurst or try something new here in Kempton Park. I thought about it and told her something new, she smiled and started with the administration process, Edleen Primary would be my destination, it was exciting times.

It was poetry season at my new school and this time I wanted to perform the poetry I wrote. I worked hard to make that happen and it was approved. My performance was so good that I got a Double Gold score. A Double Gold was this district's Diploma; I was now in a new district, Erkuruleni. I was now dominating Kempton Park. One day the school had this speech thing where speakers took center stage, it was round about time the Xenophobic attacks occurred in 2008 at Alexandra township. The school was standing against it and creating awareness. I wrote a speech and I was going to be one of the speakers. It was 2 speakers per class. It was sort of a contest because there were rounds and speakers were eliminated. I represented my class with some girl named Amelia. Me and Amelia beat everyone and then we were pitted against each other in the final round and she won. It was basically a win-win situation for our class. When we met at the final showdown, I had no illusions of winning. She had a superior speech. It was more poetic and emotive. It was the best speech I had ever heard and the delivery was excellent. Amelia had stage presence, her voice commanded attention and she a wonderful stage persona, it was energetic and full of attitude. She was animated but also regal, juxtaposition - you just had to be there. Oh yes, I knew she'd win and when she did, I wasn't surprised or disappointed. Her speech was so powerful, it talked about uniting Africa. The content was amazing, it was mature and enlightened. It was impactful. Her energy and aura was magnificent. It was her moment, one curated by the stars. She deserved it. She was wonderful. I was happy for her and at least our class won; besides, I beat everyone else and she wasn't my competition - second place was not bad considering we were in the same team. Amelia's speech was so great that the whole class united behind it and dramatized it at the year-end school concert. Our class had the best performance that year, it wasn't even a debate. We were authentic and different. Other classes did the usual which was Dance or staging a play; the problem with that approach is that not everyone gets to participate. With our class everyone participated, we had a threatre production; it was Mr. Van Zyl's vision. There was music and drums, costumes and Amelias speech. We dramatized her speech beautifully, some students served as Trees, the wind and the leafs. My friends were the happiest trees ever, I was the wind and I made noises and moved around. The energy was so great, so positive, everyone felt important and did their absolute best with the role they had. Amelia was our Goddess and she performed her speech beautifully - this time she had background music and drums serving as aids, she wore a costume, the performance was grand. The whole production was perfect. A big congratulations to Mr. Van Zyl, it was such a great idea, it was inspired and creative - the end result was phenomenal, no one had ever seen something like that before. There was no doubt, our class was the best, we beat every class, again - our performance was the best in the school.