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Mpho Ya Badimo

Featured Poem:

Malume Tata

Enlarge poem

Malome Tata o ntatile.
Malome Tata o ntatile tlheng!
O lala dibareng, baagisane ba re’ng?
O jola le bana,
ke mathata a eng a tota?
Malome Tata, ke a go bolella papa.
Ke bone Malome Tata,
Maloba a crossa strata,
A khukhunela kwa bo-Marta,
Ha ke mmotsa are ba gerta.
Marta’s only sixteen years old,
Tata bought her a phone,
A red but almost dead rose,
And wrote her a note,
Now she thinks they’re in love.
Her mom knows but o shapa tswa daar,
Tata o tlisa dipapa,
O zama le ya papsaka,
Le tsa go apara
So dit maakie sakkie.
Mosadi ke mosadi
She dropped out of school,
‘cause school wasn’t cool,
The kids were cruel,
The teachers too
And the rumours were true
She was expecting not one but two!
Malome Tata o ntatile.
Malome Tata o ntatile tlheng!
O lala dibareng, baagisane ba re’ng?
O jola le bana,
ke mathata a eng a tota?
Malome Tata, ke a go bolella papa.
Lathlela bofofu to that young girl,
The one hiding behind those fake curls,
Parading in that short skirt,
You call her a bitch ‘cause you don’t know where she’s been
If you did, you’d know she needs a hug not a fuck.
A girl torn up inside, porned up outside
Trying to commit suicide every night since the age of nine
She met a Tata in the form of Papa
Mama tshaba bua,
Papa tlhala,
Lapa tlala
So shhh!
The pain gets hummed away.
Shhh!
The pain gets hummed away.
Shhh!
The pain gets hummed AWAY!

All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 South Africa License.

Malume Tata by Mpho Ya Badimo

Download the audio file

How does this featured poem make you feel?

  • Amazement (15)
  • Pride (2)
  • Optimism (2)
  • Anger (10)
  • Delight (2)
  • Inspiration (3)
  • Reflection (0)
  • Captivation (1)
  • Peace (4)
  • Amusement (3)
  • Sorrow (8)
  • Vigour (2)
  • Hope (2)
  • Sadness (14)
  • Fear (3)
  • Jubilation (2)

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South Africa

Biography

South African- born artist Mpho ya Badimo, which translates into Gift of/for the Gods, hails from South Africa’s North West Province’s capital, Mafikeng.

She expresses her art through an unconventional style of delivery which fuses her native tongue SeTswana, colloquialisms, music and the use of movements to interpret words. Through her use of localised expression, she challenges the audience to become actively involved in piecing together the meaning of the poetry as they would a puzzle – despite the absence of commonality in language.

She co-founded the 5th Grove Poetry Movement while studying towards her degree. She is a creative member, performer and at times program director of performance art foundations such as Lefoko Naughty West Hip Hop Movement and Xpressions under Lyv Records. These affiliations saw her perform for Mutabaruka and Haile Garima on their 2003 Sankofa Promotional Tour. She co-wrote the play Blood Love which was staged at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown (2007).
She is the creator and sole designer of Black Lezoti jewellery, bags and wall art.

Mpho Ya Badimo

South Africa

Biography

South African- born artist Mpho ya Badimo, which translates into Gift of/for the Gods, hails from South Africa’s North West Province’s capital, Mafikeng.

She expresses her art through an unconventional style of delivery which fuses her native tongue SeTswana, colloquialisms, music and the use of movements to interpret words. Through her use of localised expression, she challenges the audience to become actively involved in piecing together the meaning of the poetry as they would a puzzle – despite the absence of commonality in language.

She co-founded the 5th Grove Poetry Movement while studying towards her degree. She is a creative member, performer and at times program director of performance art foundations such as Lefoko Naughty West Hip Hop Movement and Xpressions under Lyv Records. These affiliations saw her perform for Mutabaruka and Haile Garima on their 2003 Sankofa Promotional Tour. She co-wrote the play Blood Love which was staged at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown (2007).
She is the creator and sole designer of Black Lezoti jewellery, bags and wall art.

Featured Poem:

Malume Tata

Enlarge poem

Malome Tata o ntatile.
Malome Tata o ntatile tlheng!
O lala dibareng, baagisane ba re’ng?
O jola le bana,
ke mathata a eng a tota?
Malome Tata, ke a go bolella papa.
Ke bone Malome Tata,
Maloba a crossa strata,
A khukhunela kwa bo-Marta,
Ha ke mmotsa are ba gerta.
Marta’s only sixteen years old,
Tata bought her a phone,
A red but almost dead rose,
And wrote her a note,
Now she thinks they’re in love.
Her mom knows but o shapa tswa daar,
Tata o tlisa dipapa,
O zama le ya papsaka,
Le tsa go apara
So dit maakie sakkie.
Mosadi ke mosadi
She dropped out of school,
‘cause school wasn’t cool,
The kids were cruel,
The teachers too
And the rumours were true
She was expecting not one but two!
Malome Tata o ntatile.
Malome Tata o ntatile tlheng!
O lala dibareng, baagisane ba re’ng?
O jola le bana,
ke mathata a eng a tota?
Malome Tata, ke a go bolella papa.
Lathlela bofofu to that young girl,
The one hiding behind those fake curls,
Parading in that short skirt,
You call her a bitch ‘cause you don’t know where she’s been
If you did, you’d know she needs a hug not a fuck.
A girl torn up inside, porned up outside
Trying to commit suicide every night since the age of nine
She met a Tata in the form of Papa
Mama tshaba bua,
Papa tlhala,
Lapa tlala
So shhh!
The pain gets hummed away.
Shhh!
The pain gets hummed away.
Shhh!
The pain gets hummed AWAY!

Malume Tata by Mpho Ya Badimo

Download the audio file

How does this featured poem make you feel?

  • Amazement (15)
  • Pride (2)
  • Optimism (2)
  • Anger (10)
  • Delight (2)
  • Inspiration (3)
  • Reflection (0)
  • Captivation (1)
  • Peace (4)
  • Amusement (3)
  • Sorrow (8)
  • Vigour (2)
  • Hope (2)
  • Sadness (14)
  • Fear (3)
  • Jubilation (2)

Comments

Your email address will not be published.