Interviews at employment agencies
The appointment can be at any thing
from a shack, house, palace
or office block.
You respond to an advertisement in a newspaper,
or from the internet with jobmail, pnet and career junction
that stands in the front line with available positions.
You have to drive to somewhere in Pretoria
or Johannesburg, Midrand, Randfotein or Krugersdorp
to find work in Pretoria or Midrand.
At times there’s something wrong with the directions
and if you do not know the place,
you drive at your own cost totally lost.
At the place a receptionist makes you fill in forms
and let you wait in a very small office,
where the heater behind a closed door tries to fry you.
a Girl with just a metric certificate interviews you,
about your degree/s and experience
and you try to impress her.
At times your photograph is taken
and at times they demand your fingerprints
and you have to sign that Kroll may look at your business.
The agencies demand that Kroll verify
your qualifications, credit worthiness
and see if you have a criminal record.
Certainly people like doctor? Carl Niehaus
that finds doctor’s degrees in lucky packets,
is probably responsible that a person have to go through this hell.
Sometimes lies are told about the available position
to build a data base,
or you have to wait until the client wants to see more people.
If you are lucky a appointment is immediately set,
or your Curriculum Vitae is emailed on
and you are called
for an appointment with the employer.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
I am from Pretoria
Notwithstanding the way
that the country and world goes,
I still want to stand for many years
in the streets with purple-blue
Jacaranda trees.
Let my friends go and live
in London, New York,
Amsterdam and Sydney
but in Pretoria I earn my keep
and no other city
calls me away from my fatherland
since only Pretoria
is right for me.
I am from Pretoria,
a place where princes stay
and if you go to Pretoria
you will find many Afrikaner princes there.
In Pretoria noble Afrikaners are everywhere
and they build their lives
in the right way
and like their ancestors,
still cling to the hand
of the Almighty God.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Shot (intro)
phones ringing babies crying]
white guy: Hi how ya doin' ?
nurse: Doctor's office could you hold please? Yes sir can I help you?
white guy: Yes I have a four o'clock appointment I'm here to get my shot.
nurse: Okay come right with me.
white guy: This isn't gonna take too long is it?
nurse: Here we are here have a seat right here.
white guy: Oh great thanks thanks.
nurse: The doctor will be right with you, and can I get you anything?
white guy: Uhh maybe a glass of water would be great.
nurse: Okay great.
[door shuts]
white guy: Damn, what is taking so long?
[door creaks open, funky music in the backround]
doctor Ice Cube: Yo wussup?
white guy: Hi how ya doin' ?
doctor Ice Cube: Alright, let's see what we got here uhh, Mr. White huh?
white guy: Yes sir that's me.
doctor Ice Cube: heh, I heard you don't like shots do ya?
white guy: No I sure don't.
doctor Ice Cube: Aww you're a big boy uhh this won't hurt a bit,
jus' uhh turn your head...
white guy: Let's get this over with.
doctor Ice Cube: yeah uhh, rub a little alcohol on there, right here,
for you, and uhh brace yourself!
[click]
[BANG
song performed by by Ice Cube
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Shot
[phones ringing, babies crying]
White guy: hi how ya doin ?
Nurse: doctors office, could you hold please? yes sir can I help you?
White guy: yes I have a four oclock appointment, Im here to get my shot.
Nurse: okay, come right with me.
White guy: this isnt gonna take too long is it?
Nurse: here we are, here have a seat right here.
White guy: oh great, thanks, thanks.
Nurse: the doctor will be right with you, and can I get you anything?
White guy: uhh maybe a glass of water would be great.
Nurse: okay great.
[door shuts]
White guy: damn, what is taking so long?
[door creaks open, funky music in the backround]
Doctor ice cube: yo wussup?
White guy: hi how ya doin ?
Doctor ice cube: alright, lets see what we got here uhh, mr. white huh?
White guy: yes sir thats me.
Doctor ice cube: heh, I heard you dont like shots do ya?
White guy: no I sure dont.
Doctor ice cube: aww youre a big boy uhh this wont hurt a bit,
Jus uhh turn your head...
White guy: lets get this over with.
Doctor ice cube: yeah uhh, rub a little alcohol on there, right here,
For you, and uhh brace yourself!
[click]
[bang!]
song performed by by Ice Cube
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Times Like These
Baby, will you be my girl
Kristi, will you be my girl
Ill take you to a better place,
Theres no pain and no disgrace in a perfect world
Well drive that ragtop cadillac
Well drive that ragtop cadillac
Straight across the nevada line
Radio playin hair flying
No turning back
Chorus
Hey babe, I live for times like these
Hey babe, I live for times like these
Baby, I live for times like these
Give me a reason to believe
For a moment times stands still
For a moment times stands still
I feel no shame, I feel no violence
For the moment and in the silence
I feel that peace.
Hey babe, I live for times like these
Hey babe, I live for times like these
Baby, I live for times like these
Give me a reason to believe
Solo
Sun rises in the east
Sun rises in the east
For a moment in your eyes,
I catch a glimpse of a different life
Smile at fate
Hey babe, I live for times like these
Hey babe, I live for times like these
Baby, I live for times like these
Give me a reason to believe
Theres no famous final scene, no movie starts
No limousines, everything well leave behind
Theres no waiting on the other side
Just you and me for a better place
I swear I live for times like these
Youre all I need
Thats all I need
Youre all I need
song performed by by Poison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Highly Skilled AND Quite the Professional
When she squeezed my 'noogies'
I indeed had a fit.
I wanted her to immediately produce,
Her 'learning' certificate.
'Look at the wall to your right and cough.
No need to look at me,
As if you are pissed off.'
She insisted she was a doctor.
Dressed in black and not a white smock.
She told me to dropp my pants to examine...
My prostrate and other things I've got.
'Bend over. Spread those cheeks for me.'
~Do you understand how uncomfortable I am? ~
'I'm only here to do your prostrate examine.
Your primary doctor made this request.
And I'm a 'specialized physician'!
Mister Pertillar?
Get over it!
You can 'now' pull up your pants.'
I was hot!
Not for her.
Just hot.
And I was more shocked that she was beautiful.
That part of my prostrate appointment...
I came to hate.
But it was too late.
She was highly skilled AND quite the professional.
With a big diamond 'rock' on her left hand.
Out of my league.
And clearly not 'dating' material.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Calculating
It’s as if you talk in a foreign language
with my hard drive
and still the operating system
knows instinctively where
to find answers
to bind words
and gestures to meaning,
but my eyes are blinded
like scanners
that find no picture of you.
Somewhere the data did disappear
in the harassment of life
and I am trying to calculate
where the dragon lies in me
that eats up the facts
but maybe it’s better
to get a appointment
and to load your new programs
person to person
and to communicate
with lips upon lips
and to operate body to body
than to unscrew this old rattletrap
to replace my heart.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Six o’clock on a Friday morning
It’s six o’clock on a Friday morning
and I wait for my bus
and across the street,
the lights are burning cheerful and yellow
in the square and dome shaped windows
of the state library
and I wonder what documents are kept there
Street hawkers sell newspapers and sweets
in front of the Pretoria News,
while passengers are already
catching busses in rows.
There’s an icy chill
that hangs in the morning dawn light
and there’s a skew pointed obelisk
that is in front of the high court chambers
and a newspaper heading
talks about the recession
that is blowing hot and cold,
but it’s freezing
and the cold even eats
right through my leader jacket.
On the east side of Vermeulen Street
the sky becomes a light yellow,
while the blue of the heaven
folds open all over the rest
and streetlights stand in a long row
up the street past traffic lights.
Schoolgirls dressed in blue
are watching school boys with red jerseys
and young women
stand and shake
from the cold and I wonder,
how the old red delivery bicycle
behind the pillar
are not getting stolen
where it stands every morning on its place.
There’s a street sign that points to the Pierneef museum
into the L te Groen Eureka factory building,
but it’s still too early
to go and look at paintings
and I wonder how
the Pierneef paintings inside looks.
On the side of a building
I am amazed at the Tswane sign,
but this big city
will always stay Pretoria for me
and I wonder how people
can build buildings so pressed into each other
and look at old and new buildings
standing rowed in onto each other
and the bus stays away,
while others come and go
and I wait
a while longer in the cold.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I Don't Think So
I Don't Think So
We've been through this time together
AlI in my mind the love was so alive
Oh I never wanted for another
Then I saw the beginnings of a Iie
Good times and the bad times
Through the good times and the bad times with me
Good times and the bad times
Yeah I wonder why I never see
Good times and the bad times
Oh maybe there was always something wrong
Good times and the bad times
Did l wait too long
Chorus:
You said you'd love me for all of your life
I don't think so
Through the best of the best and the worst of the times
I don't think so
You said the world was a beautiful place
l don't think so
You swore the love was perfectly sale
I don't think so
People can only stay together
If in their hearts they know they can say what's on their minds
Would you say
Good times and the bad times
If it can't really be then I gotta move on
Good times and the bad times
Is it really time
Chorus: (repeat)
Said the check's in the mail and the maiI's on time
I don't think so
Said out of touch ain't out of mind
I don't think so
Couldn't live without me, and that's a fact
I don't think so
Love is real and it's not an act
I don't think so
Come on
Good times and the bad times
I don't think so
Good times and the bad times
Baby our love was a beautiful thing
I don't think so
Good times and the bad times
You said you'd love me for all of your life
I don't think so
Good times and the bad times
Through the best of the best and the worst of times
I don't think so
l don't think so baby oh baby oh baby come on
I don't think so
The love was right but the loving was wrong
song performed by by Hall & Oates
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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At Springs
I am trying to get a job
at Springs
and wonder why people live here
away from Johannesburg
and Pretoria
and what fountains
spring out at this place
and all that I find
is rotten smells
rising from the Blesbok river
where sewerage is flowing in freely.
The town lies stretched out
up to Brakpan
and has two internet cafés
that I know about
and a computer shop
where the people
know less about computers than I
and my animals
may not come into the house
and I must explain why
they are barking at the gate.
One of my cats
Lurks in the a storm water drain
against the road
and I am tired and fed up
with lifting concrete blocks
with a crowbar
to free the Persian cat
on his cries for help.
The mines are stripped bare
and at places there are pans
with poison
that has accumulated there for years
and at times there are friendly neighbours
with whom I talk
and virtually every second day
the weather is overcast
with falling rain
and thunderbolts
hitting outside around my animals
but mother’s garden
is a real idyllic spot
with hollyhocks bursting out pink
over fallen trees
in a rock garden,
geraniums of all colours
growing very rampant,
flame lilies blooming orange,
morning glories coming up anywhere
and a much larger vegetable garden
than I could plant in Pretoria
and over the yard
the Creator spreads His hand
and there are new flowers
sprouting almost every day
and I am astonished
at how easy
things grow here
and how high
the plants are suddenly
and the yard is so big
that the animals
almost play in a field
and it’s actually past lovely
to stay for a time
with my mother
as she loves me very much.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Dr. Beat
Doctor, Ive got this feelin deep inside of me, deep inside of me
I just cant control my feet when I hear the beat, when I hear the beat
Hey doctor, could you give me somethin to ease the pain
cause if you dont help me soon gonna lose my brain
Gonna go insane
I just dont know, dont know
How Im gonna deal with you
Doc, doc, doc, doc, doctor beat
I just dont know, dont know
Wont you help me doctor beat
Doc, doc, doc, doc, doctor beat
Wont you help me doctor beat
(repeat previous line 3 times)
Say, say, say, doctor
I got this fever that I cant control
That I cant control
Music makes me move my body
Makes me move my soul
Makes me move my soul
Doc, you better give me somethin
cause Im burnin up
Yes, Im burnin up
Doc, youve got to find a cure
Or were gonna die
Yes, were gonna die
I just dont know, dont know
How Im gonna deal with you
Doc, doc, doc, doc, doctor beat
I just dont know, dont know wont you help me doctor beat
Doc, doc, doc, doc, doctor beat
Wont you help me doctor beat
(repeat line 3 times)
Doctor doctor, wont you please help me
You gotta help me, you gotta help me
If you got trouble, cant stop your feet
Pay a little visit to doctor beat
Doc, doc, doc, doc, doctor beat
Wont you help me doctor beat
(repeat line 3 times)
song performed by by Gloria Estefan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Unfortunately times change
Unfortunately times change
and sometimes not for better
but for worse.
At state intitutions
you wait for hours
in one queue after the other
while highly incapable people
work at African time
where tomorrow is another day
and do not exactly know
how to solve problems
and call on superiors
one after the other
and it happened to me
that I had to collect
a tax clearance certificate
and after waiting
needlessly in three wrong queues
my temper was rising
and when I got
to the right location
a big notice on the wall said
that the taxman
honours your privacy
and do not give out
any information
to other people
and without a word
or any resistance
or any demand
to proof that I may act
on her behalf.
my girlfriend’s documents
was printed out
and handed to me.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Heaven Can Wait....(Revised)
Heaven is the place where I want
to be when I am gone but right now...
Heaven can wait!
Heaven can wait...till I can help my sister
who got cancer, my brother who is lost in
life, my nephews and nieces who I can
be of help in terms of good advice and
financial hardships; give a lending hand
to my best friends who made me
who I am now!
Heaven can wait till I am able to
prove myself of what I want to be;
what I can be and achieve my
goals in life; help others
in varied ways in shaping them
for what they want to be with my
my hard-earned wisdom and experience!
Heaven can wait till I believe again in
Creation rather than in Evolution;
believe that there is a GOD than
convincing myself that there is None
or continuously doubt if there is One!
Heaven can wait till I find a church again
that I sincerely believe in that can give me
my last rites; a true messenger of Christ
not only of what he preaches of the Bible
but what kind of life we all should lead and
follow his example.
Heaven can wait till I fully understand
my own existence...do I exist to live or
live to exist; till I am able to comprehend
the mysterious Cycle of Life...birth and
death and the life span in-between.
What if I don’t end up in Heaven,
then I have to find out if there is such a
thing called Hell!
Heaven can wait...till I can assure and
find out for myself that I have a soul from
diehard Theologists so I can get there
or find out from brilliant Scientists that I
will decompose just like the rest of the
animals and just become part of the fertile soil.
Heaven can wait and fill that that space
for people who died because of poor health,
were in great pain and did not enjoy life;
the young ones who died because some
people are heartess; for babies whose lives
are aborted and never given chance to live.
Heaven can wait till I convince myself again
that there is Life after Death and there is
place called Heaven and a place called Hell!
If there is a Heaven...can you please wait;
and if I belong in Hell, God forgive me...
for Heaven's sake!
poem by Don Allan Dinio
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Could the U, N, be shut down for good?
Their list of totalitarian dictatorships just grows,
They’re at the UN assembly and everyone knows,
But we can’t do a thing about it for some strange reason,
Not politically correct and might look like treason.
But something is wrong and they seem to have taken over the place,
And nothing they do in their homeland is considered a disgrace,
And politicians love to get a UN appointment there,
Where they nod their heads and no need to think or say a prayer.
I suggest that maybe the whole UN place could be shut down,
Or maybe have it just for democracies even though appointees frown,
But where do we find someone with the power to do this?
How in hell did we get into this obvious UN mess?
Nov 14th,2010
poem by James Bredin
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Sign Of The Times
Heading for the classroom yesterday
The kids file through the metal machine
It finds what they may hide
No it just aint right...
A sign of the times
Another church is burning to the ground...
Looking for the vandals and theyre nowhere to be found
But the hates alive
A sign of the times, sign of the times...
A sign of the times, sign of the times...
(accoustic break)
Would someone please let me know how we have spun out of control?
Has the captain let go of the wheel?
Or could we please try to find a way to be a bit more kind?
I see the road to tomorrow in the haze!
(solo)
On the senate floor they congregate
Many pockets lined with green,
From those behind the scenes, yeah they take the bribe ( its on the side )
A sign of the times, sign of the times...
A sign of the times, sign of the times...
(accoustic break)
song performed by by Queensryche
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Our second remark is, that the office is of divine appointment, not merely in the sense in which the civil powers are ordained of God, but in the sense that ministers derive their authority from Christ, and not from the people.
quote by Charles Hodge
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Drive In, Drive Out
Say, all you sisters and brothers
All matters if I divide us so
Our own political words they ponder us so...
This side, that side
Right, wrong... driving me back
Drive in drive out, Im leaving
I come back again
Im leaving...
Hell has its own place, we carry on....
Well, everyone sit inside, watch whats going on
Well, as you will drive in, and drive us apart.
Dont trust words that delight us or
Get into my heart... yeah....
Ohh ah ah leah ho... I run away, run away
Run away guy, run away guy,
Run out, run out...
You and me sister, sometimes I feel you figure it all out.
You and me sister, oh, weve got it right.
Our differences, differences, mother and in cold life,
Why must I steadfast, stand by what I think is right?
Oh drive in drive out, Im leaving
Drive in drive out, Ill come back again
Drive in drive out, Im leaving
Hell has a place for everyone, its here: alone.
Oh, the devil hes not hiding underground, hes waiting by your front door
Well, tv men take you away, rock up your world
Too many wont leave you alone, drive you alone
Man, when Im going back again, light in some peace....yeah...
song performed by by Dave Matthews Band
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Without a car in Pretoria
There are few things that bother as much
as to look for you car
and almost to count the other car’s,
when you come round a corner
and to be without a car in Pretoria
and to know the fear
that it is stolen.
There are fewer things that bother as much
as when two of your cars get stolen
and something is wrong with the insurance of both
and to be without any car in Pretoria
and to tell everyone that you call
of your predicament
and no Police ever being able to find any car
and every similar car that drives by
looks to you like the stolen one
and the robbers are now much better off than you.
There are few things that bother as much
as to walk
and stand with a hand stretched out
and the worst is to tell other people
and to be without a car in Pretoria
and to read comprehension in their eyes.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Still I Find You Deeper In My Heart
There are times that I wonder how much you do love me
when people want to drive us apart
and still I find you deeper in my heart,
even when people fabricate lies,
when they hit, spit and lay accusations.
There are times that I wonder how much you do love me
even when there is resistance in every sentence of yours,
even when people bring you to anger by saying things
and still I find you deeper in my heart
and I know that nothing can conquer true love,
while I keep to the oath that I have made.
There are times that I wonder how much you do love me
and even if my words and deeds as if without affect
when people hide behind hearsay
and still I find you deeper in my heart,
as if our love continually starts over again,
when people want to squash everything beautiful between us.
There are times that I wonder how much you do love me
and still I find you deeper in my heart.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I wonder what a bus ticket buys
The driver fights with a passenger
that she thinks sleeps at times
on the top level of the bus
and something must be wrong
in her life
as she climbs into a child
because he did not take a school bus
I wonder what
a bus ticket buys,
but it stays far better
to take a bus
than to have to walk a long distance.
I wonder
if it takes a special person
to drive a bus,
or what rights it gives
above that of other people
if you climb behind the steering
of a bus?
Somebody asks the white
bus driver lady
for what she is looking
this morning and suddenly
she’s silent
and I can ride in peace further
while she swallows her tongue.
Bus drivers that are rude
I have experience a lot of times
and it has happened
that one stares hateful
at me
because I am white
and wanted to cut
every ticket of the coupon.
Still I am thankful
to use a bus
when I need one
and that some drivers
makes it a pleasure
to drive with them.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Care For The Elderly - A Conference
They gather in the Greeting Place
A smaller flock than once expected
Still elated - out from work and office
All around - the empty space
Is pressing on the keen - collected
Taking pointers - out from work and office
Inside the hall there is small trace
Of anyone to ‘stand corrected'
They're all working - inside work and office
Still curtains drift - in finest lace
The certain eyes not disaffected
Hide behind the lace of work and office
And speakers high in group embrace
Speak on and clap in unelected
Fluffy tones of every Higher Office
The higher speakers high disgrace
Is hid below their undetected
Lack of use - their waste of work and office
In keening grief - tears hid from face
A speaker - practical - affected
Brings human life within their work and office
And human thoughtfulness will base
Its Older Care on need selected
From that shown - away from work and office
Its time to fix he High and chase
By methods certain - unsuspected
Out form power - out from work and office
Foregather - follow to their base
See them - incestuous - connected
By wires unseen - inside work and office
27Mar2011 CPR
poem by Charlotte Peters Rock
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