2010/08/06 Secret Agent Poem by Margaret Alice

Alet, angelic being that she is, brought the DVD
now I can saturate myself in my memories, watch
Daan Retief give his rendition of a super-cool secret
agent, listen to Fanus Rautenbach’s amused voice
making comments as narrator

Enjoy the antics of all the characters, Willem and Dada
bickering, Oom Zack making political speeches, experience
the atmosphere of Johannesburg in nineteen seventy-three
laugh at the over-the-top comedy of the wild kicks and blows
that would shame a Jackie Chan

Memorise Staal Burger’s nonchalant way of talking in order to
teaze Tiaan by threatening him with my GPS plans, embedding
his airy attitude in my memory in order to replay everything in my
mind as I make up my own stories, add-on to the original episodes
relive the enthusiasm of my youth when

The world seemed such an overpowering magical place, mostly dark
and threatening, but lightened by the flashes of stories and comedies
and the companionship of my siblings….


“Staal Burger” Afrikaans DVD, originally released in 1973