A radio phoner-in
comes over all
lyrical and poetic-like
(and captures me)

We are all fatigued
I think he lamented
one fine morning
down Africa-South

Fatigued
Exhausted
Exasperated

Fatigued by the antics
Fatigued by the shenanigans
Fatigued by the goings-on
Fatigued by the everyday

and it is not just
here down Africa-way
though we do trump
most pieces of land
but for literacy and numeracy

(World Read Aloud Day
has come and has gone
until the next time
we say hello in 11 languages
and continue the us and them)

Coughing and spluttering
when we’re not singing
and behaving all patriotic
(it’s just not tennis or is it
we the perpetual begging bowl)

We are all fatigued
by the state of the state
the nation-state and the state
of the nation

The radio caller’s voice
gets a trifle high
hysterical almost
as he sounds off
(he needs a sick note)

Is that the state
we are in

A SAFM radio early morning show at almost the end of the week gets this going.