MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Barnie Groenewald, previously the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) speaker and previously the Ward 7 councillor in Mossel Bay, is a poet.
After being urged to do so, Barnie contacted Mossel Bay Advertiser to speak about his poetry writing and he sent some poems to the Advertiser.
Barnie also has a good voice and reads his poems beautifully. He has been writing poems for about nine years now.
Currently, he works for government entities and corporations as a legal consultant, a mediation and dispute resolution facilitator and a trainer.
He was the Mossel Bay Ward 7 councillor from 2016 to 2021 and GRDM speaker from 2018 to 2021.
Barnie lives in Reebok, outside Mossel Bay. He is originally from Potchefstroom and was city secretary on the council there for 27 years. He is a past president of the Potchefstroom Mooi Rotary Club.
He was also the town clerk of the Ikageng Town Council, part of the greater Potchefstroom Municipality.
Barnie is known for his warm, friendly, fun personality. "I love riding my Vespa and spending time with my pets," he says. He has a cat, Josie, and a mini Schnauzer dog, called Layla.
Listen here: To listen to Barnie reading Vissermansdrome
Here are two of Barnie's poems:
Vissermansdrome
En wat vreet jy...
Jou vette Galjoen??
Issit Periwinkle...of Perlemoen??
En jy...
Ou meneer Kabeljou??
Waarvan hou jy om aan te kou?
Issit Tjokka of Sardiens??
Enigiets Net om jou te diens...!
Kom vat jy net vandag my aas...
Dan wys ek jou...
Wie is Vis se Baas!
Vrede, tevrede
Wees stil...
My kind.
Luister na die sagte Suidewind...
Die branders wat sagkens breek,
oor sagte sand se strand
en elke bekende rots bly klots.
Weet...
Ek is lief vir jou,
my kind.
Kyk na die sterrehemel,
wat wink...
En weet so...
Glinster my liefde vir jou,
my kind.
My hart se punt.
Josie
Layla
"Spore. Ons laat almal spore, in hart en siel, op ons lewenspad," says Barnie Groenewald of this photograph he took near his home.
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