Abigail George
Goodreads Author
Born
in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Website
Twitter
Genre
Influences
Rilke, Goethe, Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath, Virgin
...more
Member Since
August 2012
URL
https://www.goodreads.com/abigailgeorge
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Abigail George
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Popular Answered Questions
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Winter in Johannesburg
by
2 editions
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published
2013
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The Scholarship Girl
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published
2019
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Africa Where Art Thou?
by
2 editions
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published
2011
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Of Smoke Flesh and Bone: Poetry Against Depression
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Feeding The Beasts
by
2 editions
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published
2012
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When Bad Mothers Happen
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All About My Mother
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published
2012
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Sleeping Under Kitchen Tables in the Northern Areas (The Broken Family, #1)
2 editions
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published
2015
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Letter to Petya Dubarova
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Brother Wolf and Sister Wren
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published
2015
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Abigail’s Recent Updates
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“You will always be the bread and the knife, not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.”
Billy Collins |
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Abigail
is now following
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Abigail
wants to read
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Abigail
wants to read
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Abigail
wants to read
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"
In October 1962 I was sent by the magazine I worked for to the reception in the Savoy Hotel in London where the South African writer Nadine Gordimer was presented with a prize of £1000 by Lord Chandos. I remember being greatly impressed by her humili" Read more of this review » |
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Abigail
liked an answer from
Mosab Abu Toha:
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Discovering my self.
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Abigail
liked an answer from
Mosab Abu Toha:
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Being unable to leave my country or return to it when I want.
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Abigail
is now following
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Abigail
wants to read
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“Yes, I know that now that there is truth in beauty and beauty in truth. My nature is to be depressive and come out of it and write, and enjoy writing and feeling as if I have a passion and excitement and love and euphoria for it and then I go 'back to sleep again' where I can eat and watch television and not work, not be productive and then just as if a magic switch is turned on I can do it all over again. I don't mind the being depressed part. Sometimes it seems to fuel me. The anger though is gone now that was there in my twenties and even earlier in my youth. Your voice is Tolstoy’s, Hemingway’s, Updike’s, Styron’s, Mcewan’s, Greene’s, Fugard’s, Kundera’s, Rilke’s while I am the incarnate of Radcliffe Hall crossing both genders effortlessly. You betray nothing. There is son in the picture. A small boy but you don’t introduce him to me. Obsessions are unhealthy creatures. They make you mentally ill, emotionally unstable; leave you with a chemistry of deep sadness in your life. I have my writing. It keeps me from disintegrating into fractions. I should stop now before I begin to make myself cry.”
― Winter in Johannesburg
― Winter in Johannesburg
“Nice people sometimes finish last but they are always the winners who take it all in the end.”
―
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“Woman lost (skin deep) like a damn fine thread in the fire
Woman of the world caught up in your black machinations
I was a woman who cried alone at night, who gave it all
away when she saw the good heart of the man inside
Woman caught standing up; her open parts are broken -
Someone's armour broke right through, it was you, you
For some reason I've been thinking about you, your light
Today, you poured out all the tension, the ego underground
Hibernating inside my heart. I was so close to it, to the flicker
Of love in a lonely street and I turned my head and walked
Away from the flame in your arms. As I put away the fun in
A house of fight I came across you and a mechanism in
My brain shifted chemically, walls caved in like the cadence
In your words and I was lost in the darkness. Even now in
Middle age I remember when desire was a popular drug
And everyone was selling it but I don't live to explore to be
Able to illuminate the proof of my existence, live to burn
Vicariously though the diamond mouth of sleeping stars.
From so much love, pictures of death arrived in black and
White photographs and you're perfect, you always were -
Illusions have no flaws; they're dangerous beings, smoke.
Could I take the moon back and still live with my great
Expectations of nostalgia, laughter, tears and suffering -
But they are all a part of me not the people of the stars,
Long dead videotape, the past has stained the symphony
Of my soul (like the wind through the trees) throughout
Me finding myself, my two left feet as a female poet
The warning was there of the noise of eternity, signs
That said, don't anger the sea, you have an ally in her.
When men grow cold listen to their stories and bask in
The glory of their genuine deaths, their winters, put
Them away so you can read them like the newspaper.
Once in a while you can go back to where you stood
In youth with your afternoon tea, the sun of God in our
Eyes - I am that kind of woman who lives in the past”
― Feeding The Beasts
Woman of the world caught up in your black machinations
I was a woman who cried alone at night, who gave it all
away when she saw the good heart of the man inside
Woman caught standing up; her open parts are broken -
Someone's armour broke right through, it was you, you
For some reason I've been thinking about you, your light
Today, you poured out all the tension, the ego underground
Hibernating inside my heart. I was so close to it, to the flicker
Of love in a lonely street and I turned my head and walked
Away from the flame in your arms. As I put away the fun in
A house of fight I came across you and a mechanism in
My brain shifted chemically, walls caved in like the cadence
In your words and I was lost in the darkness. Even now in
Middle age I remember when desire was a popular drug
And everyone was selling it but I don't live to explore to be
Able to illuminate the proof of my existence, live to burn
Vicariously though the diamond mouth of sleeping stars.
From so much love, pictures of death arrived in black and
White photographs and you're perfect, you always were -
Illusions have no flaws; they're dangerous beings, smoke.
Could I take the moon back and still live with my great
Expectations of nostalgia, laughter, tears and suffering -
But they are all a part of me not the people of the stars,
Long dead videotape, the past has stained the symphony
Of my soul (like the wind through the trees) throughout
Me finding myself, my two left feet as a female poet
The warning was there of the noise of eternity, signs
That said, don't anger the sea, you have an ally in her.
When men grow cold listen to their stories and bask in
The glory of their genuine deaths, their winters, put
Them away so you can read them like the newspaper.
Once in a while you can go back to where you stood
In youth with your afternoon tea, the sun of God in our
Eyes - I am that kind of woman who lives in the past”
― Feeding The Beasts
“If she's amazing, she won't be easy. If she's easy, she won't be amazing. If she's worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you're not worthy. ... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.”
― Bob Marley: Guitar Chord Songbook
― Bob Marley: Guitar Chord Songbook
“He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.”
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“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”
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“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
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“If you're reading this...
Congratulations, you're alive.
If that's not something to smile about,
then I don't know what is.”
― Monsters Under Your Head
Congratulations, you're alive.
If that's not something to smile about,
then I don't know what is.”
― Monsters Under Your Head

No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read ...more
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I always think of writing as a solitary activity but also an emotional one. I would love to read your mock-interview that you did on me. I think it's fine that you had to take liberties. I thought when I first came into the social media world that every one loves poetry and could connect with it. (Btw, congratulations on your books being published.) Thank you for writing back to me. I am including a link to two of my short stories in this comment as well. I hope we will be able to continue writing to each other. I hope you won't find it with any problems. You see because I like to write in the medium of short stories as well. Everything's a catalyst for me. (I was very happy when I read that you found me through a class on African Literature and was thinking to myself how does something like that happen.) Your words have really meant so much to me. Because in one way I also write to survive. Keep writing and sharing your gifts with the world.
http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/9874
http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/9863

Dec 01, 2022 05:59PM · flag
Dec 09, 2022 06:30AM · flag