The Pigeon Man

Noor, The District Six Museum, Cape Town

My Pigeons Came Home

My family and I moved to Athlone in 1975

together with my prize racing pigeons

I built a loft using the same wood I had

used in District Six

After caging them for three months I

released them to see if they would return

When I returned home that evening I went

directly to the loft

Not a single pigeon had come back

After a sleepless night I returned to work

Driving through the demolished landscape that

once was District Six

As I drove past the now empty plot that

used to be my home in District Six

I saw a sight that shook me to the core

My pigeons, all 50 of them, were on the

empty plot. They did not fly away when I

approached them but looked into my eyes as

If to say

"Where is our home?"

Noor 2000/05/08

"I won awards for that poem. After that poem, my friedns called me the Pigeon Man. But it was the saddest day of my life."

April 2017

Watercolour on Fabriano paper

42 x 59 cm

A quick sketch done and given to him in the moment he shared his story with me.

#portrait #watercolour #painting #pigeonman #districtsix #SouthAfricanstories #muslim #man #warmcolours #orange #sketch