Phillippa Yaa de Villiers (born 17 February 1966) is a South African writer and performance artist who performs her work nationally and internationally. She is known for her poetry, which has been published in collections and in many journals and anthologies as well as for her autobiographical one-woman show, Original Skin. Among her many awards are the 2009 National Arts Festival/de Buren Writing Beyond the Fringe Prize and a 2011 South African Literary Award. She is the recipient of the 2012 Overseas Scholarship for studies in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

In 2014, she was chosen as the Commonwealth Poet and was commissioned by the Commonwealth Education Trust to write a poem in celebration of Commonwealth Day. She performed her poem, entitled "Courage — it takes more", at Westminster Abbey on March 10 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, as well as senior politicians, high commissioners and dignitaries. She lectures in Creative Writing at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Freedom song
By Phillippa Yaa de Villiers

Under the Saturday morning sky

Kimberley Pride!

seven leggy drag queens stride by

in minis ̶

mince mince mince ̶

a baker’s dozen of lesbians

bodyguards armoured in denim and leather

swagger swagger ̶

Kimberley Pride!

The whole procession sweating at 32 degrees

all smiling hard and wishing for a breeze

a massive rainbow flag like a parachute

overloaded taxis cars with queens in the boot

blonde wigs mascara boys and girls look sexy!

Red yellow green orange and what would you think

If the future was pink the future is pink

Take a ride on Kimberley Pride!

Past the big hole of disappointment -unafraid of disappointing

past the church of disapproval - unafraid of disapproval

past the Russells and the Beares and the KFC

past the disses and the hisses and the terrified screams

grinning like a new bride, Kimberley Pride!

Tuelo teases Uncle, why you don’t go

to the pageant, and watch those girls show

their pretty necks and legs and faces. Uncle says no.

That’s not for me. We grew up different, you see.

That is not normal.

Normal?

Yes, normal. Like a man is a man, a woman is a woman…

Tuelo says, oh, I see.

You grew up with normal things like Non-European toilets, Bantu Education, thinking you were uncivilized,

scared of being a play-white, relaxing your hair, litres of Lemon-lite, slegs blankes you can’t sit here

slegs blankes so you can’t enter, slegs blankes so you’re nothing more than ja baas nee baas, pass laws and perms

Tuelo grins: Aga shem

you didn’t grow up with pride…

Definitely not with Kimberly Pride!

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers - Poetry Archive