<article_title>Women of the year: On bubbles, babies and baskets </article

AOSIS OpenJournalswww.openjournals.netinfo@openjournals.nethttp://www.literator.org.za0258-22792219-8237<article_title>Women of the year: On bubbles, babies and baskets </article_title>Patricia G. Maritz1 1Department of Philosophy, University of Zululand, South Africa Patricia G. Maritz1patricia.maritz@gmail.comPrivate Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa108635110.4102/lit.v35i1.1086Maritz, P.G., 2014, ‘Women of the year: On bubbles, babies and baskets’, Literator 35(1), Art. #1086, 1 page. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/lit.v35i1.1086 © 2014.The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.Down-bent astride the rowdy rapids - slim and strong, braids skimming the water – the hazel-skinned laundresses Robes of cyan, saffron, vermillion… reflect through the shirred wimple of a capering current, billowing through white suds and fast fingers Stain-blended bubbles  frisk on the water, down-blown… adrift , cyclamen, citron and indigo  streaked mud marbles the river banks Garments rinsed, wrung and dried -  are lifted to the wind,  folded into baskets - raised to crowns … Maiden, sister, mother…  bare breasted with robes waist-ward sliding, as infants raveningly clutch at a nipple to mouthHigh up a hill… they wind their way along the footpath, figures diminishing as it curves, until only a basket above the summit bobs