My Hero by Skaps The Advocate

Our journey has not been a smooth journey

Its never been sweet and rosey

Its been Bumpy and full of  storms

With a patient and loving driver

She is my hero

She is my mother

Swollen feet and High blood pressure

Unpredictable and unreasonable cravings

Supercharged moods and happy moments

A burgeoning tummy

You carried me nine months

Of sicknesses and no medication

You are my hero

You are my mother

In celebrating you

I celebrate your love

I celebrate your bravery

I celebrate your patience

Mama to show me the way

You would slap my right cheek

Cane me when angry but with great love

You could punish me

To give direction not to hurt me

How I wish I could do the same to my Norma

I can only watch and say stop it

We have been schooled and colonised  by the west

Mama you toiled

Worked hard and you still do

For me and my siblings you never rested

For us to have the precious meal on our table

From changing my diapers to my life coach

Mama you my hero

Mama i toiled worked my fingers out

Worked in the fields before and from school

As a child I saw a wicked and abusive mother

The western culture sees child labour

As an adult now I see a great teacher in you

You trained a winner

I love you mama

Mama you my hero

Now it’s the time

The time you sit down

Sit and be served like a queen

Take off the apron

It's the time I toil and put food on your table

Its time I changed your torn and patched wardrobe

From a servant to a queen

Mama you my hero

I love you 

Freedom by Zee Nyathi

You’re too mortal to understand

Why, I -

With this body

You call ’to die for ’

Still choose not to bandage my limbs

Or cripple my soul.

I dress the way I do

Not because of fashion deformity.

If it wasn't against the law,

I would walk naked

But I understand,

Ragged chic, Bohemian chic

Is as close I will ever get to Eden!

My being is expression

of freedom & spirituality.

The Overdue Letter by Matewe Dumisani Albert

I don’t eat chicken, may you please give me a job

Electricity, water and proper health care system

Oh! and papa this poem is too small for everything I need

But we can start with the ones that I mentioned

I do work and go to school simultaneously

Who said only women are good at multitasking?

As old as I am, which other future for me is in preparation?

Or you just want to boost up my tension?

Ngazviende!!! Hatizvide!!! Zvii zvacho?

Will this war cry make everyone else feel macho?

How do I succeed with?

Nothing else is selfish than a croc

If you can hear us, we are down here

The people you stepped on climbing up there

Do you know what happens when your time is up to be again down here?

You need the same people to step on from up there

I am claustrophobic, from this shell how do I penetrate?

I mean like at one point I thought Zimbabwe was lit

Before we faced this bottomless pit

Young Couple @ Heart Attack Greasy Grill by Michael Lee Johnson

I was a little boy,

tad hillbilly son,

patterned then in

present tense,

hardly old enough

tall enough to work

nor notice if I had pubic hair-

large or small endowment

growing up self-conscious

about short comings

narrow chest.

Just a teen aged nighttime boy

looking 4 a part-time hook up-

little girl play, with a five-card stud.

Preacher daddy raised me,

back-seat Christian boy

low on faith high on doobie

rolled cigarettes.

I took my 1st job, pancake flipper

@ Heart Attack–Greasy Grill, 24-7

pocket coins 4 tips, a few greasy dollars,

pancake short stack, secret menu was that

boss’s daughter, blood on hands,

my bun busted now stale, stained, & baked.

Eliminate lines unessential:

waitress injected me some spice

old time recipe.

The Next One by Holly Day

Image - https://13isyourluckynumber.wordpress.com/

she rolls over and sighs in her sleep

a song of distant cherubs

such a tiny, slight sound

the sound of the sun rising.

she reaches for me

instinctively

slips soft hands into

my worn palms, fingers that feel

too old.