Poetry Bulawayo

"I do not have any coins So for your change Will you take condoms or cigarettes?" Unconsciously she shrinks my choices To either lung cancer Or ninety-something-percent "safe" sex And the percentage decreases considerably If it is your first time Or the donors gave us an expired batch She repeats "Condoms or cigarettes?" I don't want lung cancer I don't want ten percent unsafe sex  either So I smile and say; "It's okay You can just keep the change"

I tried to get to you but couldn't reach you in time   you faded away into the night   you shaped into the silhouettes and blended into the city like immorality   it stretched its hands and engulfed you, you felt at home. I tried to reach out to you shouting your name in the crowds feeling for you on the walls but couldn’t reach you in time you lied naked on the ground   camouflaged by dirt I think you saw me and laughed at my stupidity. I tried to tell you watch out for the city but couldn’t get to you in time once I thought you had ran back to the country but I was lying, you had sailed with the waves. I wanted to get to you but couldn’t reach you in time   I found you in an alley drugged and raped   you said you were dancing with poles watching lust rise from men roaring like a lion.   You say they begged you to tame it   I guess you felt important, occupied, needed, you felt a void fill in you this is...

  Image - www.essence.com cheap Chinese dress ring where there should be a diamond wedding ring because the baby's daddy can never gather enough cents to be hubby and does not have enough sense to be Daddy so poor little ring finger never to be bruised by real gold never to have its 'natural beauty' distorted by a manicure the closest it will get to being soothed is when it dips into warm water to wash Baby's undisposable diaper