Coin Shortages by Tinashe Tafirenyika

"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"

The City by Abel Dube

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 the city
that’s what it does to people

Baby Momma by Tinashe Tafirenyika

 

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