Poetry Bulawayo

A lady, A rarity these days, Like a dodo, Asked me one day, Which turned out to be fine, If I was ok Then she began to leave. In response to her request, I said hold on, Then I began to lay out the basis, For my saying that I was fine. Said I, Holding all things constant, Freezing everything in time, Bridling even the wildest gale, I was fine. Then she did one thing, She beamed and said excitedly, Ceteris Paribus! We locked arms, And danced round and round, In the middle of the street, Sounds strange now that I am writing about it, But we did a happy little jig, And the sun was almost dropping, Into the pocket of the earth where it was carried, To the next day. So, We did this little happy jig, That never existed anywhere else, Till that moment we met, In other words, We invented it in our happy moment, And forgot about it after, Now it only exists, In this piece of poetry. Then we stopped dancing abruptly...

Caged in society with false patriots I learnt to speak of black conditions in abstract, Created ghetto heavens in shebeens where later sell-outs found their haven and with jazzy beats still playing in their minds those that spoke the truth found incarceration instead of freedom, I rose with a pen in my hand and resurrected guerrilla warfare against a system of corrupt politicians for me and my poetic comrades filled the terrain of media pages write on the spot trying to bring to a full stop the commas of my peoples plight, Intimidate the souls that writes still the ink flows shaping the word of truth, we run from political goons daily to find political asylum inside a book where words reign so get up ,stand up, don’t give up the fight....

Lacking in the expertise of those accustomed to the practice my wife and I completed for the first time what we later would perfect. Afterwards, my wife arose, excused herself, and padded through three rooms. Through three rooms, as I lay back, I could hear the porcelain singing to her urine.

Come along with me To see the blue Drought less world Of happiness Come Let’s stroll along The sandy shore And pick up The lovely pebbles Come Along with me To see the seagulls Fluttering and singing Across the blue waters of life Come let’s run Hand in hand Along the winding path Of the lovers’ park Come along with me To build those sand castles Along the sea shore Come Along with me Let’s swim Bath And leave Our sorrows In the deep blue sea.

This sylph came forward from the second row the second day of class and asked if I would edit her poem so it would read the way it should. I told her straightaway that even though this was writing class and I was the instructor, I couldn’t edit her poem and still have the poem be hers. Editing her poem, I said, would be a little like rape, just painful in a different way whether she understood that yet or not. 

'forever,' he said 'I’m scared, oh so scared,' she said he said, 'sweat blood I will for you' 'eternity then,' she said so boat set sail founded with tears 'longing' holding 'fright' crashing at infancy as it were he said, 'you shine no more! I 'eurika-ed' new light' ...................she said as a calm storm raged inside her battering her, cutting off her anchor sinking her ship so she bobs on aimlessly hoping.....hoping..... 'eternity then?' she asks ...............he says

One more breath drawn from the wintry air Yet another day, douse in stupor lost in tangling nightmares dark never to wake from deep slumber Sleep, sleep poor dead corpse Sorrows heap and cloud your face though you draw the breath of life slumber in your lungs draw empty air Swing to life a sprout of spring vibrancy and resonance like the cry of a newborn awake the slumber of your sleep Past dawn, this a new day Groan with the discovery of day the dreams of yesterday haunt today casting shadows as though she lived awake as from the death of history One more breath from summer’s heat spring is here, let down your hair Deep, deep, let loose a sigh Today is today, let out a scream.