Monday 31 December 2012

Water




 
We look around the house: new sterile naked the lights on the trees play with the wind their shadows welcoming our steps at the stairs a cup full of water
We listen a fleeting moth visits we follow her path mother wades through the packets we weep in silence

Monday 24 December 2012

Monday 17 December 2012

Singing



I like I like it like that come here if you think you know what I need
our sister sings around the house our Mother begs her to stop our sister keeps on and on Mother snaps slaps our sister she keeps singing and singing slap sing slap sing slap sing slap sing slap sing mouth dribbling red song slap song slap takes a knife
There is no more singing.

Monday 10 December 2012

M




 
Sitting down to tea and cake in our new country, not sure, never sure
Memories come along the leaves fallen on the paths the sun pale and unbecoming
we try and never quiet leave
 

Monday 3 December 2012

lady



The Lady sat down to eat breakfast black coffee a piece of toast TV on radio on mulling over the rain in the backdrop winter approaches the lady thinks of farewells the new country old and unknowing soon it is time to go cleans the cup collects the crumbles opens the door steps outside the greyness frightens her for an instant she is in the tropics cowering with heat the man behind her

inhale exhale
inhale exhale
inhale exhale
inhale exhale
walk slow walk slow walk slow
walk slow walk
walk

The neighbour's cat appears she is back in the greyness


Monday 26 November 2012

Singer






The singer visited the city once the scent of rain sweat and blood scoured her entrails


In the house she roams from room to room pondering the fate that has befallen her

the walls swelter water rivulets

she breathes the movements restricted the clothing glued to every pore no respite

 

Monday 19 November 2012

says










Our sister lives in a faraway city near a lake. She has learnt the language and she says she likes the crisp days of winter and the grey sky. She has sworn never to come back. Sometimes, we receive a postcard with all the buildings painted in black. We know it's her. Mother does not allow us to talk about her, Father looks away into the horizon. Her room is closed, only the maid goes in to clean the dust off.

Monday 12 November 2012

Eight








eight months pregnant and no home to speak of. He thinks I have betrayed him. It was only an act of mercy: the poet needed company to stave off death, I laid down next to him. That is all. Now I am wandering the streets with this cargo. I am a ship with no port.

Monday 5 November 2012

mud









The road, unsurmountable, twisted, breaks the car. Trapped in the rain and the mud, our sister prays for her future. She gets out of the car, walks towards the river.

We say goodbye

Monday 29 October 2012

Night




The night is here I patrol the city, the lights beckon. I travel at the speed of light a riverblood coast the surface. I ride the sky, nobody can touch me. I am standing at the end, someone is coming, they ask how much it is, I look through him. I am, a soul lurking in the shadows, they go away, I clutter the space
 
There is nobody left, they embrace in silence , nobody breathes.

Monday 22 October 2012






The river shimmers under the stars they are hidden behind the bushes they know she will come and sooth their pain the moon rises high above the sky the bats fly and the nocturnal stream litter the place with its sounds nobody moves they wait the first rays appear she still not there they wait a little longer they will be back tomorrow

Monday 15 October 2012

All right




We wanted to see her again. They said it was not possible, she was too busy always. We tried every week for forty years. Many times they threaten to jail us, but we kept on going. We just wanted to see her one more time and tell her that everything was going to be all right.






Monday 8 October 2012

The






We pile up our old toys and throw them away. We are cross with our sister who will not get rid of anything....
 
Eternal flame bronze statues The Great Leader upon us, plied with fervour we cry and shout paroxysm a red sea
 the promised land 
We are someone with The Great Leader

Monday 1 October 2012

Be









Beguiled, lost, trembling
 Our sister despaired
She looked in the mirror
 Weeping at the sight of growth
 
 Her lover strewn in a heap. The river, witness to their encounters, flooded. Our sister sits on the small beach.
 
 
 
 









Monday 24 September 2012

Village





The war decimated the village. There are only old women and children, and a few men too sick to do anything.

Monday 17 September 2012

T








We disappear at the bottom of the garden. The tree wall protects us from the sun. We whisper and stay forever. They came and look thorugh the house. They took the maid with them.
...........................................................................................................................................................
 Our sister, clothed in black, motionles in her chair, took too many pills. Mother said it was just one of those things. Father that the maid went through his papers and needed a fright. Our sister tears roll.

Monday 10 September 2012

D






I dream in languages I don't know
I desire the breeze of faraway places
I sit under the mango tree singing of foreign soils

Blind to the sun
Scattered

I dream

Monday 3 September 2012

H





Our bones rattle and the heart is heavy
We wait for her, we need her music
From time to time the breeze lightens
We think we can hear her breathing behind us
Hope just hope