Litnet

"My losses now lie quietly –
a landscape of perfect ruins, softly shining
with ferns and moss in the low light"

"In the scheme of things
I cast small shadows ..."

"I am of this gender
which has been shunned by society ..."

"I thought I had made a friend.
The muse stings while children sings."

"Hey you, Patience, I know you are in there."

"They were telling them that the moment
one saw the words 'Welcome to Bulawayo',
the city's appeal greeted one warmly."

"Remainders of the day
locked away inside the
health of a scientific sun."

"It was in this moment that I realised that I was missing something vital in this whole set-up. That there was a silence between us as well."

"Only do this I tell myself.
Write a poem for yourself.
That narrative is interspersed
With both despair and hope."

"Search Woolf’s voyage out ..."

"You threw me away./ Said you were tired."

"He wonders – how whole worlds can be buckled into suitcases or taped into wine cartons."

"I’ve abandoned this poem/ to watch a kite weighted/ by a flower pot/ inhale and exhale"

"the morning bulges/ with sparked green light"

An experimental poem in twelve haiku

"Malema, my Noah’s Ark./ My Jonah’s Whale./ The Johannesburg people’s patriarch./ My country of ice cream."

"The merboy seemed heavier, his breathing was slow, steady,/ his wide eyes fixed skywards – snagged by a full moon."

"existence stifles, drawing thick breath/ heaven has stripped to its underwear"

"I remembered/ Bantu education./ Hector Pieterson./ Youth taking to the streets."

"Desperately/ He distorted his vision/ And read between edges/ His eyes began to bleed."