Interest

In the Best Interests of…

The child

not just in the squatters behind

where the benign abuse is tossed aside daily routine

but in the high walled houses

where that little one

still needs that love and security

the walls façade

it’s not enough

they have nowhere else to look

the filter of the frowns and innuendo’s

is open when they are so small

look to the child drawing

happy family

hand placements temporarily normal

law bound

consider little world fence

close to the bone nailed interests

the mothers

let them speak about that image

that bubble of beyond tired it’s okay

the many lines of perfection

crossed, to the other side of

nothing

let them scream and say no

enough

help

to the fathers

let them be humbled past that ego

let the history page image

the frowned on talking about feeling

go

for once and all

in the world of it’s okay

between the falling from survival

meet the confidence to

be yourself

in the best interests

of everyone.

Garden Lights

Solar powered
gaining light strength all day
for when the sun sets
when she can walk through the garden
of fairy lights
reflected in the rising stars above

School Run

I wonder if we know

how many there are

in the cold early hours of the morning

next to the new Cosmos flowers next to the road

wearing their government issued uniforms

subtle differences in the hundreds I see

maroon skirt, yellow shirt

grey pants, light blue shirt

children upon children

the students

They walk fast

almost a backpack restricted run

some on bicycles

kilometer upon kilometer on this one main road

to schools

The youngest are five or six

toppling over with the weight of the school bag

neater than I am this morning

walking away

to schools

I look down at the pretty steering wheel

hardly able to keep eyes on the road

this capsule car

this life

suddenly feels in-congruent

too shined and polished 

too much

Keyhole

For a few dirty copper coins
you may look through
what do you see?
I ask her

She takes her time
she peers and cranes her neck
to get a better view

It's not easy
she says
turning to glance at her empty purse
worried, her illusive last chance slipping away

Hold on
she says
I see a kitten pushing a wheelbarrow
pushing a wheelbarrow with a stolen star on it
the star I've been looking for

Can it fly back through the keyhole
fly back to me?
she looks back at me

Would you rather

Would you rather
let me drown out my hearing
so that I don't hear those screams
the head bashes
the words I wish I never heard, obliterating my innocence
the seeming silent on off lights of the ER

Would you rather
let me close those eyes of the past forever
so that I don't see that little frame
that couch
the bones, the eyes that got so hurt, every time
the pills took the life away like a knife
obliterated
the wards upon the wards, the misheard faces lined in beds
when they were so young

Would you rather
let me shut out the pain so deep
beating out the bone and blood
I cannot ever find
the sucked out hole that will never leave
the confusion
an undying hope,
seeing
the undefeated magical places we made
hearing the the voices of our own choices
the ever lasting hope to understand
what happened to her

Air Raid

Head down first
 block out the noise
the defeat of the shaking when the bombs drop
splintering words, harsher than shrapnel
in the dark chaos
all the children are saying prayers
calling for mums and dads
she is calling
again
and again
and again
from far across the room
she doesn't stop
we take care of each other, you see
she keeps calling my name..
until she hears me crawl out from underneath the pillows
'hey, I'm okay,
I'm okay
I'm fine.'

Duck, and cover
from the shot down gazed out effects of the air
They never called to ask if we survived
rescue, 911, copy
can you hear me
it was expected like the simplest Morse code
bravo on the delta
she called, 'are you okay?'
over.....

Neutral Territory

You don't say much
removed from the hourly paid
the rate of the undisguised
new natural palettes, views
what goes out of those gazes
fires of alarm
firing like a machine gun


Do you believe?
that those unspoken
gazed words
don't find a spectator
probably in the back row
questioning his own words
full up
not saying much

Refugees

He said
he ran fast
he caught a bus to the border
he paid the driver R300 to let him hide
he made it here
he got a job
he left his three young sisters
still a child himself
he sends them money for mielies
and money for grinding
everything has a price
enough to eat at the end
he gets beaten up
three against one
with a fence pole in the night
because he is different
from Zimbabwe
the country of stone houses
he shouted 'let me go'
but no one heard
he went to the clinic
the police raided and threw many in a truck
they ask R200 to let him go without papers
the system works for both

She said
she walked across the grey Limpopo river
she was told where it is shallower
but they know too
she found the police at the other side
they took her money
they said'close your eyes
she consciously lost consciousness
she shouted 'let me go'
but no one heard
they dropped her down the road
with nothing to start in this country
and three children waiting, wondering,
far away
in abandoned houses of stone
she found a job
they turned a blind eye to her lack of papers
she kept her eyes down
he kept his eyes down
they worked
waiting for payment and passports
in a distant confusing future