night swimming

your dreams are shipwrecked
paint washed bleached
corners sharpened
boxed in the sea, floating unidentified

Autumn

she releases her feet
falls back
into the pile of golden leaves
with complete faith
as is she is falling into a tidal pool
of belly bubbling laughter

Children

Let a word of wisdom whisper
across the roads, across the plains,
across the squatter camps
to every child without a voice
giving them the right
to speak

Silo

He climbs down the ladder
he tries to protect himself
he buries a box deep beneath the ground
he has found a hiding place
beneath the ground
he is from another country, running in the night
to start a new life
leaving behind searing beating, heat, colour
hiding in in the night
in a silo

X Ray

A rib cage roped with a sensory illusion nerve coil
Ripped open, scoured clean
Exposed, helpless
Proving nothing

Today

No one can hold my heart
tired, darkened beating from yesterday
but my love can be crushed between these two magnets
leaving no space for a vacuum of thought

Departure

I still breathe
as if I am walking around your rooms
like a person you sync my breathing with yours
far away now at the rise of a mountain
a house becomes a home becomes a heart

Paths

The wood beneath my feet betrays me
I have followed the wrong forest path
I am looking for a dose of every day
I am looking for a dried up seahorse
collected on the beach by the old sea house
fallen from the trellis where I had my shell collection
I have strayed too far from the course of yesterday
from the bay with the fynbos
to the inland autumn leave table clothed forest

Unwrapped

I was seven
small, stunned and shy
when the school took a day trip to the zoo

I sat on the bench with my lunch
I forgot
we were supposed to bring plastic bag lunches
that day
I watched the other girls happily throw away their packets
cheeks burning, I wasn't hungry
I threw my lunchbox away quickly, my sandwich still wrapped in wax paper
no one noticed.