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

Human Curtain

I have drawn a veil over the last year
where the sun felt oppressive
a constant unknown skull pressure

I have done this before
I drew a cloth across the nights
at the hospitals
I was blinking, confused
like a bat in the daylight
still in school uniform
the spectator
the keep yourself together big sister
I drew out
across
Milpark, across Tara
and then when medical aids ran dry
in the lost blood
I blocked out the General Casualty
a confusing numbing
the older sister fighting
unseen, to keep her best friend alive
except she didn't know how

I have tried to draw this veil
veils and facecloths have holes
too exposed
I should have made blackouts
putting out the light
that light of the wards
that will never burn out now.

Titanium

stronger than lead
bullet proof
no sound
no pain
sea resistant
not as dense as the people


let me stay here
without the firing
the falling


here
I am stronger than gold
let me stay
there will be no holes
no downfall

here

I am a  titanium
lead, proofed
proven

don't take me away
shoulder free from shotgun

let me stay
breath inhibiting
plea
stronger than gold

Four Walls

A long time ago
we longed for a little flat of our own
no more war
and living breathing dynamics
too large and misunderstood for four walls
they spread their lack of innocence into our skins

As time passed
you left
I still looked for that place
without much luck
words kept me safe
people let us down
judgement everywhere

I thought it would last forever
every person I loved
had a sense of looking at me with something more sinister
behind a smile

I found a place
the place we dreamed of
there is a golden light here
no one
just me and my children
they know I am not a princess mummy
but they love anyway
and every day
we wake up to a house with only real laughter
those crossed eyed gut sucking dynamics
the history prison four walls have finally broken down
are gone, banished into the past.

Ashlee world

I have a house full of fairies
in the garden,
I helped to clean it
I fought off the boy fairies with a sword
like a muskateer
all for one
and one for all
like me and Natty
always together

Natty world

Hold on....sshhhh
gotcha
what am I doing?
catching Tinkerbell
she's in my hands
in my world
Only I can set her free