Monday, February 25, 2013

Tendai Mwanaka- Two Poems

WE WAIT AND LINGER, a little
 
When we were little, stars
The sun, the moon and darkness
Stayed longer as they
Cradled us, as we played
 
As we grew older
The sun became hotter
Hot we were, in failure
Anxieties and disappointments
 
And the moon, frail
Faint, it was a grown up
Hiding in the dark skies
Inside houses that were our jails
 
Now, as we lie isolated
In darkness, immeasurable
Its soft tide pulling us in
We wait and linger, a little
 
 
 
SAD MANHOOD
 
for Edie… I know how you feel
 
I am not going to give it up
Not for anything
Not anything worthwhile
 
I have come a long way
Some say, half the way
Half the way to sad manhood
 
For the first twenty years
I was a seed in the soil
Waiting for the rains to spring up
 
From twenty onwards
I was a sapling stem
Feeding, glowing in greens
 
Now forty, onwards
I will learn from lives,
Loves I have crashed
 
To reach here, where
I am just coming to
Half the way to sad manhood.
 
 
 
Bio-
Voices from exile, a collection of poetry on Zimbabwe’s political situation and exile in South Africa was published by Lapwing publications, Northern Ireland in 2010. KEYS IN THE RIVER: Notes from a Modern Chimurenga, a novel of interlinked stories that deals with life in modern Zimbabwe was published by Savant books and publications, USA in 2012. Revolution, Logbook written by a drifter, and Voices from exile were both short listed by the Erbecce press poetry prize in 2012, 2011, and 2009 respectively, nominated for the Pushcart twice, 2008, 2010, commended for the Dalro prize 2008, nominated and attended Caine African writing workshop 2012. Published over 200 pieces of short stories, essays, memoirs, poems and visual art in over 100 magazines, journals, and anthologies in the following countries,  the USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, India, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Romania, Mexico, Cameroon, Italy, France, Spain, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand.

No comments:

Post a Comment