Journey to South Africa, Poetry of Tendai R Mwanaka

We have become raven’s baggage

So we call out like a raven

In raven’s two voices

Fevered breath or our own wounded feeling

Our nightmares starts

Out of “there is no cholera in Zimbabwe”

Out of the dead men from cholera

Out of the dead women from HIV Aids

Out of the dead children from hunger

Out of the dead young adults from political killings

Out of little children become war soldiers

Out of the vengeance of Mugabe’s CIO

Out of the beast ZANUPF, police and army

Out of a country now locked in political gridlocks

Out of the lunatic moans of Mugabe against Britain

Out of the lunatic bile of Mugabe against the west

Out of the forthcoming breakdown due to this defiance

Out of cry songs that now stains the whole region

Out of the stench of South Africa’s silent diplomacy

Out of the stench of SADC and Africa’s denial

Out of a conspiring humanity

Out of this chaos is a journey that leads across Limpopo River.

We are footfalls walking through the dense forest

So many frontiers that we have crossed

So many shadows of so many at one side

And our silenced dreams on the other side.

The raven’s voice falls silent in the darkened leaves

The trees are the only ones who pray for themselves

For the moon always passes on top of them

And in the dark nights we wait for the moon

To tell us to venture into the hungry crocodiles in Limpopo

And I can see their red tongues stretching out

To lick the slime of our yoke and blood.

We are another one among these marauding herds

Limpopo River is now a mixture of silt, blood, bones and scars

Where other traumatised adults giggle chorus of grief

And every anguished cry feed these fat crocodiles

We are now bones within this river’s churn

Soon fish will have to negotiate us.

Biography

 Voices from exile, a poetry collection was published by Lapwing publications Ireland, 2010, a novel of interlinked stories on Zimbabwe, KEYS IN THE RIVER, was published, 2012, by Savant books and publications, USA. A book of essays, THE BLAME GAME will be published by Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon, 2013...and two more books have recently found home with publishers in the USA.

The war, the lover and the owl - poetry by Tsitsi S.A. Sachikonye

  

“The violence of love is as much to be dreaded as that of hate.''

Henry David Thoreau

 A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Beyond war

is a desperate night.

I listen to the jiggle

of centipedes

their legs studded with warts.

Upon an ant colony

lichen creeps like grief

my tears,

an absinthe of sloth,

drip onto the devil’s leaf

while the emperor moth

flutters his wings in fright.

Underwater jets murmur

as I stir,

as I blur.

I hear

the muffle of winds

rapt with disquiet

and rain trickle on bulbs.

Again,

the grass wears its blouse of dew

and your neck slinks

like a spook.

I revel

in the tint of your eyes

a raven,

trapped in two pits.

Clouds flit

in azure skies

they are just as shy

as you.

Those I loved,

I buried in war.

My body is medused.

Spiky roots

writhe between my nostrils.

Angst crawls,

thoughts prickle

and brawl like dragons.

Those I loved,

I buried in war.

Within my wretched heart,

I wrest my wrath.

There,

beneath the edifice,

an awry grey slithers.

Biography

 Tsitsi S.A. Sachikonye is a 25 year old Zimbabwean currently completing her Master of Social Science degree in French & Francophone Literature at Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa. She is also a professional singer and song writer. Tsitsi extremely enjoys learning a new language, travelling, literature, singing, creative writing and performance poetry.

 

 

 

Accepting submissions for a South African Anthology on Migrant Poetry. The publication by Poets Printery http://www.poetsprintery.co.za is scheduled for February 2013. South Africa has been host to people from countries of Africa and beyond. This anthology will provide the best of migrant poetry and a rare insight into the problems of migrant population and the host country.

Naomi Nkealah and I are planning to edit a collection of poetry on the migrant experience in South Africa. We would be glad to receive your submissions. Kindly forward this invitation to other people in your networks who are lovers of poetry or who know someone who is. The deadline for submissions is 5 December. We look forward to your positive feedback.


Who are eligible – Migrant Poets from other countries living in South Africa
Language – English, Can write in the language of the country but a translation in English has to be provided
Topics-
• Internal Migration
• Political Asylum
• Refugee status and border jumping
• Humanitarian Crisis and Complex Humanitarian Emergency
• Xenophobia
• Host country acceptance
• Economic denting to the host country
• Role of UNHCR – The United Nations Refugee Agency
• War and genocide
• Disease, physical and mental trauma and access to primary health care

We cannot guarantee every submission to be published
Please send three poems with a 50 word bio to
Amitabh Mitra at amitabh@amitabhmitra.com