I am My Sister's Keeper by Batsirai E Chigama

Let me
rise by bending over
to pick another
sister
fallen
Let me be
the one on a chicken bus
to give the woman with a child on her back
my seat
because i know with no doubt
her mother like my own
taught her the same
that if she finds me in her place
she would do the same for me
Let me be silent
in the face of adversity
yet speak my peace quietly
teaching the next sister
to speak with love
and repremand with the same
let me rise
by bending over
to pick another sister
fallen
without pomp or fanfare
purely reaching out
to the woman in me
Let me be
my sister's keeper
not to be remembered
by mere words spoken
but by every life my life touched
by every sore my hand touched and soothed
let me
let me be my sister's keeper
because I am.

State Witness by Mgcini Nyoni

Image - sacredwaste.com

As state witness

I told the court

that the ones saying

they had been beaten

Had done the beating

in the rural areas

I have never been

to the rural areas.

They said if I didn’t

say what they told me

I would get more than

broken ribs.

Don’t call me a coward

One held my hand

the other held my other hand

A third crushed a log

into my ribs

A forth crushed my testicles

 for good measure

As state witness

I told the court

that the ones saying

their buttocks had been burnt

their homes had been burnt

and their wives raped

Were the ones

who had actually done those

horrible things.

Your Father II by Mgcini Nyoni

Your father

used to sit by the bridge

at the shops

smoking marijuana

The man

you call daddy

is not your father

Damn!

How I wish he was

They used to say

your father

was one of the young man

who mugged people

by the clinic intersection.

I heard they stabbed

your father to death

two years ago

in a senseless street scuffle

Your father

used to sit by the bridge

at the shops

propositioning young girls;

I now know

the incident

that produced you

was rape.

Your father

used to sit by the bridge

at the shops

drinking undiluted brandy

They say

he was stabbed to death

in a senseless street scuffle

two years ago.

Ache by Adjei Agyei Baah

Image - leolaksi.wordpress.com

The promise

Still padlocked

In my heart

Memories

Flashing back

Unending, 

I, still holding on

To our first kiss

But you have forgotten me...