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tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2019
it is befitting we closed our eyes
when our lips first held each other
following this romantic film’s script,
staying true to every single word
that we did not

kissing on the kitchen counter
swinging your feet to an
imaginary soundtrack, the feeling
of uncontrollable love accompanies
us through these drunken early hours

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Feb 2019
my silhouetted soul amplifies your light
i know you will bring colour,
like spring promises
when autumn leaves fall, euphoria rises
like church organs emphasising the praises

sun brightened decorations
on my pilgrimage, i found shalom
the kind of serendipity
that will loosen my ribcage
unfurling my stomach
releasing my soul into the open

seeding a flower
the joys of the intervals
between the ocean’s crashing waves,
earth’s air, and your glowing wingspan.

behind the reeks of feeling
beyond magic in the sand
where she was rooted.

a metaphor to me.
a guardian angel for god’s
mysterious creations
the sight of your gentle smile
as beautiful as catching a butterfly
in the act of stretching it’s wings

hearing your name
i sank deep
with shoulders too weak to even float

-t.m & tsii
Another collaboration with Tsiie
tumelo mogomotsi Jul 2017
through the seasons you
would give up your time just
so your friends made it
through the day
you always
put a smile on your
loved one's faces, even if
it felt like an exercise
you gave up the lead roles
just so you could be every
one's jester, bells ringing
while the laughs echoed
you were always too soft
in your old man's eyes
too caring to hurt
it's okay now to shut out
the lenses and live life in
your means, it's long overdue
it's your turn to live in your
dreams

- t.m
i hope to read this ten years from now with a smile
tumelo mogomotsi Nov 2017
“why do you give him those angel wings”
“well, he promised me joy and roses to smell”
“hell, did you receive any of those things”
“i can’t tell behind my cerebral prison cell”

“what’s letting go to pain”
“what’s with the spot test“
“why do you still keep him entertained”
“why don’t you just rip my heart out of my chest”

“maybe these questions are foolish”
“you don’t know how...”
“you seem to hold onto something ghoulish,
but maybe it’s not my place to frown”

“maybe it’s true; you can’t choose who you love
you can’t choose how the stars align
you can follow what your heart is in search of
i just hope there are roses along the line...”


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jan 2017
my heart is a rebel to this world
like liquid overflowing
pouring over and clothing the exterior
my love leads the way
and this world follows.


- t.m
wrote this when planning "a weathered heart" with mcdonald tsiie
tumelo mogomotsi Feb 2017
my heart is a bohemian
its authenticity drips like a wet paintbrush
clothing the worlds pale canvas with colours
each colour is hated for its self reflection
its outlook on this planet
has brought the ones who roam it
to look within for their inner quintessence.


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jan 2017
a new being, i can feel my changes
dark skies, the light moon and my new phases
a jail bird, tasting the sky far from my cages
i needed you, to bend the bars that hinged my purge
your modest black, let me illuminate this earth
the quiet writer, you let your protagonist have the first word.

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi May 2017
am i worthy of love
words you whispered
in your lonesome hours
you asked me to read
your heart - a dying flower

he weathered your petals
they lay close to your roots
you tell me the sun will no longer shine
but i say
you still have the light of the moon

i say you are worthy of love
even when your life
has not given you any signs
where he did not cherish
each second spent with you
i will spend the rest of my days
telling the world about the love
i felt when your eyes met mine


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Oct 2016
i wrote your
poem on a
pitch black page
with a white
colouring pencil - to
show how you
stand out in
this dark world.


-  t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2017
the emotions ive received
are heavy on my well being
   all who seem to
provide these seeds,
are made of plastic and have
a difficult time breathing
the irony - they use the word
love as if it's a preposition
yet they move as if they are
the living dead who see no
worth in growth, light,
or feelings

i see past their perfectly
aligned paths, their facades
which are inspired by what
others deem as right - and
i see the beauty in the thorn
bushes covering your sidewalks
i see the beauty in your painful
walks alone, the roses in your
sunburnt face, the strength in
your smile you gave to me as
i walked by - i see how perfect
love really is in the way showed
me who you really were
 before you invited
   me into your life.

the emotions you provide
are as vivid as life itself
in my thoughts, by my side
- your presence in my life
feels more like a dream
then reality - and i find that your 
love stops me in my tracks
just so i can pinch myself

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi May 2017
we don't know what sadness
feels like anymore
our lives are as golden as your
hair
blonde days, the summer
never ends
i feel through your locks
you lock your fingers into my
knotty head
as black as the nights when
we conversate
we know more about each other
it's only right that we remain together

for heaven's sake


- t.m
#18
boy
tumelo mogomotsi Dec 2016
boy
i had a trip
a vision of a boy
laying
in a soft bed of lush and wild green grass
with his eyes staring at the clear blue sky
waiting
for nothing because
everything
he ever wanted was right there.

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Aug 2017
wrapped up on green fields
and blue skies, cotton couldn't
keep us warm through the
wintertime, laughter kept us
active, barefoot on hard tracks,
our lives were consumed by
three-minute-rhymes,
our hearts all melted for
the same person, her name
was carolyn, on the brink of
adulthood, we laugh until we
are drowning in tears just
thinking about those times,
blonde days, puppy love,
wintertime sunshine,
the closest of friends,
the lack of similar
bloodstreams and
the difference in
our skin tones
will not change the
      brotherhood
   that will last
for the rest
of our
lives


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Oct 2016
there is
that one ambitious destination
that one castle in the air
that one taste of exctasy
that beams a flicker of light within us.

let that candle flame spread like wildfire
and spew out of you.
let your passion light this grey world with unclouded - and much needed - colour.

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Aug 2017
the days of nazereth,
or the present
times in labarynth
feeding the people with beams
of light is only in vain when they are
wetting their own appetites,
not applying any of it into
their own lives,
singing hymns in church halls
only to go home and tell their
children a black man is not a
human at all,
inviting all who seek a new life
only to cast their foolish eyes
on a hopeless child who comes
inside, judging her past actions;
labelling her a ***** as she
questions if there is even
a god - and if there is - why believe
in one that harbours
disciples who would display such
a reaction

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Aug 2017
the question is;
do these stained glasses
hold any worth today,
when the idols are the ones
who are leading the
hopeless astray, is there
any need for another
illustration
when the feeling
from within comes from
above,
do we really need another
human to try explain
the feeling, when at the end
of the day, the human race
can't explain the feeling of
love

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jan 2017
next time you see me slit my throat
let my blood gush like it did on american streets
mute my screams like i did while the news got old
let your knife **** the silence and ignite the need for equality.

next time you see me pull the trigger on my foolish mouth
shut me up while i complain about my silver spoon
while children die of empty stomachs in the south
let the gun sound wake up people like me to reality.

next time you see me lynch my body
let it hang like decoration to show people that
the silent are like the violent
the mute are like police who shoot
the ones who are quiet while they feast on a meal
are like the crooked politicians who steal.

let my silence be the death of me
and my new found voice be the death of the thoughts of our enemy.



- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Dec 2016
i feel the synergy
when our souls connect
a sacred energy
that binds our love and our intellect.

i cant imagine any earthly force
that could break our soul ties
our emotional course
was mapped and carved by our spiritual knives

i feel the synergy
when our souls share a few tears
an empathetic energy
that cures our growing pains and fears.

a thousand love letters later, ive come to realise
ive written the word synergy too many times
but not enough times to emphasise
the synergy between your soul and mine.


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Dec 2018
everything is everything, and
everything is nothing at all.
everybody’s obsessed until
everyone’s obsession finally
falls. blood splattered on the
earth’s surface, not everyone’s
mother will receive that painful
call. a cold body and an empty
stomach, not everyone’s mother
will be weeping whilst they lean
on their kitchen wall. to live as
a burden, and to die just as any
other human, not everybody’s
mother will miss their baby boy.

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jul 2017
i am not one to lean on
i am not one to believe in
i am not the saviour
why are you still reading
i am not the reason
i am not the air you breathe in
i am not jesus
don't crucify the words
don't justify them as one long verse
i am just a witness of a feeling
yielding and kneeling
understanding and dreaming
about heaven in the sky
i am guided by the holy hand
of a much more divine being

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi May 2017
i was made to love her
throwing flowers at her feet
brushing her black waves
fixing her golden crown
comforting her soul
writing stale love poems
daydreaming about her
losing sleep thinking about her

i was made to love her

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jun 2017
there's a bitter taste in cycles
a wilted face in walking down aisles
there's a lack of enjoyment in rituals
nothing is enticing
with knowing the preempt ways
of the physical
tradition feels abit too mechanical
nothing is exciting
in knowing what will be written
in your will
a life - having steps to follow
is a dance with less rhythm
a dance with movement which is hollow

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2019
what is with all this talk about rising sun,
your compatibility with sagittarius and the
complexities of astrology. stop telling me
about my star sign, i’m trying to read out
the graffiti on that stop sign - and no - i
don’t owe you an apology.

i do not know what is the meaning of balance -
you want to give me all the love i deserve, but
receiving what is reciprocated is the challenge,
you tell me that you have a ginormous forehead,
but if i agree with you i am the *******, i guess
i never knew the meaning of double standards

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jun 2018
a withered husband,
failed by life
tells me the story
that keeps him
up at night-

thrown in jail
for showing his face
in a white neighbourhood
after light

while he was being
waterboarded for
his tardiness, his
wife was being
sodemised by
men in uniforms,
trashing their shack
and leaving her with a
child with blue eyes

-he was left with
ptsd and an infant
that was birthed
out of a crime

he now awaits for an
apocalyptic flood
to take him out of his
grief knowing that the
love of his life went
through hell knowing
he could’ve protected
her from such demise

he now screams to
the sky asking his
cancer-freed rib and
his adopted son
who left him in this
prison - where is
his rope or knife.

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jun 2016
sweet to the heart's pallet
a heavy-meal to the mind's stomach  
silver stripes decorate the head.

there comes a time
when one must rest the cutlery
and put the craving to bed.

       - t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Oct 2016
for all your dreams
life dreams that bring fear, butterflies and adrenaline in you like nightmares
life dreams that will never sleep until life itself is at rest
life dreams that you pray about
- to god -
before you go to bed
life dreams that you spend endless nights  
-polishing and amending until your eyes shut -
the life dreams that you stay awake and are alive for:

i wish you
godspeed

    - t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Aug 2017
face planted in the green
slow turn to the wispy sky
knowing peace is to dream
growing up is a gritty lie

memories dont blur like these clouds
there's no time to capture them
before the screen brightens, i dreamt
about sub conscious clouts

face planted with a smile
taking a piece of it is a slap to the head
tucking away my self conscious guile
drowning in joy until i lose my breath

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Nov 2017
close your eyes to see
beauty is found from within
let it radiate.

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi May 2017
time passes, things change
happiness comes, and so does pain
love and infatuation are mixed
but wrong turns were never in vein

what keeps me at peace
is the thought of seeing your smile again*

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Dec 2016
in my eyes
you were my winged icarus
who kissed the sun
and caressed the waters
of my affection.

but your eyes lingered as you searched for
a second solstice
and the softness of the ocean
in someone else when you thought you deserved a deeper connection.


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2019
gliding through suburbia,
the radio never whispers,
but tonight it seems out
of breath. these glass w-
indows seem more like m-
irrors as we self reflect w-
ith a little more depth. m-
ore depth then when the
sun is up. it’s more her t-
han me, i am yet to feel
love. yet to receive it, m-
y basket is empty. she w-
orries about longevity,
i wonder what it feels lik-
e to have any.

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Nov 2017
frightening ways to end up in a coffin,
unexpected visits from the grim
reaper, holds you and i in
limbo, with the idea
that we take life for
granted too often

too pre occupied
moaping about the
past and sobbing about
what is to come. too afraid
to act on our dreams, only to regret
what was not said until our days are done


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jan 2017
the transcendence of life
has a sweet taste of ultra light beams
and the happiness that comes after strife.

to know that life and flesh
does not bring pain or tears
is the feeling of life after death.

the effects of karma
are no longer a factor on the soul
this is what it feels like to lay in nirvana.


- t.m
goodbye
tumelo mogomotsi Feb 2017
treadmill, treadmill, treadmill
my mind is in routine
exercising all of your expressions
unorthodox and quirky mannerisms
your decisions are exasperating
my mind is exhausted as i try to
comprehend
your previous steps.

memorise, memorise, memorise
your voice loops through my head
there are cracks in its harmony
but it plays like a lullaby
even in my dreams
your imperfect chords hang over
like a utopian sillouette.

- t.m
inspired by the frank ocean song “memrise”
tumelo mogomotsi Dec 2016
sweet melodies become bitter and sour
desolated memories overcome the glitter of love's power
isolated thoughts reign
leaving everything else neglected and rejected
the mind has become too complex and is in unbearable pain
absorbing everything has left it diseased and infected
the change in common sense was something love couldn't comprehend
the strange difference was too dense which caused love to find a way to aprehend
the mind is a new found atheist opposing the love religion
due to the physical and mental pain brought from past decisions.

- t.m + mcdonald tsiie
Co-Written With McDonald Tsiie
tumelo mogomotsi Dec 2016
melanin molasses, the sweetest courtship attracts the ones who have never glittered
white bullets love to kiss black skin
black on black crucificton, a gospel orchestrated by the higher powers
****** puddles lay with the concrete during the darkest hours
night bullets play white doves during the matrimony of the bottom barrels life and its fast stint.
honeymoon candles lit by the masters matches, africans seek this artificial light in times where heavens white lights could greet them with a smile and roses that are wilted.

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2019
this way of life is more than tranquil,
from day one to five, we sharpen
our tools with our desires and an anvil

in our spare time, we chase the the high
until our third eyes tells the three of us
it is way too much for us to handle

me myself and i, if it grabs our attention,
we will approach it with a purpose, whether
it be a person, wording or a purchase

none of which was intended to be perfect,
but deserving, why would the sea chase the earth’s surface if it felt that it was not worth it

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jun 2017
sometimes happiness
doesn't smile
sometimes the face
of happiness is a
cry for help

sometimes laughter
is the soundtrack
to pain
sometimes a joker
is in fact going insane

sometimes your idols
are more then idols
sometimes idols are
just human
sometimes your idols
are more then idols
sometimes idols are
just human

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi May 2018
I SIT HERE DRENCHED IN THE
BLOOD OF ONE OF THE NATIVES.
WE CAPTURED THE LAND AND
HIS MIND WITH OUR ALTERED
EDUCATION, IT WORKED LIKE
AN ANAESTHETIC, OR BETTER,
A SEDATIVE. HE PONDERED ON
WHETHER OR NOT HE IS HUMAN
WHILE WE BEGAN PLOUGHING
HIS SOIL. HE AWOKE FROM HIS
DAYDREAM, TO OUR AMAZEMENT,
WE THOUGHT WE HAD HIM FOILED.
HE RALLIED HIS MEN, THEY DID NOT
HESITATE. I WILL GIVE IT TO THEM,
THEY ARE ARMOURED WITH THE BRAVERY
AND THE STRENGTH OF A THOUSAND APES.
BUT IT WAS TOO LATE, WE SLAUGHTERED
THEM FROM A DISTANCE, AND TOOK CONTROL
OF THEIR CHILDREN, WIVES AND MAIDS.
SPEAKING OF CHILDREN, HOW GOES OUR
SWEET DAUGHTER ROSE? I MISS HER
DEARLY AND I LOOK FORWARD TO
EMBRACING HER WITH FATHERLY
LOVE WHEN THIS WAR COMES TO A CLOSE.

UNTIL WE MEET,
__

- t.m
(1869)
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2016
after centuries and centuries and centuries of:
pain and suffering,
chains and ankle cuffing,
segregation and impossible laws,
human degredation and deaths for the cause,
coloured lines and last picks,
work in the mines and barbie-like wigs,
culture termination and the education of self-hate,
fake freedom motivation and penitentiary execution dates,
community sabatoge and destruction of black owned schemes,
settle down for hip hop dialogue and basketball dreams
racial slurs and monkey metaphors,
television blurs and the world shutting doors,
the white man's drugs and melanin filled prisons,
talent that lacks funds and vietnam missions,
death of our black icons and imprisonment of mandela
death of trayvon and others on the death list which could go on forever...

do you have the right to tell "bottom barrels" not to dream to be on the top?
do you wonder why forgiveness is slowly yielding in the world, as if it sees a sign that says it's time to stop?

do they not say we must practice what we preach?
are they not preaching hate?
are they not preaching inequality?
are they not preaching the false levels of life?

is it too hard for the world to practice equality?
is it too hard for the world to live in harmony?
is it too hard for the world to see the similarities in our differences?
is it too hard for the world to live without fear of colours?

is it too much to ask for peace???


- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2020
i can feel it in the air
i can almost taste it
the challenge of
separating my devils
and desperations

long have i yearned
for serene balance
a nightmarish search
through pink matter
and my own madness

even on the brightest
days i am met with grins
from the shadows
nirvana thins
my past drowns
me in a pool of pathos

but i can almost describe it
the taste that is
even voices within
choose to deny it
a new coat of white
is clearing my canvas

-t.m
you’re almost there.
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2019
selling myself short, you
tell me that my accolades
are less than impressive.
she saw me nodding my head
in the city, as i downed a couple
of alcoholic beverages.
she told me that i should
practice sobriety, i told her every
-one has their thing, she told to
not act like i am a head in a crowd,
striving to be average. i told her no
one wants to be the odd one out,
even you are searching for that
balance.

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Sep 2017
silence is not weakness,
nor are the sounds of acoustic
guitar strings, your smile is
painted with brushes of
sweetness, my heart awakens
to the bird who sings -
each word that you chirp glows in
the morning sun, then washes
away into those yellow lights,
many would anxiously search for those
sweet hymns when the day is done -
but i know each beautiful note sung will
channel the beauty of spring when
it is bright.

- t.m
i am releasing a short collection of love poems in december. i hope you will all enjoy it is much as i enjoy writing the poems in it.. :)
tumelo mogomotsi Jun 2018
slicing the surface of your sun kissed
face, i used to nurture each grain and
crevice that decorated your profile,
now i have created the insecurities
that dig through your hard skull and
crumble your layered state of mind,
only for me to sell your pure love
to the fairer man. at the time your
prostituting was said to bring me
wealth and status, but i now sit here
in shame as you have been *****
beyond repair. although i deserve
not a gram of forgiveness, i hope
my patriarchy and greed does
not undermine my apology

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jan 2017
please dont touch my crown
the black rubies were encrusted by steve biko
madam cj walker made it a sign of royalty
blood was shed for this ***** hair
i am a servant to this crown, and i will show my loyalty.

please dont touch my crown
i can feel the curlism in your fingers
your greedy hands appropriate it for relevance
you have hated volume and colour for centuries
but now you see beauty where you once saw pestilence.

please dont touch my crown
let your eyes feast on the sight of true glory
forget about vanity, and hear our chains
taste our dry blood, smell our lynched bodies
but never touch our hair without remembering our pain.

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Aug 2017
what is a pigeon to a dove
as dull as paper mâshe,
you're confused by the way
he swims in the sky above
the sweetest chirps in the trees
end up as a sour parley
you saw yourself when his
feathers seemed white
but you see the grey when
it is time to part ways
there's nothing to lose
if it does not glow in the sun
he can fluff his feathers in the rain
while you soar in the sky
with your beauty and your life unsung
there's more to life
then flying beside a pigeon who's just
passing by,
there is someone
waiting to float near the clouds
with you by his side.

- t.m
if he promises you the stars but only brings the night's darkness - why stand by him? you deserve happiness, don't settle for anything less...
tumelo mogomotsi Oct 2017
a timid girl
seventeen years of age
her smile reminds
me of my mothers face -
a springtime swirl
green leaves dancing in the rain
a light drizzle, softening all
of life’s struggles and pain

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Oct 2017
a livid whirl
between love is a family’s rage -
     a mother who’s full of spite
a father who’s mindset can’t be replaced
  so close, yet so far from love
i rip out my curls - her own thoughts
are contaminated with these ideas of hate
     the thought of what could be only
tears me apart and drives me insane

- t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Mar 2018
an ice cold stare, old denim jeans
suede and cotton tops - they all
feel like los angeles, another
guitar naps where she sleeps,
santana seems to pluck the strings
in her dreams; speaking of dreams,
a sweet man and pup named clyde
are the cast members in her
opening scenes, acts in her play
she would burn the whole script
for just to see

-t.m
tumelo mogomotsi Jun 2017
at the back of a truck
like dogs wagging
their tongues
tasting the night
singing songs to
a sky that lacks the light
of the moon or the sun
tasting the night
a sweet taste of nostalgia
i know I will remember
these winding roads
and high rise walls
an atmosphere of uncertainty
adults created
we will remain naive and
young
until this music no longer
brings us joy and these
labelled shirts
we wear feel outdated

- t.m
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