Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
 Nov 2016 Nicki Mngadi
Sjr1000
Sometimes I'm the hammer
Sometimes I'm the nail
When sometimes I think
I'm sure to win
I know I'm bound to fail

Sometimes a blackberry
is going to getcha
when pulling weeds out on the trail

Sometimes
It ain't easy being
green, black or blue or pale

Sometimes
Stand still long enough
something is bound to eatcha
Or running ******* the treadmill
getting no where fast

When I'm hungry
I'm going to devour
meat or grain
fruit or flower
Sometimes
starving on a Friday afternoon
no money coming in

Sometimes love
Sometimes desire

Sometimes I'm alive
Sometimes I'm nearly dead

Sometimes I'm riding lightening
Sometimes I'm thunder calling out
for salvation

Sometimes I'm standing knee deep in deafening silence

Sometimes I'm going to see
Sometimes I know I'm blind

Sometime time is going to end,
I know
there won't be
sometimes to do again.
Listen to Things
More often than Beings
Hear the voice of fire
Hear the voice of water
Listen in the wind
To the sigh of the bush
This is the ancestors breathing
Those who are dead are not ever gone
They are in the darkness that grows lighter

And in the darkness that grows darker
The dead are not down in the earth
They are in the trembling of the trees
In the groaning of the woods
In the water that runs
In the water that sleeps
They are in the hut,
They are in the crowd

**The dead are not dead.
An excerpt by Birago Diop
which can be found in the African Philosophy Reader (Coetzee & Roux 2003: 723)
 Sep 2016 Nicki Mngadi
Annie
A Poem
 Sep 2016 Nicki Mngadi
Annie
I sat down to write a poem today,
I have got too much to write yet nothing to say,

The adrenaline has got my heart beating this fast,
My thoughts speak of something but hands can't do the task,

There was a time when all I needed was a pen to write,
Now I can't pick one thing until my emotions end up in a fight,

You see, there's not one side of my world I want you to see,
There's a lot to give but only if you're willing to creep,

So take your time, maybe today is not the day,
This evening, we can just have some tea and pray,

And when tomorrow comes we'll bring our weapons,
We'll scribble down the words and wait until destruction finally happens
Next page