for Lee Miller

// LIBERATED FROM CAMPS //

born on foreign shore
falling beyond the crest of the equatorial horizon
to family washed up in a shipwrecked fleet
while fleeing the camps and tattoo stamps of war.

displaced and placed on a privileged pedestal
i pick and pluck the petals inside my mind
while the compass needle spins in distress
searching for direction and equilibrium.

in a basket with statues of stone faced settlers
and sunburnt segregation lawmakers
the shadow cast in concrete moulds
hangs over me unyielding to the African sun.

cultivating gritty soil in a field of weeds
to sow seeds for wings in the coming season
before taking flight from untarred runways
into skies of cosmic possibilities.

keys to my congenital shackles
and chastity belt of literary aspirations
lie above the clouds in faraway towns
or below the gravel of my local grave.

// REMINGTON SILENT //

under marching fingertips
the typewriter's pitter-patter tiptoed in silence
as if the letters punched were bandits
planting pamphlets of propaganda.

a poet wrote his last stanza in London
under downpour of blitzkrieg bomb storms
crushing the keys and mangling the machine
his words are all the remain.