Antjie Krog - Land

Foto: Spread your wings and fly (África do Sul), de Lisa Hollstegge

under orders from my ancestors you were occupied
had I language I could write for you were land my land

but me you never wanted
no matter how I stretched to lie down
in rustling blue gums
in cattle lowering horns into Diepvlei
rippling the quivering jowls drink
in silky tassels in dripping gum
in thorn trees that have slid down into emptiness

me you never wanted
me you could never endure
time and again you shook me off
you rolled me out
land, slowly I became nameless in my mouth

now you are fought over
negotiated divided paddocked sold stolen mortgaged
I want to go underground with you land
land that would not have me
land that never belonged to me

land that I love more fruitlessly than before




Antjie Krog (Poetisa Sul-Africana, 1952- )

Biografia de Antjie Krog

Seitlhamo Motsapi - River Robert

Foto: Machetazos, by wweeggee

we are at peace here
even while our lungs are full
of secret wars
& primordial fears bruise our suns
we are at peace here Robert

with hopes upon our heads
& songs sprouting out of our sins
we bless the lacerations

we are at peace here
across the rock & scrub
a sole rainbow pillar
protrudes from the earth, full
of promise & solace

i have one eye full of dreams & hintentions
the other is full of broken mirrors
& cracked churchbells

i have one eye full of rivers & welcomes
the other is full of flickers & fades

i have
a memory full of paths & anointings
a mouth full of ripe infant suns
seven legs for the dancing river & the clement abyss
& a hope that corrodes the convulsions
we bless the long rough road
we bless the inscrutable darkness
where our names are rent into spirit
we bless the splinters & the air
full of asphyxiations & amnesia
we bless our lacerations & our deformities

we bless the belligerent strangers
who stay on in our throats
long after forgotten festivities

as we learn the painful lessons of love
as we learn to respect the night’s sovereignty
& the slow stern wisdom of the desert
we bless the mysteries & the silence



Seitlhamo Motsapi (Poeta Sul-Africano, 1966- )

Biografia de Seitlhamo Motsapi