Friday 5 April 2013

Dividing Calabash (Poem)


The calabash unites
It never ever disunites
That’s why it is round
Like the football that unites
Players and fans and nations

But in my village
But in Mbesa
A calabash divides
Like an unbridged river
And mercilessly kills
Like a provoked python
It must have been misused

The calabash unites
It never ever disunites
That’s why it is round
Like the egg that harbours
Yoke and albumen and chicks

But in my village
But in Mbesa
A calabash divides
Like an unbridged river
And mercilessly kills
Like a provoked python
It must have been misused

The calabash unites
It never ever disunites
That’s why it is round
Like the world that hosts
Blacks and whites and reds


But in my village
But in Mbesa
A calabash divides
Like an unbridged river
And mercilessly kills
Like a provoked python
It must have been misused

The calabash unites
It never ever disunites
That’s why it is smooth
Like the cemented floor that accepts
Parents and children and visitors

But in my village
But in Mbesa
A calabash divides
Like an unbridged river
And mercilessly kills
Like a provoked python
It must have been misused

(Mbankolo, 29 March 2013)

No comments:

Post a Comment