ZAMOKUHLE MADINANA
Three Poems
coffee lover
envelop me in the heavy aroma of the ethiopian beans
soak my ears in a smooth cup of jazz music
before i trail in delight around the beam of light
decorating your thick lips
sip all my demons before my hungry hands collect fires of lust from the tip of your nipples
can you dust off all the chambers of pleasure
can you read the complex language of our bodies
can you control the wild flames that leap in every direction
coffee lover
please invite me to the gold mines of your body
before your coffee gets cold
to clutch & drill down your treasured cliffs
lead me to the wet highways of your flesh
roast me until i hum endless songs of freedom
roast me until i find home in your bosom
roast me until i spill gallons of happiness
& clean the mess with your flaming tongue
can you dance to the soft beat of my lungs
can you teach me the sacred secrets of romance
can you resurrect my performance
before we pour another cup of coffee
for those who cannot stop singing
they eat wild spinach
with chopsticks
& dance to a song
of no freedom
they toil deep down in the mines
only to be immersed in blood
at a koppie of massacre
who remembers the voice
of their vote
when hunger strangles their children
emjondolo
who remembers an anthem of their sacrifice
when university terrains
are covered in tear gas
& rubber bullets
who remembers the untamed echoes
of their resistance
when their dreams are stolen
tortured & slain
when their ears continue to lick
a plate of empty promises
from their leaders
whose backpack of tricks
is like the ocean sands
johannesburg
lead me not into the gates of deception
bath me in sweet waters of happiness
not in madness of your night life
where my peers burn
& perish of strange diseases
unmute the voices of my dreams
so that i can be a giant light
and feed the youth that is glued
in the dark street corners
of our townships
who have invited themselves
to the arms of drug injection
& found home
under the city bridges
whose life is covered in emotional blisters
johannesburg city, you have robbed so many
of their youth
who have found last hope
for surviving between their thighs
unwrote all the pages of morality
from the book of life
so many, have withered
in your chaotic lights
at night
so many have drowned
in the rivers of byblon
in your bars and taverns
tried erasing their burdens
by overdosing ubumnandi