MY MOTHER’S FAVOURITE DISH

The sweet, pungent smell of cinnamon warms my nostrils as I pass by my neighbour’s door. Sounds of cheerful children amid a loud television pour out from the windows, briefly cheering me up as I enter my house. It’s merely thirteen days since Mama Sibila, my neighbour, came back from hospital after a night of […]

BLOCKED.

My mouth must be full of holes,not chasms, but potholes,Because everytime I drink water,little drops fall out. i mobilise a dictionary in my throat,process lines, phrases, verses,in the poem factory in brain,my teethspaced like zebra-crossing lines,produce a contented smileso i pick up my pen to write,but the ink is dry,the rhyme, discordant. i am asleep,rather, […]

HUMAN.

I am human.I can pronounce the letter P.I feel cold when the wind blowsAnd I feel warm when someone engulfs me in their embrace.When a joke is told,I break out into laughter,Resounding, heaving, mucous,My crooked teeth notwithstanding. I am woman.My lady petals flutter when I’m aroused.Warm, soft and moist.I seethe in pain at least two […]

DRY WELLS

Shards of ice,Sharp as swords,assail my bleeding heart,This compact muscle that disdains two decades of wisdom.Wells, deep like oceans with sadness,hiss at me with the sound of regret,With wishes unmet,Promises, broken, like the little hope I have in red and roses. Despair, like a coat, envelopes my chest,My soul wails for relief,But my wells remain […]

MORBID LOVE

et dans la musique nos coeurs se lèvent,quand du vin réchauffe nos poitrines,et dans cet état, la vérité échappe mes lèvres. on some warm afternoons like this one, I think of how satisfing it would be to peel your skin off your flesh, inch by inch. to see the slender strips of your dark skin […]

ARE WE DANCING AFTER DEATH?

If I closed my eyes now for good, I am curious about the turmoil I would leave behind or if there’ll be any. Even more curious I am for what I will see, and what I won’t. the thought of feeling a yawning gap in my chest, filled only by regrets and would-have-beens haunts me […]

Roller coaster

Sometimes I’m up in the skies sometimes I’m down on the sand. Sometimes I want to go outBreathe in the fresh crisp airFill my lungs with lifeCurve my lips into a smileExpose my crooked teeth to the sun,Close my eyes,Feel the breeze envelope my skin,Take a deep breath and just feel,Just swim, in the levitating […]

DROWN

Is it normal that I just want to drown, in a pool of my tears mixed with whisky? That I just want to suffocate in the smoke I exhaled after burning the memories of the past on my blunt? No? It’s not? Why does this feel so much like home then? Why does time intimidate […]

A LETTER FROM YOUR DEMONS

Tu souris trop pour être heureuxTu crois que tu m’endorsMais même derrière ton masqueTes cernes en parlent encore Let’s plant roses on your grave of dead hopes, sweetheart. Let’s water them with our tears,Brighten them up with our fears.Let’s slowly kiss the pointy thorns,Smile sadly at the sting they bring.Vas-y dis “Cheese”, allez dis “Cheese”Pour […]

DON’T FORGET.

And I watch her, perched on the cold wooden stairs, with sadness hanging from her lashes. And I can’t help but wonder how her compact chest can sustain all the blood that bleeds out of her shattered heart… And whether her tongue is stained with blood. Her fingernail, with nail polish as chipped as her […]