New Poetry by Tendai Mwanaka

Playing to death’s gallery

December’s
last breath of
December’s
sun, like us
is
beyond our boundary’s stiff netting
Towards
the sun’s fast setting
We mark
time together
as we
dip our toes
into
Friday’s evening

Night
time is a beckoning glance
trying
to beat the clock
as it
turns into dusk
In the
final heat fanned
by the
last of the sun

Casting
shadows of wagging tails
Shadows
of no complexion
Night
yawns in the expanse of stars
dims and
quells

Electing
this quite night
impatient
death furious and scoffing
at my
refusal to go with him
His
hunger is a brush fire
Says my
death is down the
little
dirty road, a bit down
Promising
me that he will be back
very
soon for me

Life is
too technical for me
Wandering
through my casual
brain’s
day trading
a score
tricks on my brain.
Trying
to learn how not to die
half
knowing, half not
knowing
how
to catch
it before it tells me
to try
to cancel it

But
still leaving upto this face
a face
without a name
The
strongest one among us
has to
raise his string
An
imaginary string hallowed by absence
above
all of our reach
for us
to get past the scales
that
don’t ask anyone's permission
and
accompany the frightened children.


- Tendai Mwanaka 2013



Untitled * 2

where
there is no choice
we deal
with what
we did
not choose
and
choose what we
do not
want to choose.


- Tendai Mwanaka 2013

Voices from exile, a collection of poetry on Zimbabwe’s political situation and exile in South Africa was published by Lapwing publications, Northern Ireland in 2010. KEYS IN THE RIVER: Notes from a modern Chimurenga, a novel ofinterlinked stories that deals with life in modern Zimbabwewill be published by Savant books and publications, USA in July 2012. Logbook written by a drifter, and Voices from exile were both short listed by the Erbecce press poetry prize in 2011, and 2009 respectively, nominated for the Pushcart twice, 2008, 2010, commended for the Dalro prize 2008, nominated and attended Caine African writing workshop 2012. Published over 200 pieces of short stories, essays, memoirs, poems and visual art in over 100 magazines, journals, and anthologies in the following countries, the USA , UK , Canada , South Africa, Zimbabwe, India , Kenya, Cameroon, Italy , France , Spain , Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand.