Natomas North

You look at houses.
I look at pages.
RoomSource brings the steam
Of confidence to your eye

while Marechera, Marquez, and Morrison,
Scramble for my day's last minute
Long after words
Have exhausted the architect.

It's Not a Fantasy

We can look into the future now,
See the impossible morph
Into smiles, shouts of joy,
As children skip about again
To welcome us back home.

One day, their turn will come,
Not to be chased from home
By desperation but by the thunder
of a tradition our years here
Have culled for them.

We can be forward-looking now,
Even where the the eye defies vision--
As what it sees pricks growth--
We can still see tomorrow's sunrise
And sing the new chorus of change.

© Emmanuel Sigauke 2008

Is this fantasy (Zimbabwe)?

With natural senses shut,
eyes of faith open,
I begin to envision
things that are not,
as if they were.

The tables have been turned
as a new era begins.
Is this for real,
Or another good dream?

I see people
pregnant with expectation-
filled with hope
and determination.

Hatred & bitterness
flee,
as grace adorns
hearts with forgiveness.

I see hearts of stone
melted by flames of love.
Change is in the
atmosphere-
trust has replaced fear.

I see brokenness healed
as dignity is restored.
From the North and the East,
the South and the West-
All are returning to rebuild.

Violence and bloodshed
are coming to an end-
people stand hand in hand,
as they rebuild their land.

I see people in battle,
slaying sin & corruption,
Fighting AIDS, division and poverty
with unity and with dignity.

I taste the sweetness
of liberty; a new ZIM-
May this dream
become reality.

Posted by Shilla Mutamba

Near Tugwi

Walking, sometimes running,
To the pastures, near Tugwi--
That's what it was, Tugwi,
On the other side of which,
If the water was friendly,
Was a place you could like.

But this walking, this running,
With sekuru, the young uncle
Who has friends who have other friends,
This has stuck over the years,
And I don't know why
The running never stopped.