Mythopoetry Scholar
Annual Reflections In Depth Perspectives
Poems from Makiwane
-Amitabh Mitra
Mdantsane Friends
1
it’s a road
twisting and turning
years of rushing
nights and days
melting familiar sounds.
on the bridge only
looms up far beyond
shacks and a sky touching
collective greys
and then the gothic structure
cecelia makiwane in old time thoughts
still stands sprawling
in coherent rivers
talking of people
sickness here is living
as are evening lights
raining in sudden staccato
stillness
often
hope remains undefined
as I take this road
everyday.
Mdantsane Lanes 2
2
two blind men
at makiwane
held each other and screamed at
a broken sky
asking for alms
they wanted to smell
light
they wanted to taste light
they asked for a reason
and the unforgiving long years
of silence
of fettered undergrowth
a sun remained quiet
a wall grew taller
we only heard them shuffling
two blind men
at makiwane
mdantsane.
Spare Parts, Mdantsane
3
that was a different time
colors were understood
cared and polished unblanched
gunshots sometimes shattered
an unbelieving night
shadows stood still
in many a ways
in many a murmur
there aren’t any ghosts now
in mdantsane
freedom flutters higher
than the moon
days remain warped in
pot holed tummies
gunshots
still search
those abandoned nights.
4
and in some coral nights
i see you through panes
in an unblinking sky
stare thoughts in a travelling
glow
outside a mad man lurches
demands to be seen
his thoughts are purple
his voice guttural enduring
the window glass disappears
madantsane
echoes again
in some afterthoughts
of such coral nights.
5
it has been nights
i have spoken to walls
the floor on a soft thud
tries remembering history
skies correlate to different suns
nights always remain the same
patient
from many takeovers
people here seem
faceless
healing stays
structural as always
tonight
lets just talk again
of fears
in the eyes of man
he wakes only tomorrow
his shack
suffocating
under a strange new sun in
mdantsane
6
mdantsane
early morning
thoughts
run on passenger trains
to a white
city
Mdantsane Rainbow
7
getting well
is not a language
nor an expression
who gets well
who doesn’t
is a storm
tamed at times
we carry within us
touched by a sun
i repent sometimes
a violence of
souls.
Nominated in the community generated category #mythopoetics, Poems from Makiwane, a part of the top ten nominated pages from this issue, finishes competition on 2/18/14 with an overall standing in position ***37*** among more than 3,500 nominees. Congratulations to Amitabh Mitra on this fine achievement.
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Author Bio
Amitabh Mitra
Poet, Artist, Medical Doctor based in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, South Africa Date of Birth – 22 February
South African Poetry is different. It has colors and attitudes; poetry divides and unites a chain of thoughts that finally merges as one under humane circumstances. South Africa remains tattooed with its past and the present revels and rebels in poetry and visual art forms. Being a South African of Indian origin, I draw inspirations from the poetry of Denis Brutus who believed that poetry can unshackle the mind as much as the poetry of the Indian poet Pritish Nandy whose poetry is an opiate, turns words in a kaleidoscopic of vengeful colors.
website: www.amitabhmitra.com
Additional Links
Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, Symbol of Hope and Courage in South Africa
Publisher Note
Cecilia Makiwane was the first Black registered nurse in apartheid South Africa
Dr, Mitra works as the Head of Accident and Emergency of this tertiary hospital named after her.
Cecilia Makiwane Hospital serves the black township of Mdantsane which is the second biggest township after Soweto. These poems reflect the black township's moments and feelings in a new democracy of South Africa. Some of the poems published in this issue have been translated into French.
More Protest Poetry here.
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