THE MAGDALENE

Portrayed her dispensation to evil

Contorted and confused my good intention

Wore my Cross of Strength in a shameful public parade

Blew permanganate into my face

Letting rivers violet and warm flow

Breaking the banks of my face

The sparkly dew at dawn

She wiped dry with sack cloth

Gagged the chirping birds with dead leaves

And I, she left me on my knees

Worn out by the deed of the night

My broken fingers raised in bashful submission

“Magdalene,” sung a dry throat

Drifting into mid morning slumber

2011© Ivory Confessions

MWINYI MPENDA MAWIMBI

Kijana kapagawa na pepo

Pepo huyo mithili ya wale

Sisi wenye mapepo huwaita Instant Pepo

Pepo mchafu mwenye tabasamu la malkia Mswazi

Na macho ya kukuvuta

Bila kukupa muda wa kutubu

Instant Pepo

Instant Pepo

Kampata leo akiwa maji

Kijana alikoma titi juzi

Jana akachapa kifua, yuadai eti mwanamume

Onyo tukampa sisi wenye mapepo

‘Kuna  mawimbi yenye vumbi kwenye kucha

Yakikukanata, kichwa maji, utageuka tope’

Sikio liliaga na sasa,

Kijana kapagawa na pepo

Pepo mchafu mwenye mawimbi machoni

Na ndimi sita

Zenye taki ya tope changa

Instant Pepo

2011© Ivory Confessions

CORRECTIVE SURGERY

Clement of old,

Do not look at me with those judgmental Billy goat eyes

She has the man of my dreams

I have the prerogative

To give her vivid nightmares

2011© Ivory Confessions

PYROMANIA

I toy with flames

Fire burns well in bursts,

Singes the thin, tickling the nostrils delightsome

The parts of me that act tough, they get scalds

The old and tired burn in pungent degrees

Allowing healing and reconstruction

What does not kill you, gives you life

I never gamble with the sun

Phoebus’ mediocre orb, worshiped by crowds of ordinary

Like all such things, its demise is tarrying

Ergo, slow death, slower murder

Perspiration, dehydration, browning, cancer

What does not give you life kills you

2011© Ivory Confessions

AREA 66

It Popples

Blue liquid in my veins

Through my skin, the tributaries appear red

It wasn’t always like this

In November and December

The liquid was red and butaries blue

But five days later

Area 66.

Heart gone cold

2011© Ivory Confessions