GOODBYE BREEZE
Goodbye to my
car washing job.
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday.
What a Breeze!
What a hard Zimbo hustle.
Me I go where my feet go.
I go where my nose points:
Down South
Down
Down
South
where money walks on two feet.
I go where gold calls
Goodbye water.
Goodbye.
BABA NONTOKOZO
I am one and only
Baba Ntokozo.
The father
Of baby Ntokozo.
The only one who slapped a donkey
Again and again
until it cried!
My heart hurries
like a river in flood.
My blood boils
like tea in the cup.
My days run
like a hare without brains.
Sweetie
I will come back to Bulawayo
when I come.
My banana, tell Nontokozo that:
Daddy does not forget
because he has brand new keys
to dreams
and desires
of the hell called Harare.
FREE BITI
A man with a mouth must talk.
Mouths are channels
through which truths must fall:
The imposter up there
does not sit properly.
The flies see everything
Until the impostor sits properly.
The children don’t know
Where to look
until he sits properly.
He wears a stolen hat.
The owner of that hat
is looking for it
in his tea cup
in his beer bottle
and in his dream.
Free Tendai Biti
you scoundrels!
because a man with a mouth
must talk.
Free Biti
And free our minds!
THE UNDERSIDE
The underside
Of the prostitute
is our death.
You happily dig a hole
and we return
to bury you
in it
the following day.
Dig into the underside.
Fall in
and die!
Your feet thrusting in the air
dying like a housefly
fallen in the shiny
and thick visitor’s soup.
DEFECATE FOREVER AND EVER
If we catch you
in the act here
we kill you dead.
You will die nicely.
You die slow-slow
like you are being born.
Don’t defecate
or urinate in this place.
If we catch you doing it here
you defecate forever
and ever.
Amen!
OLD MAN KANA FROM MALAWI
If it is
About finding no love,
don’t worry.
If it is
about a job
don’t hesitate.
If it is about
groping in the dark
just wait!
If it is about
blasting your enemy
don’t hesitate.
There is Sekuru Kana
from Malawi
come see him.
Come talk to Sekuru
and you will rise again
like the giant
you ought to be.
CHAMISA TODDLER
Toddler
we call you,
son of my sister.
Your little blows
hit hard
and hard.
But when you hit Zanu
you’re hitting sky, boy.
hitting the sky
where all things come from:
Rain,
Wind
Sun.
Ah, toddler Chamisa.
Suck your thumb instead!
Be a good boy.
Don’t hit hard, boy
coz it is painful.
DEMBARE
Dynamos, Dembare
Huruyadzo:the big one
Shaisamufaro:peace disrupter
Chazezesa: the most feared
7 million supporters
Come on!
Make my day
Give me a gift
Give me reason
to roll home
stepping on sausages.
Dembare!
The Zim soccer chimpions!
X X EYES
Ah! toilet
With those x eyes
How much have you seen
in the day
and in the night
in the rain
and the wind?
Smile, my friend
because you have seen
and survived.
Smile
Just smile at the memory
of a smile.
MDC WALK
Movement for Democratic Change
You are my party of choice.
You are my new bull in the vlei
And I want you take on the old parties.
There will be lots of fight on the vlei.
There will be lots thunder
From the horns and the hooves.
Do me a favour
And hammer to death the old parties.
Let it be like the walk of a passer by
That steals the glances of every woman.
As he walks down the road
Hunting with salt in his pocket.
NO POSTERS HERE
Strong warning!
Don’t say I didn’t tell you.
No posters here
about mad politics
and parties trying to win souls..
No posters
here about condoms
and sex and zex and pex
No posters here about
herbalists from Malawi
And back of beyond
If I find posters here….
NO LOVE FOR 19 YEARS
Listen
For 19 years
I have not tasted the drama of love.
My man died 19 years now
And that sounds like a journey
to the centre of the earth and back
Dear rock by the dark pool of Epworth
I now want love.
Love is like the heart of a tree
which germinates
where it chooses.
My heart is as dry as soot
in an old old house.
If I find love
I will learn to walk sideways
like an old crab
Dear rock
I have come here to make a request
If you find me love
After these 19 years
I will do something
for you.
HOT ZANU PF
Now listen properly:
Zanu Pf
is hot porridge
in a plate on the table.
Is there
any fly
that falls
into hot porridge?
SHOSHOLOZA
Shosholoza!
Push on through the mountains
The train is coming from South Africa
Full of people nolonger wanted
By their brothers and sisters in South Africa
You are running away, push on
You are running away through the mountains
They burn you
They kill you
Don touch their jobs
Leave their women
Wena, shosholoza kulezontaba.
BARCELONA
Barca!
Sweet love
from Harare.
I push the sacks and graft
and you push goals!
Barca! More than a club!
My life in Harare
is more than a life.
CHAPACHAPA
When you urinate here
the water goes: Chapachapa
Chapachapa on the ground.
Your mind goes chapachapa too
thinking about your next hustle
Which comes fast, chapachapa
like water.
Chapachapa you go
fast enough to arrive
but slow enough not avoid a fall.
Chapachapa, life is water
all forms of water
so, just flow.
HANDS OFF WIWA
Mother
They have taken away Wiwa!
Job Sikhala
Jobless Sikhala
A man of the people
Loud
Assertive
Confident
No to unlawful arrests
and detention.
No! we say,
No madoda!
No varume!
Hands of Wiwa!
SEA
I miss the sea
with a tremulous heart.
I want to hear the waves
and the call of the sea bird
which are the fulcrum of my soul.
Trapped in endless Harare lands
I miss the sea sands with a heart ache.
SANSIRO
My name is Sansiro
Sometimes they call me
Old Sansiro
But I am as old as new.
I am ugly and beautiful too.
I built this wall
with my bare hands
toiling like like a paper in the wind
so that you know where to end.
You end by this wall!
Behind here is Sansiro’s place
I am a woman of no worries.
MAD CITY
This city
is mad like all cities.
Harare is all cities
Be as mad as cities.
Cities tell layered stories.
Cities sing songs of migration.
Cities tell tales of
finding and abandoning.
Cities are new and hurried beginnings
Cities are sudden departures
Cities reek of true and fake loves
Cities are places to die in
when the road can no longer be pursued.
RIP
To all our dear departed
We say rest in peace
on this wall and beyond.
Death does not kill.
And you, Death
don’t be proud!
I WAS HERE 2025
I was here
in 2025
and I went away.
My soul,
come back here
whenever you want
and sit here
and feel my 2025 joy.
Here
I met the love of my life
And
when she smiles:
I break
like a bun
dipped in hot tea!
NERO, STATE HOUSE IS FAR.
Nero,
Nelson Chamisa
I know that you want power
and to end up at state house.
But, listen, Nero:
State house looks near but
It is far from here.
Bro, the journey to state house
is littered with broken bricks
and jagged bottles.
The road to state house
winds among graves
and ghosts
and broken dreams.
In our country now
you ought to walk
like a man with no shadow
and open the doors of state house
in the moonlight
soundless
like a thief
in a forgotten dream.
GUDO
Beware,
we are of the gudo-baboon clan.
There is no tree
that we can’t climb
however smooth.
City trees are just trees.
So watch me climb
up this damn city tree
to appease my gudo spirit.
NO GIRLS ALLOWED IN BOYS TOILET
No girls are allowed
in boys toilet.
What will happen
If I get in this dark
and private place
and find a girl alone?
Who will blame me
for doing
What you are thinking about?
Yes,
No girls are allowed here
in boys toilet.
Period.
NO TO 2030
I say No to 2030
because your term ends in 2028.
Why do you want to continue eating
beyond your time
when others want to eat also?
Don’t eat like a bug
which dies eating!
Brother, time is time.
When your time is up
just stand up and go, brother.
Do what will remind me that
you are still my mother’s son.
Just go!
7890
Your last number was 7890
So I dial the 7890.
I dial and dial
until I sweat.
Then I recall that
You said;
don't call me
it is I who calls you.
Shame.
But you don't call!
You don't call!
But you know how sick I am
since I left my job.
Harare winter eats into me.
Harare summer drenches me.
Harare shame wallops me.
Your number is 7890
or is it 7980?
If I don't call again
You should
know that
I have found my sad ending
and am ok that you don't call.
