They have glued flat my tongue against the roof of my mouth, my words; i had attempted to store them beneath it, no -- rather -- these trifling words. Now, in lieu of my handicap, if it be not at all troublesome to you, may you please burden yourself with but a few letters thereof, and when you see Her, in Her ears arrange them gently.

In the morning the sun rises and sets in the iris of my eyes Dawn whispers with the breath of lovemaking and sin –regret, and my baby The face that belongs to me, I love her and she is mine

At the height of the night / When the sun sits highest in the sky / You can hear the cows and goats of the village bickering and howling / Everyone shuts their doors and switches off the fire

Poets do not die, / They flutter / militantly / Transposing eventualities / and acuity / death is alchemy / and range / it is paramountcy / Transcendence

USonto umfun’eSunday School, Ilokoshe lim’fune 18 / USonto, uthi Jesu waseNazaretha, Ilokishi lithi Jesu waseSomhlolo / Lithi Scara mangubo, lithi Black Batho-batho, Jes’omnyama, Manyeu, Khaskethi, /Khamandane, Gudl’umkhonto, Nonjini, Mntungw’omnyana, Mangubo, Jezi Namba leveni, / Jes’o lang, o skraal nge-chiskop, Jes’omnyama ofana nobusuku, Black batho-batho mafak’igroza ngoleft.

We are always scared that we might turn up dead tomorrow, and when we don’t, another woman dies instead. We wake up to the weight of the news like it is our own story because it is, because we are her, and she too was like us before she was taken. She too lived in a space of unknown seconds to come, she too was like us when she read of women who were stabbed, raped and brutally murdered by lovers, strangers, service consultants, friends, colleagues and relatives. We cry.

As an alcohol and cigarette person, the ban on these goods was devastating to me, at first. At some point I even brewed three 20L buckets of varying alcohol mixtures, which plucked me up so bad that I ended up giving away most of it. I had done this to 'cope' during the lockdown but as it turned out, it just made me loathe the smell of alcohol.