through the lens an infant beholds colour
dew for mother sunset fire and blood
is father blue grey for distant escarpment
pink tongues are words and swords
her skin is august soil is home
wind carries brown over the border
river is the border sand is at home
sand is lost loss is black
the infant is also black cloud is god
to know is white foam white foam over pink tongue
when grandmother dies sun turns everything brown
makes everything home land and skin
both without god love is blood
love stains memory love stains god
and dad is home red white purple rainbow
makes infant black makes infant foam
turns foam to dew cloud too makes dew
sun unmakes dew dew is not home
dew foams over pupil and infant beholds the colour of homelessness
Ashley Makue (25) is a South African writer and facilitator. She is the Current State of Poetry South African National Slam champion. Her debut collection i know how to fix myself was released in April 2017 by the African Poetry Book Fund as part of their New-Generation African Poets chapbook box set: Nne. Her work has been included in multiple journals, including Pain by Icelandic Vala Press, and Botsotso. She has recently been longlisted for the Sol Plaatje European Union Prize, and was selected as a finalist for the 2018 Sillerman Poetry Book Prize.