Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin’ me
Back down on my knees
_Sam Cooke, “A Change is Gonna Come”
suffocation is
a metaphor for breathing under water
for holding the world on your shoulder, woman
there is no rest for the living, the dying, the dead in
black skin and blacker dresses//life is tough but you’re still breathing
bleeding, pain , love, suffering on black skin, black ache – labored fifty years to
retire on nothing// headline on friday’s paper says there was a riot// downtown
officer fires two warning shots, two are dead, thirteen injured, I wonder
did he count the number?// uh –uh, cicero, tongue in cheek weaved
false truth asphyxia is// believing the lies so we can sleep at night
truth is triggering is nowadays// so is saying something
different from men are trash when
sister shows her bruises//
no one is safe here
Anymore
Tariro Ndoro is a Zimbabwean storyteller. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in many journals and anthologies including Afreada, Fireside Fiction, La Shamba, Kotaz, The Kalahari Review, Moving On and Other Zimbabwean Stories and New Coin Poetry. Tariro obtained her Masters in Creative Writing degree from Rhodes University and subsequently took part in a digital exchange programme for poets and photographers. She currently resides in Harare, where she spends too much time reading.