the club tightens around the sorrow of gladsome music,
the weary load of sweat the softened teeth
the woman you borrowed tonight narrows
like a riddle when touched or looked at
& what you are running from cannot catch you here
& what you sow you must hand over to the last song
to the feet half full the face dripping mascara
dripping mother dripping until you are near yourself
a woman lit by darkness a darkness lit out of mercy
come in come in kiss me & I will win your sadness from you
come in a mouth is like a song it is a good place to wait
for something more deliberate than love
Vuyelwa Maluleke is a writer, theatre practitioner and performance poet who holds an MA in Creative Writing from Rhodes University as well as a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Witwatersrand. Maluleke describes her works as post-colonial transcriptions of race, gender and black social life in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Author of the poetry chapbook Things We Lost in the fire, her Manuscript The Blue Album was shortlisted in 2021 for The Sillerman First Book Prize. Maluleke is widely published in publications such as The Boston Annual Review, The Rialto, New Coin South African Poetry Journal and Guernica Magazine.