NDABA SIBANDA - POEMS

Sibanda is the author of Notes, Themes, Things And Other Things, The Gushungo Way, Sleeping Rivers, Love O’clock, The Dead Must Be Sobbing, Football of Fools, Cutting-edge Cache, Of the Saliva and the Tongue, When Inspiration Sings In Silence, The Way Forward, Sometimes Seasons Come With Unseasonal Harvests, As If They Minded:The Loudness Of Whispers, This Cannot Be Happening :Speaking Truth To Power, The Dangers  Of Child Marriages:Billions Of Dollars Lost In Earnings And Human Capital, The Ndaba Jamela and Collections and Poetry Pharmacy.  Sibanda's work has received Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. Some of his work has been translated into Serbian and German.

​The Magic Of The Rainbow 

​There is something intriguing 
about a rainbow of nationalities
and a kaleidoscope of ethnicities 
not only about their various cultures,
their colours, creeds and languages,
their interests, hobbies and visions, 
their food,farming and fooling ways,
their menus, mannerisms and music,
but also about their understanding 
of the sense of humanity and history  
rooted in their many traditional stories, 
imbedded and loud in their ethnic clothing,  
their lives rich in colour, diversity & detail,
teaching us about our diverse walks in life
and the need to embrace the human race 
in its diversity and depth as it is both a unit 
and a badge of beauty ,ability and creativity 

​​A Fire-fighter Rose To The Occasion   ​

her heart
was an oven
yet she was happy


her thoughts 
were wildfires 
that ran and ran riot 

battling the blaze, 
the heat high, hurting,
hiding in her happy heart  


she paced about, pleading
with him to evacuate
and airlift her emotions

and her affectionate thoughts
from a blaze  into the ease
of his heaven  or heart

he heard and heeded 
and became her one
and only fire-fighter

Standing Sentinel ​

​She protects them against pecking   
and violent predators, she`s adoring!
She`s an indulgent, vigilant parent 
She gathers them when a threat`s present
She gathers her chicks under her wings 
She herds chicks away from danger`s rings  
She knows how to nudge their beaks into water
so that they learn the drinking procedure faster!
She is not only a shield but also a great instructor 
Motherhood is her emblem, what a heroic protector

The Poet's Perceptive Power
​

The problematic presence of a pandemic
made the poet's past pronouncements
not only powerful but also prescient
​

​Expectations And Experiences

​she was a fearless journalist
it was her faith that gave her
 a source of strength
to climb her Mount Everest
of trumped-up charges
and accusations and arrests
for exposing the corrupt and greedy
each day started with hopes
and ended with lessons

​ Peace-loving Priest, Prayerful Sheep

​She claimed she got along better
with her  pretty, peevish ,pulsating pet 
than with her hefty heavy-sleeping hubby!
 
She disclosed that music, even dumb one
was better company than that man`s daily
drunken drones  and deafening dreams 

She revealed that she revered the peaceful priest
because his bright beams boomed with her heart
and brought out her best self in spirit and in body

She pleaded with the peaceful priest to pat her prettily 
on her back for her array of powerful prayers and amens
but the peaceable priest pretended as if her pleas were a pull

​Pasty Precious Pot

​I placed your precious pot
on the hot plate promptly
when poetry  said: please
I pronounce my presence 
it`s private , it`s personal 


I placed your precious pot
on the hot plate promptly 
when poetry said: please 
pitch away poor or prized pots
and pen poems on priorities 

when your food finally cooks well
celebrate and accept my stunned joys
but if it burns into glowing embers, 
please probe your pot and never ever 
pronounce poetry the puerile perpetrator!
   

​Poets And Their Planet

​The avid reader wanted to read,
Perhaps to read between the lines
She had various unrequited questions 
Are they aliens? Where do they come from?  
Where do they get their graceful language from?   

As she read and read between the lines she concluded
That the profoundest emotions they excavate from within 
On a given subject or area or their experiences and visions  
Are their magic and engine that propel them to another planet
Whose words can move mountains, whose waters flow with flair  

Poetry, Passion And Inspiration ​

​Poetry provokes the brainpower 
It is a passion that propels poets
With polish and perception 
Poetry powers poets in the form 
Of a passion, a prophecy, a muse
Poetry is a painting that conveys
Pleasure, pigment, beauty and ideas    

A Client Who Originates In Outer Space 

​she was on the verge of spewing out something 
raw like shut the hell up, hence her heart was burning   
however, she had been taught that a client is always right 
the potential buyer in the shop was like a creepy meteorite    
the bookshop clerk`s look was a film of utter astonishment
the lanky lady, the comet in the shop was odd & insistent 

I want a book that will soar and swing with me to its sky
one that captures, coaxes and coerces one`s mind's eye 
one whose pages will drive me to make an unrest
of a yell like hell as I freeze & freefall into its crest
one that will daze me with its turns and chases
one whose words are warm & crazy cuddles
one so touching that tears will be a torrent
a book whose word choice is an absorbent  
a breeze that will brush away all my tears
and make me laugh out loud on its stairs