Grey scalpel, grey slaughterers
Comb sideway of melding blood and brine, seriatim,
Stroke gold-yellow kerosene swells possessive of streets.
Burdened omnibus stabs the broken motorway,
...
Crow. Not crack
Raised on bird-gurgle, stray
Tunes shocked on the wave
...
'We know the path to promise, a richer cairn
Of kindest hearts.' It was nation, outspoken
In burdens, seeking the once misplaced
Barefaced revolts of every hope
...
Beyond mangled
Shadows of broken veils, it strove
A bolt of warmth far off the furrowed all;
Vapours, pore-breaching, of the first
...
Mandela, you were no more
Than the lash on my skin –
The fiery hairs wild wild, wave-breaking
As the ocean’s teeth on the running rind
...
Legs freeze jelly-numb! Breath watered to flakes
From a distant class, he longs,
Glued to a doubter’s dream, the image
Sought to crush his heart, to flash
...