Landmine Poem by Gert Strydom

When the Buffel troop-carrier detonates a landmine
we see dark dots moving in the bush
and I break loose with the light machinegun
that the empty burning-hot caps hit against me

and as long as there is movement
on the other side of the dry riverbed
our fire is drawn
until everything is motionless.

With the smell of gunpowder hanging around us,
a skimpy goat-herdsman
crawls out from behind a giant ant hill
and cries about his dead goats.