Crash Poem by Angela Bontle Ditumiso

When the sun is sleeping
And the earth has finally slipped from its watchful eye
The earth can no longer pretend

It crumbles
It crashes
It falls apart
Into landslides and craters
It purges a surge of emotions, a tsunami
A violent storm to match its
violent feelings filling its sternum
only to ransack it
Come morning you'll see a smiling earth
Yet every leaf misted with tears

When everyone is sleeping
I undress
Take off my pretense, the fabricated joy
For once I am me
Just another sad human trying to make it to the next scene