My Poems Poem by Deluke Muwanigwa

My Poems.

Most of my me time is taken up by poetry
An observer sees me typing on my cellphone
Assumes i am having a quiet moment
And, fortunately, mostly reserve their comments
I am not alone
Even at home
I am at work
With words

I am talking with many words
All aloof
Trying to make them line up correctly
Speak to me correctly
Phonetically
Metaphorically
And this is easier conceived than done
Let alone said than done

I am seldom happy with words talking back at me
Not the kind of talking back which gives positive feedback
The kind that tells you the words are on strike
Refusing, not in so many words, to do what you like
After a few lines you realise words are not your only problem
You African wannabe poet of limited vocabulary
The syntax, grammar, spelling and most tellingly the prosody
They are just not there, it's not fair

Fortunately my hard Shona type psychic does not accept defeat
I sit there during my me time
Without a dictionary
Sans thesaurus
And joust with the Queen's language until it happens
I feel a tingling sensation in my eyes
And then i know somehow my words evoke an emotion
I know someone out there will feel some of what i feel

What i feel is real
And i hope it comes out in the verses
Adjectives and adverbs
Images and metaphors
Crude poetic devices
The rhyming or lack thereof
Of my poems
And the way they are arranged

C.13022022