THE MAN IS GONE Poem by Mxolisi Nyezwa

for Seko



a man is defined by ladders,
by walks upstairs, or downstairs,
by skills acquired returning home
or escaping the rain.

the man known yesterday is not the man you meet,
forever, around the corner, in Brussels
or in the street, in York Road in Umtata
selling newspapers and coke.

that man is lost forever, like a packet of chips.
his feet supine and delirious when he sleeps -
like a felled bush in the forest
he is never known.