Thabani Khumalo Poems

Prison life is too lazy
for the diligence needed for utter dynamical growth,
that is why men have time to queerly become
involved sexually with other men.
...

And nobody knows why it is so
with everything under heaven.

(I'm sick, I have this kind of a rusty throat,
...

The active things of the earth are wonderful,
there is a man who gives us measurements to every corner of the planet.
Hallowed be his name for his hyper-rhetorical knowledge
For he knows every corner taken by the wind in itsmysterious journey,
...

I am stunned by the view of the world
and the completed work of nature's fingers:
crafted images engrossed by the open atmospheric pressure.
Oh how so much beauty can be manufactured out of dust particles.
...

My heart would start to pound as I'm thinking... everyday.
Love is freely granted to the people and is granted... everyday.
I hold a trowel in my hand to build on segregation,
I build upon it... everyday,
...

Held hostage in streets of the ghetto,
where Thabani once was a little child,
I lived my life like I had no care
and thus I treated myself as though life had no care.
...

If I were a filthy rich man -
complete in spectacular matter and
all the shiny things that put woman at peace to possess,
with all the money and only the air to need,
...

In a bid to fight poverty,
I almost obliterated all the members of the social cluster.
I drew a knife from my belt line
and pushed with the sharp tip and edge
...

Thabani is indeed my name.
When they call Thabani, they acknowledge my only existence.
Thabani is the very last of my life they register because,
everything registered has a space in the stock;
...