Friends give each other some wiggle room

the guitar strings of friendship
play music worth listening to
when they are pulled
when they are pulled hard
pull me
let me show you the extent i can go without breaking
accept my high notes
my low notes
let me be the type you want to hang around with
when you have realised the finger you plug me with still hurts and you still want to play me
play with me
give me a little wiggle room
let me be a note sung out of tune sometimes
know how to laugh at my annoyances and still sing along
and pretend that i m the best song you have ever heard
i am only notes and notes trying to touch a deep soft spot somewhere
in there
friend
somedays my face will be the face you hate to look at
someday i will be the tongue whose words you wish not to hear
friend what we have is a like a hym, a wedding song, a family time tune
our friendship blends in to time and moments of laughter
of sadness
of laid back suns
and classic times
you and i hang together anywhere and everywhere

I don't want you clean

I  want all your  laundry emptied out here
where  i could see every stain that has ever spilled on you
i wanna  know your rough edges,where and when  life dealt you a heavy  blow and every stitch you have ever gotten,all the patches
i wanna know where ,when and how you are vulnerable
i wanna know things  you hope nobody else ever knows
i want to be that zipper, that holds you together,  when everything else is falling apart
i know somedays you will  drop my heart and pick it up
but before you do
i wanna pledge you as my security
cause truth is
love isn't always a clear sky
there will be days
when your hands are bound to get a little clumsy
so i am leaving enough room for those days
when our  clouds will be so pregnant our tears wont cease
but no matter how cloudied our eyes are
we will keep looking for the rainbow at the end of every storm
right now
tell me who you are
let me know if you are the vulnerability i have been searching for my whole life
and if you are
no matter what we go through
lets remain that couple that never gets tired of  fixing things

I know------something i wrote from the sentiments expressed by different individuals on the Trayvon Martin case

I know,i know things i don't always think i know like
I know the alphabet begins with the letter A and the letter A is a symbol of  perfection  and
I know perfection doesnt exist in this world
I know good grades always hang around with the number  one like
I know coming  first doesn't always go hand in hand with having a great mind
I know some  people with great minds cant find where they store words like kind like
I know knowing about kind doesn't mean one  applies the word in real life scenarios like
I know people who preach the word day in and night dont always hear what they are saying
I know preachers don't  always listen to the conviction in their own voices that has the potential to  change the hearts of  great masses like
I know how  easy  it is to throw stones when one is in a mass because
I know we hide behind faces we don't always resonate with and
I know we show faces that don't always resonate with our inner self
I know falling tears don't always mean someone is sad and crying for you like
I know laughter doesn't always mean one is happy for you like
I know state representation is a basic necessity to have but not necessarily as good as representation that one can afford to have

I know its hard to see anything clearly that is dark in comparison to white when the light shining on events  of a dark past is marred with inconsistencies like
I know racism is not always black and white and
I know we are taught  black absorbs more heat than white like
I know whatever one receives can be multiplied and returned back to the giver
I know black sometimes gets tired  of absorbing more heat and gives back as  much   heat as it is heated with
 I know race sometimes is not the issue and somebody somewhere still makes it an issue
I know its easier to use race to hide  flaws sometimes like
I know  choosing to being color blind is an easy way out sometimes  when it comes to solving issues
I know being a female poet is associated with writing sexiest  poetry  but i know there are women who write poetry challenging  the mindsets of masses
I know being a black poet I shall encounter racial poems
I know racism still exist even though slavery ended years ago
I know sometimes my brother from another mother is  white and understands the longing when i cant write about the things i'm sick and tired of hearing about
I know i'm sick and tired of people  using the racial card every time an altercation exists between two men of color like
I know i'm  looking forward to the day when nothing can be pinned down to the color of one's skin
I know that day may never exist as long as we always look at ourselves through shades  of color
I know being African African doesn't give me the right to talk about African  American slavery and the trail it has left behind
I know someone somewhere thinks i don't understand
I know i don't understand
I know the media perpetuates issues and makes mountains out of molehills and molehills out of mountans
I know i will never truly understand what it means to live in an America where  a young lad  can't walk the streets without being scared
I know every argument has two sides
I know the honest side doesn't always win
I know sometimes no matter how many times we hear the truth we don't believe it
I know even when the truth is told we sometimes want to believe what we think we know and want the truth to be
I know justice can never be enough for any life lost
I know i still don't know how imprisoning a man compensates for someone else's  death
I know revenge is not always the answer
I know  fear like pain sometimes clouds our judgement
I know it is easier to understand our own feelings  than anybody else at any given time
I know there are thing we can never truly  understand
I know sometimes  giving  up a fight doesn't mean we are weak
I know sometimes it is a journey to  accepting  our losses
I know our human urge to want to revenge a pound of flesh for flesh should be left to the man above
I know a man's conscience supersedes any other court
I know i cannot always know everything but right now i am content with what i know
I know bended knees sometimes  heal wounds when the body has long stopped bleeding
I know broken things sometimes take years to mend
I know sometimes no matter how many times people try to hard to figure thinsg out they just never do
I know sometimes when i don't know,i  know its easier to get closure when I say oh well,  God knows why

Miss you.But i never met you

Today i wrote your name at the bottom of my dinner plate
pictured how you chew your food
do you take in huge chunks or you prefer little bites
Do you sip coffee after each bite
longing for  nights when your silhouette belonged to the blend and the cries
of peaceful nights
There are days when i unplug my safety belt
and converse with you stranger,like a long lost friend
feel like we have walked a mile together
and talked every sentence before
feel you listen to the rhythm of my longing heart
Often wondering if somewhere  we lived a past life together
Cause even now i feel
I have missed you for the longest while

My heart,is an empty pair of shoes

The summer i told you

i think forever will be too short 

You looked at me 

with a glowing chest 

and even though i promised 

i would never write another  cheesy love poem

i found myself talking to the birds and bees 

about how sweet the nectar 

of your kindness touched my hungry lips

you brought me a dozen of  sweet flowers

 to suck the nectarine in every chamber 

overflowing with the  goodness of your glowing heart 

and i loved you

 from the moment i said 

yes,i will be yours forever and in the coming  afterlife

even if i have to be a ghost so you can still feel my presence 

as long as you  are still holding onto me

our knees have known days 

when forever seemed a faraway dream

but somehow we have wiped the uncertainty of our love story  to write it again and again on a new slate

love

i'm offering you my all 

my grain of truth 

every speck in my eye 

this is my pound of flesh 

promising i will do my very best 

to cushion you when we fall 

and when  it hurts the most

 because babe,i need you 

i need you to fill the bits 

of memories men regret 

 when they are  lying on their deaths beds

and wondering what joy this life bought 

i want you to be that wandering star in my dark 

that glowing  lighthouse in my storm

my heart, is an empty pair of shoes 

waiting for your  feet  

to walk this life journey with me

Happy me :)

Some people own shadows that glow in the dark
find you in stark sweltering heat
panting and panting with near exhaustion
protect the living daylights out of you
and all you can do is gasp and say Wow,God!
So you still make angels in the image of living men

My poem

My poem belongs to you more than me.
My poem loves to hold on to the tragus of your listening ear making its way to you cochlear
to rhyme your name to the resonance and assonance of the S in your Surname
My poem
 My poem clings and clangs against my tongue like the tongues of the first people who rightfully  owned the land
you own me
by birthright by fate by everything in me giving myself to you,you own me
you own my mind my soul my depth my surface you own me
My poem  cannot buy my thoughts to escape from the bondage of thinking of you,about you,with or without you
My poem
My poem uncompromisingly smiles for you,hopes to drop your name in every line,let you show up unexpectedly as the main subject of the poet
My poem
My poem strokes your neck ,passes fingers in the cornrows of your dreads to feel the softness of your scalp and hopes to come up with the secret of your trance on me
My poem
My poem
wont let me read other stuff unless i write a poem about you, for you entitled
My poem

I am a poet because of you

I rarely tell the story of how i first fell in love with poetry,perhaps because it was a love that crept on me and tripped me unaware and so i never marked into permanent existence  the significant milestones that marked the beginning of our relationship.What i do remember is  my first intense exposure to poetry ,to the likes of Angelou ,Keats, Shakespeare ,Kipling and many others took place in PL4, Mater Spei College under the tutelage of the late Mma Gaolathe. A teacher who could make you love words like you needed them more desperately  than a scuba diver heading to the surface of an oxygen rich ocean and hungry for a gasp.She had class-not the kind where we  sat in  and  listened to her song like mesmerizing  recitals-no.The kind of stylish class you take in with your eyes hoping the more you watch her every move the more of it you could posses .She owned eloquence and she possessed an air that compelled her students to want to do well,not only for themselves but for her.I must say my first test with her though was a flop.I was the last in the class and i was soo hurt because i wanted to prove to her how capable i was.

My hurt was transferred onto ink and paper and this was the path that i would persist in for the second decade of my life whenever my emotions got the better of me.I would write for relief.I must say even though Mma Gaolathe never got to see the fruits of her hard work,i did ace my literature classes in my final year of  high school under the tutelage of many other great teachers among them Mr Chester,and some whose names elude me now.In my heart my literature my was a dedication to the teacher and mother figure who evoked in me the urge to want to do better--to speak the Queen's language like i owned it and to express my inner self freely in the confines of blank paper and black ink,something i was taught was taboo.The ability to speak freely and express one's emotions to one's heart's content is often labelled as go phadimoga but poetry gave me a platform where i could freely do so and still retain my dignity.

I  never considered myself a poet or a writer.Those who read my works though would shock me with squeals of disbelief at my capabilities at penning things down,and making them relate to characters they had never met and emotions they had felt before .So perhaps it was the occasional praise of friends,house and room mates ,of current and former boyfriend(s)  who all, unfortunately had to endure hours of reading what i wrote and sometimes scraps that were not edited in the namesake of love.My parents, i must say are hardly surprised by the things i am (by the abundant grace and favor of God ) capable of but they too have had instances were they recognized my writing and still went on to ask in sheer delightful disbelief if i really wrote what i did . Perhaps the one encouragement that hit home the most was that of my late Uncle,whom we fondly called Gg who used to say i wrote along the ranks of the great Achebe that really got me thinking ohh well,why don't i give this writing thing a try.I wish my Uncle was here today to read my  book.He was so proud of me that even though I am bull's eye  certain that i am nothing close to the likes of the great Achebe, he would still have thought the world of me.Rest in peace Gg.Heart for Rent is dedicated to you ,and the faith you had in me.

I  am grateful for all who have been inspiring cornerstones,giving me material to write about.I am grateful for my boyfriend who understands my passion for poetry and who despite his not been so mushy mushy and soft, would still spend time listening with me poetry recitals online when he can and once in a while pays me a vey scarce but   more meaningful compliment  when he says,  hey,i read your poem,that one is a good poem,you have skills mami.Last but most importantly i'm grateful for the friends i have made online simply because they read something i wrote and love  it and take time to tell me about what they liked and what they didnt ,im grateful for the strangers who have inboxed and said there is something about the way you write because in ll honesty ,even though i write for my self ,to quiet my own emotions,my own insecurities,to analyse the things around me , once i strike a chord in your heart that resonates with mine,i feel connected to something bigger than just me--and that makes me feel alive.So thank you for stopping by .Thank you for the likes.Thank you for the encouragement.I am a poet because of you

If you want to grab Heart for Rent,it is is now available for purchase at Botswana Book World, Francistown for only P40. 

Love is like a set of teeth

love is like a set of perfect milk teeth

the kind a school nurse  inspects with sheer childlike disbelief wondering  if they are truly yours  

and  checks them out for cavities and stains and still  finds none 

and when you  smile wide back at her  

like a 3 year old toddler with the cutest smile 

 melting  away any suspicions she held 

she finally admits you have a perfect kind of milk teeth which she wishes would forever exists

but truth is, new love like the first set of teeth always  fall out

making way for a more permanent kind of deep rooted existence

sometimes arriving  painfully 

like a molar tooth  pushing through thick gums of differences 

of different races,expectations,communication barriers

but love still makes it 

and when love makes it we forget the pain 

and we forget that love like a painful tooth makes you ache so much sometimes  

you cant eat or sleep when you think about the pain it puts you through 

even when you have done nothing wrong 

and sometimes love like a fallen out tooth stays away for years 

and you get used to the gap in your gums but when it comes back 

you squeal in sheer delight

that your tooth finally showed up

you remember that  teeth like love  can  bring you joy 

when you take care  of them accordingly 

when you brush them gently and floss and gargle 

and protect them from hot and cold things

like hot people who are cold  hearted and can break your heart if you entertain  them 

and sometimes love like a set of dentures is not the original kind 

its tailor made to fit but it will never be truly yours 

but it still serves its purpose and you embrace what you have for now 

and don't complain   

because this set of teeth is like having  a second chance at life 

and you are willing to make right the mistakes that destroyed your former teeth by taking care of this set no matter how fake these set is