I am living on a love borrowed
in a home I’m too broke to own
See how the filth fills the acres of cold
day-by-day, like voices queuing for a vote;
arguing the best of the slaughterhouses’ regime?
Our bodies accrue roadside in a tally
of insanities born of tenements Jozi East
like city deep, stories the same –
leaving me nostalgic for rondavels again.
The coalitions are dead set on fumigating the being
of senses, reason & dream till there are no brighter days.
All around, necklaced freedom
plays favour-the-least-of-the-grim.
Meanwhile borrowed warmths,
and the occasional bluest of skies,
push past the greys, that is…
the hope of broken homes
Mthabisi Sithole,a poet and writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has presented poetry performances through various platforms including TPO x Chris Soal’s 2016 Fees Must Fall intervention, Lephephe Print Gatherings 1, Urban Zulu poetry, and Word Art – Young Voices poetry series. Mthabisi’s published work is included in publications such as Teesta Review: A Journal of poetry, Ja. Magazine, Best New African Poets 2019 Anthology, Yesterdays And Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry (2020) and the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology (2023). Find Mthabisi on Instagram at @nodiction and on Facebook at MthabisiSithole.
the Decolonial Passage 