Vignettes of a South African Township called Mdantsane

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Mdantsane Taxi Rank

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highway taxi rank in mdantsane
wakes up to a dust smeared morning
in a cacophony of smog and stridor
people travel their dreams
and hopes
on a brittle movement
across earthenware horizons
and then
she sees him
everyday
eyes
startle
a taxi evades
the glimmer of a
joyous
day


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Friday, November 27, 2009

Carnival Nights

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an evening creaks in
touching shadows with a tinge
of smile
a slow release laughter
aloe and wild grass shake to
jazz moments
tiredness breaks its shackles
ran the curves of a distant sun
words lost its way home
as usual
a poem unwound itself
from an angle of your eye
mdantsane bursts itself in a mayhem
of another carnival night.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Mdantsane Children

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mdantsane children take to the streets
happiness is as hungry
a barren sky chides of dreams
the sun looks down
guilty
till
proved
dishevelled laughter
rules.


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Mdantsane Nights

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lulama hurries home
mdantsane enters a war zone
an evening creeping into a shelter
of spoken shadows
a dying night screams somewhere
the last breath snatched without pity
happiness now brims in the slaughter
of the unforgotten.


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra