Mdantsane Spaza

the somali spaza shop at street corner
mdantsane
beckons
the needy
cramped within
it too waits for
a stray bullet
or a
stab
violence is islamic
in distant african shores
death
has no color
here
in peaceful
mdantsane
only the muezzins strange strain
sets a few birds
to flight.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Orange

within an evening
mdantsane grooves in the orange
sky and earth
homes take an orange blur
siya takes a short cut
with his bag of oranges
knowing
behind this parchment
of orange and yellow
lies a drought of the unspoken
a jaundiced eye
watches only a
painful distance.


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Viva

viva
surges in throbbing pulse
beating drums of another war

viva
hiding a million dreams
tearing a million dreams

viva
the colour of a sky blanched
protesting a rainbow promise

viva
a country runs on fasting streets
on the silence of old shadows

viva
the child shackled in the emerging sun
tries to smile and laugh.

Poem and Drawing on a hand made paper by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Taxi Rank

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

Carnival Nights

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

Mdantsane Children

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

Mdantsane Nights

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