From my Art Collection

Early nineteen century watercolor with its original frame

Siviwe, Poems of Mdantsane

so much has changed
there is no longer the bush war nor
the beatings
siviwe only remembers a sky that staged
a sudden coup
on his dreams and disparity
the sky
the sun
and the overgrown road looks different now
he thinks of the stars
what was once promised to him
his proud khakis still in his shack
tries to stop
a bleeding
river.

Drawing and Poem by Amitabh Mitra

Tembeka

a rustic sun
in stealth
catches
tembeka
through stained glass windows
droplets of green
turns
day
into deeper shades
of a lingering smile.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Where is Mdantsane

where does mdantsane starts
where does mdantsane ends
i do not know
ask its people
its many streets
its sky
and its birds
they all end up in a close alley
in closed rivers
of closed dreams
sometimes a light flickers
somewhere
only for a moment
when children laugh
at nothingness
its echo looks for
another mdantsane.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Rain

a child smiles
laughter runs amid narrow streets
takes a turn
and runs amok with grey
sodden clouds
and then it rains in mdantsane
heavy downpour
weeping
all its miseries in one go
leaking into shacks and homes
a drenched sun waits
clouds take their own time
to go home.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, Mdantsane

the road to cecilia makiwane hospital
is subtle to an extent
the dead treads softly here
not to awaken the shadows
living in the confluence of dread
and disparity
the sky occasionally moves down
and it is then the trees leap to search
the forgotten
driving down to cecilia makiwane hospital
mdantsane
daily
breathing the electric poles
shedding light
relief is perhaps a
sparse
word.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Thoughts

a strange river snaked within mdantsane
shaking the sky of remembrances
black rain tinged with blood made cesspools
hunger is an imagination
smirking at doors and lost streets
tapping at windows long closed
i had thought of you and the river
and our parting forsaking another innocence
an orange moulds the mdantsane sky
thoughts of yet another day.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra