There is No Water in Makhanda

THERE IS NO WATER IN MAKHANDA

Kris Marais

23rd February 2021

there is no water in Makhanda -

children are going to school unwashed

cisterns cannot be flushed or animals

watered, dishes cleaned, clothing washed

Or food cooked-

Six days-

Ten days-

Two weeks-

its a manmade disaster, but who is to blame?

a senior official-

a house cat with milk and feathers

ringing its cheeks and whiskers lied

‘we tried but we couldn’t win’

the high court dismissed municipal management

but they appealed, even though there is

no engineer, maintenance, or fiduciary oversight-

‘There’s no money, due to remuneration’

He stated again, and

‘Those townspeople, they have no right to complain

Indeed, they must be compliant’

At 10 pm the municipality sent a truck with water

but the water didn’t smell right. They couldn’t drink it.

23rd February 2021

©Kris Marais

Featured on 22 April 2021

Poem

John van Wyngaard

Because more folk write this stuff

than ever seem to read it

(or buy it, or talk about it)

-and in recognition this moment

of the deep value instead

of silence and listening and being,

I shall not be writing this poem.

So it will have no boats to float,

no young men or armadas to send

anywhere, for any end;

no disbelief-willing

or unwilling-to suspend;

no reaches of the heart

it’ll strain to extend;

no hurts or sorrows

it will try to mend.

Being what it is

there’re no wings to bend

to start hurricanes

at some far end

of any world.

Solitary, orphaned,

It won’t need a name,

won’t be adopted,

will cause you no pain.

Featured on 4 February 2021

The Rupture

Olwethu Nxoli

This house is too small to contain a spilling marriage

arguments do not have to be shouted to carry and they do carry

The silence that follows squeezes like too many rubber bands on a watermelon we watch it swell on both ends

tense and shiny

Gleefully waiting to scatter it's flesh all over the living room -the seeds only to be found at some distant cleaning

Still your hands reach for another rubber band and we cower behind closed doors

and listen for the rupture

Featured on 4 February 2021