Walking the Lioness

Robin Winckel-Mellish

I’m a lioness slouching

down the Hooftstraat

on a diamond-studded leash.

Man-eater, alter ego, alley cat,

I’m spooked by a naked gaze,

those fur-draped shoulder blades.

I’m having a hard time keeping up,

feeling my cat breath taut –

shivering inside my skin

I’ll make the break,

follow a bush-scent back

into wilderness. Loose now

on the run, I’ll sink teeth

into knucklebone, spill

sapphires from my mouth.

Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow in-person launch of The Only Magic We Know: Selected Modjaji Poems 2004-2020 on 31 March 2022