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Two Poems
• Two Poems
May 25, 2025
by NKATEKO MASINGA
mother / city
or both an aimless wanderer
sans anchor sans placenta
sans map sans compass
sans guidance from wise elders
sans recourse God forgive me
i knew not what i did until i died
at the altar of delayed remorse
i knew not who i was until i cried
in the same voice as the woman
holding me with breath & blood
where two oceans meet
& do not mix just touch & go
back to the flow of their own waves
as do we seeking a momentary fix
for our misalignment i call for you
so you sizzle & bubble toward me
like a hastily made soda salty
instead of sweet i wipe my sated
mouth at the shore & rest briefly
until the moon arranges vis-à-vis
a thrashing dressed as dalliance
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NKATEKO MASINGA is a South African writer, performance poet and scholar whose interests traverse the intersections between narrative medicine, life writing and social justice. She is intrigued by the stories of individuals who exist at the margins of society, while her current work explores the complex and often tumultuous relationships that daughters have with their mothers. Her latest book, Daughter Wound, was published by UK publisher Hazel Press in 2024 and was named Book of the Week at the London Review Bookshop in its week of release. She was shortlisted for the 2023 Evaristo Prize for African Poetry and has received translations of her work in French, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Romanian.
*Image by minan on pexels
