photo by Alex Lear
MADIBA WORD MUSIC
– A Haiku Sequence for Nelson Mandela
haiku #40
nelson busts robben's
rocks like cousin john henry
swinging freedom steel
haiku #54
mandela's teeth cracked
captivity's bones & sucked
resistance marrow
haiku #61
murdered children's deaths
bandoliered cross our chests
we hate apartheid
haiku #112
emerging from jail
their dragon, our butterfly
his smile is so huge
—kalamu ya salaam