June 10, 2017

A Poem by Sam Raiti Mtamba: "Today Is Enough Bother As It Is"

Sam Raiti Mtamba Zimbabwean is a poet and prose writer of Malawian extraction. He has been published in Australia, the U.S., Germany, Ireland, Ghana, Malawi and South Africa among other places in the English-speaking world. He studied at the University of Malawi, Chancellor College, and briefly at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia for Graduate Studies. He is a "New Leftist" by inclination and is interested in Poststructuralist Theories and Children’s Literature. Mtamba taught in Zimbabwean high schools and the Zimbabwe Open University. He is now an independent researcher.






TODAY IS ENOUGH BOTHER AS IT IS


Today is enough bother as it is.
Victims of dogged habit
We simply put seed in the dry ground and wait.

Precocious children have become such a burden.
We cannot offer answers to their questions
As we grapple with the heat of today.

Growing up is such a distant country
Beyond reach, beyond today, beyond now
Elusive as fluffy dreams
Further than America
Further than Mozambique
Christmas, Christmas bells and cakes
A mirage in the basket
The sash of silk and the jingling of coins
In a beggar’s dreams.

Only ghosts move up and down the streets
Laughing and whooshing with a real sense of purpose
And even really dying when it comes to that,
Stealing, crying, loving and fighting
Imitating life as it was once really lived
When people were still complacent enough to believe
In things like a future, a new year, a messiah
Or somewhere cozy and sunny
Once upon a time.

(Previously published in Scarlet Leaf Review)

© Sam Raiti Mtamba

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