1 THE MOUTH OF HUMOUR AND SADNESS BY Hasan simani HASAN S DEDICATION My deepest thanks go to the lofty heavens who crafted everything in this book. The voice, sublime metaphors and uniqueness belongs to the lord. I also give my parents and teachers thunders of applause; their critical monitoring was not in vain. I dedicate this book to my brother, DESMOND, OWEN, DYLAN, THANDI, FAITH, ZIVEZANO HIGH SCHOOL and my parents. 2 TO MY READERS I wrote this book with one aim to cure the maladies devouring the nation. It is a book that sways the reader or can I say the antidote to stress. The main themes in this book range from love, justice, greed, gratitude and perseverance. The writer is a Zimbabwean born writing from his own perspective. 3 Hasan garden of poetry Days and nights watering the metaphors, similes, diction Together they create a fine art, Blooming like summer evergreen trees. 4 A garden made of green ideas, In this garden no pest baffles the blooming of ideas, My powerful art drives the onlooker insane, In poetry I’m a king with an invisible crown, The passion of poetry Instills confidence To those mind gardens consenting brown. I love my garden It bring joy and survival, The burden of stresses feels sluggish When I start working in the garden, armed with a pen for a hoe, I dig into the paper Seeds of hope I sow It is a garden, That sways the attention of the reader, Attention -grabbing like the powerful speech of an orator, Justice is nurtured in this poetry is nurtured, 5 WINGS OF POETRY The wings of poetry that fly on the paper, Designed by the inventor, To laugh human folly, A wondrous man-made bird, That can fly through the psyche, They move with haste. Magic wings borrowed from the yester-years, Metaphors, litotes, figurative language bundled together, Beautiful like feathers Not hairy like bird‘s wings Not composed of blood and bones Not simple like its brother prose Complicated like the puzzle of life Poetry with wings 6 Roaming around the world of minds, Inculcating its blessings And those of lubricated minds, Soften problems easy. Have you not read about the archaic –pitiable life? Not marvelous, Born to suffer living in abject poverty Not quantified with pleasure A life in the hands of the weak-boned Not capable of quelling oodles of troubles, But despair. 7 Giants of hunger throttling the doors of hope, Bleak poetry that unleashes the desperate moments of deep thinking A silence so tense like a dreary grave Children drowning in hunger- pangs Eyes deep-sunk So thin like biltong Mothers no longer pumping milk Flaccid breasts cursed by the dearth of food. Bleak life composed by the profound sleep of the gods Enjoying in the macrocosmos, while the servants wait In the microcosmos Callous-hearted amused by the poignant cries Weeping of the disconsolate orphans, A harvest of skeletons, The bright star dimmed by the dirges A shell-shocking anathema Cemetery huge like baobab fat Bleak poetry composed of soporific events Mingled with illness and fatigue Death fattened with corpses Anthills made of salvos of stones Future with no comic relief Monotonous desperate-dances of death When is the dawn? Wretched fate of barren nation No fresh air to imbibe Only stinking shit 8 Unforgettable years………………… In the dead of the night I woke up from a profound sleep, Perturbed by the rising crescendo of the cell alarm Switched the television on A programme of the clever fools had just ended What followed was an African drama 9 Heralded by the cacophony of screams, A picture of a black master fat –stomached, In front of the skeletal human throng His spell-binding oratory skills reminds me of the noxious propaganda, Alas! A dog-life Of the African fellow men Living in debased ghetto suburbs Feeding on dog-pie Greed gods were milky-dogging the nation at large, Turned arid and infertile like emasculated bull, The poor surviving with the smithereens that falls from the high table Lazarus’ tribe survives with the alms, Unwonted life not expected Nurtured by the former monster Oh! They become the caricature of the former A sudden diminuendo the noise subsided, Blood oozed in torrents, The earth rained crimson water Charlatans armed with a corrosive knowledge Clapping hands for injustice I recall Dambudzo Marechera To match this horror 10 “Opened with a mafia of jets Terrorizing humanity And the sky cried out in a thrombosis of lightning” Dead daughters of Africa buried on open skies The drama continues…… No lullaby for the babies 11 In the dark middle night, With a candle burning bright On a small desk Armed with nothing but a blue pen Weaving stories of metaphoric pain It is the garment sorrow That blackens the future of morrow The future in heebie-jeebies’ 12 Shattered dreams ripped to shreds Memory of an authentic milieu Not hedged with cruel spying eyes, Not fashioned with growling dogs Inducing terror (every gate on the suburbs written a banner “BEWARE OF DOGS “ Home sickness I’m in pursuit of heroism Alas! All gates of success closed No music in this God -forsaken land So dark Filled with amplified phobias No resolute stance of the body So tired Thrown in the cesspool Of no returning back The irony of this place Whores are plenty Selling hot clean sex Shall I see my family again? Shall they pardon my sins? In this room Called life With a brain for a company Life’s grief feed on me Stinking misery Dire depression A complex mind exile 13 Starved of love Shall the heart pluck up courage? I work tirelessly using humor Mine is peevish wooing I choose that rose They hasten it from my hands Zonked now like a tearful orphan I sank prostrate all my lovely lilies Refuse to blossom my gaiety Beauty of the lady I’m lured with Countless days I worship her She watches me cry Desperate dance of solitude My psyche reeling with unfathomable confusion I get sick of her fool moods Love that profess to secure my heart at first blush Love not friendly a misfortune! I’m a loner with no pride I lost her 14 Now I search for a perfect-bosom lover Not a bogus with too much hubris My love is frozen like a freezer My love not toothsome to the heart tongue Not palatable- I’m a desperate-love –seeker Searching fish in the river dried up Like Kalahari 15 16 Love is the glittering sun pure like milk Dispel the curtain of darkness Love stimulates And sparks of joy Kindle the passion bright Love comes when rose beauty Lures the heart And the words sweetened pour out They strangle life’s sorrows It is love that combines Romeo and Juliet Two attached together But the cruelty of distance assails love Plus the uncomfortable words of the rumor mongers What is the consequence? A marital-bust-up A devastating divorce It is true love that rage Against despair 17 Let it be love of no conspiracy Love so true that world will marvel So sweet like sugar Charming the mental taste buds Linking two like a pair of compass Love not to vanish like a puff of smoke Or play it tricky Truly attached Theirs spiced song Not bitter like sour pills Not pain struck like death Love soften life‘s sad pains Real poetry lost its pleasurable tune Now painted crimson like blood Baobab fat like prose I LOVE YOU …… ME TOO 18 Prolonged talk of the emancipation Raising the Madzimbabwe Everything done to treasure the past But this past perpetrates and traumatize The born-free A life garnished with rhetorical gambits Integrity wrapped in maxims of war Death dragging the innocent And culprits left harbor malice in their hearts The maxims deep-seated In the new comrades Claiming of sublime character Of pious disposition Man of courage and valor Research rancid like pork All books chock-a -block with hyperbolic traditions Can you predict the heavy downpour? When no whisper of birds No happiness Yoking human brain with war Maxims-ahoi ahoi Aluta continua Pamberi nehondo 19 I hear a soft low voice A love whisper My ear stretches to hearken The woman of my heart Tuning the jingles Singing in vernacular tongue “Ndadzoka Mudiwa Mudiwa ndadzoka Kupokana ndarasa Upfambi ndarasa Terera hosho dzangu Kana dzorira Dzinodetemba zvandakatadza” She sings now clothed in ghost attire Rekindles memories of joy Crying for the atonement to her grief Melodious voice of prime youth Ooh! She sounds like a prosy- talker Confused 20 Dignity lost in the venom of white magic Love’s whisper I approve and listen attentively But why African tongue not palatable Weakened by the soft singing piano Nothing to appreciate Better blend white and black magic Thorny crown Sliding into an orgy of uncontrolled weeping Sinking But no one seeking for succor A coffin only smiling to swallow Half smiles, half –frown All was attained with monstrous roar of the guns When golden looks dimmed Crown helplessly cries Vengeance of the phantoms Fan the flames of the revolution Thorn laws softened with uncompromising crowds No dirges Prince of corruption 21 Disguised in bubble-gum gaiety To die or not to die This Sound the same Victory, failure sound alike Brightened paths followed with a Blanket of darkness Doomed crown Is it true? Wounded like bleeding banks , long lines like scramble for Africa , connection of frustration mass demonstration, yelling in silence, but touching noses the stench of corruption that stinks swallowing verbs like swallowing T-bone but empty granaries sweating palms but no peanut butter I'm not what you think , I'm A relapse of yesterday depression that sent my head spinning and my child vowed not to comeback relishing the fruits of the green land, Can i abandon and rub off my fingerprints ? Can i reduce the speed of my mouth and stand in front of them 22 like a scarecrow? I'm not what you think I’m, I'm me I'm not impressed with orphans swelling in multiples THIS IS WAT I’M GOING TO EAT ……I WILL SURVIVE where are the hands that used to produce? no progress but regression, I'm not insisting to stay mute forever watching sons and daughters relishing dog pie i persist to mouth it , change is what I'm and this is me born solid like my origin was granite I'm not what you think I'm , I'm me Silence is a liability but talking is an asset that increase the cash flow 23 Born in a confused world This is not my problem let me make it clear My mind received evil and socialised when you kill you instill fear Poverty is a foster mother and hatred my closest brother, My father died in a battle to rescue my mother, Left to suffer in a cold world that doesn’t bother Living in a street where we are sheltered with card boxes Rushing to and fro in search of smithereens like wild foxes One thing I marvel is the street art We are strong, patient no problem is unmet, We chase dreams but hunger chases us We wonder who can be us I was born with burdens Socialised with burdens And escaped many burdens Packed like luggage Not respected like royal maidens They call us children of street Everywhere, even you search on Google we are there on internet, 24 Tricked with the street We just marvel the passers –by Ladies in high heels enjoying fashion crazy I wonder my father who he was, maybe he was lazy We love to be loved but our frost tears curse us NO Jairos Jiri of today they debase us Calling us street names they mock us Being bullied with reality Nothing in it all is vanity Our hope comes like smoke of a smoker Quickly vanish into the sky Who am I? A street of curses Born in slum How can I make fame? History of where we came from unknown And wonder like Jeremiah why was I born? 25 No tear of the heaven Humanity blubbering and capitulating Hopes grabbed by the justice of hell Boiling shafts of the cruel dog- star Ruthlessly thwarting the crop of survival Murdered roses sorrowfully in despair The foes of disaster No doors to escape Shell-shocking anathema No gods to emancipate our tormented souls Cemetery Salvos of stones piled on top of each other No ululations ladies of Africa Tongue- tied 26 They can’t even whisper Demon of hunger Don’t ask the bull frog for a prophecy? Don’t fear crocodiles in the river? No more fish Wells dried up This season a plague of death Above no cloud that can deceive Above no empathy for throng in Desperate dance of death Death’s fist of fury striking everything to dust In bitter tears they drench A burden’s murder Beauty of the nature waning out Earth’s face saddened by the thick obstacles Teethed troubles uneasy to surmount In comfort of thorns Drawn to the blood –purge I’m a victim of the burden A daunting task I’m given by the chiefs To seek prophets who bleed rain The smiling of this sun A cruel-angel With bogus sympathy Humour of sadness A hyena feeds on stinking shit 27 Roaring lion asks forgiveness From the bones of its former prey Future marvelous only for Converts of the sun Blinded by the prowess of beer Taking pride in greeting the hands of the grave A night prowler armed with a flesh gun A deep hole of sweet debauchery A micro-mini showing glistening thighs Spell-binding beauty Coaxing tongue for a bribe She drags the prey to a profound sleep Unfathomable Her hands pressing like machine Oh! It’s a wrestling between laboring life and the grave Flesh hole a dark macabre place Throwing the feeble –flesh penis It imbibes blisters of the grave Chiding a plastic shield to fortify the walls of health 28 Against corrupt virus She is beautiful sex queen A skillful barmaid Who is she to inspire my amorous senses? A swimming –sex- pool Demented brain is not functioning Complaining battery low Sucked and siphoned Pockets empty I followed blindly Hard to say it’s too late Precious daughters, my bosom wife Oh! What shall I say? Later days are marked with regrets Skeletal body Thinned by the mass –destroying disease Bit by bit I’m drowning Tomorrow I belong to the cemetery The clock is reading Thin minutes left The close of the chapter Close of pain Anathema of sweet debauchery Fatal blunders of cruel unity Alas! A last word 29 To world and God Inching towards grave A sad wave of goodbye With salty tears Suddenly I’m blind Young and deaf Drafting nothing but an imbecile’s lie Nitty-gritties of next episodes to come Proving them wrong Grasp the song I listened with an arrogant twitch at the corner of my lips But youth flies like a dove And youthful pleasures waves a goodbye Nothing in the book of history All is futile Stupidity in the dustbin chamber The singer stops Melodious voice evaporates The fingers freeze on the piano The song fails to prolong 30 Dead and silent Muted Audience mouth agape No compliments I began to like the song But the virtuoso performer Finished his work Grasp the song The pleasurable beat of the piano Clever-fool was I? Down the bleak tomb The legion of his audience Imbibed knowledge Now they idolize his gift A sudden rise of the song The choir dressed in black I have no words to sing Only sliding into an orgy of uncontrolled weeping Staring at the sliding casket My teacher is going Grasp the song Nothing left in my basket A harvest of tears 31 Bleak dawn no ray of illuminating hope Sky walls dark –ghosts bred phobias Future of no comic relief The madness of this dawn Sways no joy A ziz-zag life Disordered like an insane mentality How untruthful is this dawn No mesmerizing voice of birds Doves cease to sing Silenced by the cold-stranger The sun confined in thick-clouds No dazzling sunshine to bask in We tremble and shiver in the forest Bleak dawn (the road is dark) 32 Invisible fate waits to engulf future prospects Shall they be destined hwindi-touts? Shall they be awarded the medals of infamy? Shall they fortify themselves with whoredom? The road is darkened by the passion of laziness Sleep takes away the briskness of the mind This night profess to rest the fatigue Bleak dawn Where can I borrow the bright torch to see through? Life is it joy, happiness, sorrow, troubles Begging, struggling, despairing, victory Failing? What is a fool? A diviner of empty predictions What is joy? The smiling of a girl glancing at mirror, Complimenting herself Ooh I’m a beautiful creature! 33 The victory of a boy who has charmed a difficult girl to woo What is sorrow? A home laden with bleak life Tears falling down from an orphan Parents’ cold –in- earth A wife baffled by the gossip that baba Nesta Has a clandestine love-nest with the neighbour The prophecy that you’re going to die tomorrow What is struggling? Sweating of gweja in desperate need of diamond in Chiadzwa Everything weird Antipathy Animosity Shape earth an ugly monster. Blubbering are brats with no mothers to care Disconsolate orphans Calling “kopa- kabana” And” dollar- for –two” Death not softening life Orphans swelling in multiples 34 Life garnished with sorrow No sense of decorum Honesty pastors amusing the world on pulpit With nothing but the gospel of prosperity Spiritual charlatans dressed in white robes Chanting maxims of prosperity Robbing little they got A life fueled with anxieties A land raining misfortunes Crimson water And violence Swash-buckling heroes bragging Possessed with stingy-character No drop of the coin For the laboring begging beggars A land barren Nothing to cherish but war Boom, boom the monstrous roar of the guns Petals of envy Rallying converts Slaves who oblige to the voice With thick asperity A glossary of truth Continues…….. 35 Reconciliation a pitiable doctor in exile Watching from afar with invisible binoculars Determined to cure the maladies of injustice Set aside the private wills of egoism Bury sophistry like a corpse. Rhetoric sounding sweet to ears But the path to reconciliation darkened How can it be? What shall they do? Pure-life Hindered by the private watchers Living in a mist of truth Voices sounding pseudo-like A state of nature Where Hobbes’ ideas return back from the grave Intellectuals behaving so funny Like psychiatric patients No quantum of solace For the dustbin of gods All placebos 36 Salivates with greed And ferocity Reconciliation a sparkling word like torch Lightens the world a heaven Oppression a room Amplified with phobias And phantoms A tribe of tears Destiny perturbed With sweet- sorrow Hastens everything to dust Ashes…nothing left but blank life Wishes sweetened in youthful rehearse Sketchiest gestures of protest Not willing to fall-prey to maxims of peer-pressure A conquered virgin land now a ghost on the cemetery Unconquered youth Principled to finish the journey Complex like a cobweb 37 Ouch! Desperate need for money bought pleasures Zap-nacks, candies…….an endless list Swaying youth to oblige And virginity decline Dreams sound utopian It’s too late to grasp when life is hedged with traumatization And realization Despair an immense description Of unbearable pain Falling and falling like droplets of rain Tears creating a pool of despair An ugly farewell vanish in the air Like a puff-of smoke Poignant anguish that scratches the mind With thorn fingers of betrayal Heartburn for love, But why the world‘s joy evaporates Weeping an endless stream of tears Realisation a process of sliding into an orgy 38 Of uncontrolled regrets The world spreading the bruit Once blazing fire Ooh! A complete change A bachelor sitting on a chair Next to him cold-hearth Skeletal like a hospice patient Death evil quiet like a whore Life’s sorrow stinking like shit When sweetness mankind to enjoy But declining nectar A bumble-bee wanders in sorrow No one to garnish life’s dreams No lush of greenery All turned frost – cold winter spell. Yes! Dignified daughter-in-law Bow down knees in Africa Yes! A dignified son-in law Salute big testicles 39 Now it sound like an exaggerated tradition A son in law A beggar –in vain –pursuit of love Flouting speeches of the fathers Choking like dust. African mothers intruders who wage war Teethed like envy Love dancing in mist A mother-in-law Idle parasite lagging behind Harvesting petals like fruits No love of the two In comfort Of an private watcher Poisonous glances Arrogant twitches at the corner of the mouth Nostrils flare in defiance “AMBUYA MASHUMBA” Daughter-in-law Not feeling well Her life bottled in fear A dark cloud of slavery It never rains but pours. Old wisdom refuses to fade 40 Passion of laziness Resist work and afford time to sleep Laxing like tomorrow never come Contrary to that, I take pride in struggling I’m against dire-starvation I’m against those who promote sorrows Confidence gathers in the brain In the heart it bubble like gas I strive to plaster the walls of troubles Down knees they bow To the lord I pursue his saving grace Waiting for the dreams to bring about Incorruptible fortunes No accessed with goblin means Painful patience shall I regret? I loathe the passion of a want-wit dreamer It bred terror and failure Education’s affection laughter Add more sweet to my nectared wine 41 A gutter-fighter With unflinching courage The future unleashes good harvest I take pride in preparing greatness No matter the twists and turns of this journey I swear “future belongs to me I’m the master of my destiny” The strength of hands The prowess of the incisive brain The wounds of this war I’m fighting Shall cease to quantify hot tears Transformation Transform the archaic walls of Stone Age The folly of watching Propel life to the peril of joining Lazarus’s tribe “Hamadzangu ndinokumbirawo rubatsiro” The danger it is Not all show altruism Penny-pinchers give a disdainful ignorance Idolize the passion of deciphering the riddle of life Improve your weakness; rather sleep late now, than to find no sleep hungry tomorrow 42 Petals of envy Testicles of the big bulls Inspire a punch-up Eyes blood-red Sharp-pointed horns of no tiny kindness Who shall triumph today at the dip-tank? Impressive noise of the herdsman Cheering starts Bulls raise dust of war Heavy sound Horns locked on each other Bleeding starts Walls of the dip-tank Now painted crimson 43 VICTORIOUS BIG BULL I’m the boss When I roar All of them retreat No plaintive cries My voice sways blisters of praise Destined to rule Look I’m cherishing imperishable pride DEFEATED BIG BULL Now me suffering to liberate Soft-roar sways happiness Death of a bull Painful like adding salt to injury I don’t perch on your knees Let it prolong –a fight 44 Sorrowful days Greeted the domicile The tumult of father and mother Plagued with perpetual terror Again Eden cried with a cacophony voice Python of envy Conjuring up Galaxy of hocus-pocus Eyes blood-red Welling with ire Preparing to swallow visionsA quick hasty to the village Big bulls dreading and shivering A battle I fought with nothing No shield Nor a trumpet of Gideon Who wins the war? 45 Evil and good An eye for any eye Victory in mist All was attained in faith Python of envy retreated With no wound And vanished into history’s dustbin Loft heavens watched the tribe of SIMANI Poetry walks on four legs The crown in the hands Of an African poet A song that springs from memory With a mind granary of knowledge So ancient ZIVEZANO stand beautiful Stirring the crowd Holding them captive-audience Incredible joke ZIVEZANO gave birth to incorruptible literacy Armed with unflinching faith And pious disposition Zvobgo family Heralded a superb vision Of turning empty shells of minds 46 Into granaries of literacy I still hear the metallic-singing of the bell Calling a pool of students to oblige to its voice And I curse the ghost of bitterness When forest of notes were traumatizing the brain And a lavish welcome to the vista of brighter days Hottest-haunts-of hilarity My prepared dough Rising high The names in my folder Piccinini-an icon of idiocy Owen my bosom friend man of sublime character Shambilo greatest big-time talker Deeds more my bosom friend an action- thriller Desmond –a workaholic friend and Belinda a girl of natural wits My teachers MR MUDEREDZWA, HAU, NHONGO, HUNGWE, AMAI PONDE, MR MAHUNI AMAI MUTATI were perfectionists inclined in the creation of my history Long-live Zivezano! Long live Shonganiso mission! 47 The irony of this darkness Purports to bring light By the day And pretend to vanish for long hours Without being seen I hate the coming of evening dimming bright light Darkness cripples prospects In darkness confusion reigns In darkness life turns asleep The venom of darkness Devours like Egypt’s evil days In the middle of this night Precious hero” Mafundikwa” Throttled by the coffin Death an evil-quiet whore Till I see the light The world sun is temporary Moon doesn’t shine forever Till I see the deathless-bright-torch I won’t concur with false-speaking-tongues And won’t admire prolonged agony of the debased! MY MIND (HAMMER OF PROWESS) A mind not plastered with amorous plans To take up arms against forest of vice Building confidence and unflinching courage 48 Oodles of temptations try to obtain Victory with luring tones (how can they beguile the masters of virtue) Greatness of the brain award my life a victor Standing up before the throng All eyes glancing at this miracle A surprise –a brain a granary of knowledge Not lethargic Not ugly Not a wise fool Destiny of my future stored in the brain A brain that never adores fear Future molded so healthy Not a futile planner Shortest song with a little account Kindles the torch of the heart A song brief in words And many are free to offer cynicism Shortest song that fear to cross The bridge of another stanza Another stanza live a life of no company Solo in solitude Short song ends here The pain fails to push it 49 Shortest song dies so young in words Like a song good die young. AFTER WAR JUBILEE PRUNES SORROW Conflict subside Joy What comes next is the fruit of bloodbath comes in the morning In it richness, healthy happiness We munch crop of our sweat Long time we nurtured them with the liquid of endurance Long time the patient of freedom Suffered in the hospital with no doctors Unique doctor comes anonymously With panacea of jubilee Long time a student suffered sleepless nights (chiding moments of rest) Eyes walking in the forest of notes But slugabeds open their mouths wide Enjoying tiny minutes of bubble-gum gaiety Long time she suffered weariness of the heart All her dreams of a good future bespattered Brightness comes as the new dawn arrive Laughter of malice evaporates. Love smiling privately in the heart of a victor Pain is a hellish path she walked 50 Full measure of devotion Eradicating the slander that says Education is for the Europeans Crying is no more Shadow of yesterday Greatness cripples tasteless evil Virtue exhibit gigantic steps Hot tears no longer trouble the psyche After war jubilee prunes sorrow The wounds, bruises and tuberculosis of agony Disappear in the mist of felicity Horror ceases to instill the chicken-hearted Darkest hour bids a farewell His contract is over Prowess of dirt air Tiny droplets of hope Begin to fall. 51 Closing eyes Blubbering for the emancipation A close of pain A battle we fight with inferior weapons The bullet harvesting lives……Goliaths of our days Preparing to make ghosts The end….the end Crown of happiness my head prepare to wear No jinx can hinder my smooth flow Declining turbulence an end to stinking misery Out of dire-poverty Into the house made of fame Not of hunger like Of our Dambudzo Marechera The passing away of filthy-air Freshened with the breeze of joy Again honey and milk we felicitate This song is a mockery To the pitiable past Bygones are bygones Cruel-angels dancing in the inferno Again liberation comes With another chapter Bandaged, But hope steaming A puff of corruption vanishing 52 Into the uncompromising sky When another drum sings Bitter sounds sweet Liberation of the orphans And freedom now flows without a sly-spy Watching it…….the end to suffering Complimented with a prophecy Ooh! I see a mass rising from dust of ashes Another tribe chanting maxims of prosperity Wearing happy faces Let go sorrow. THE END 53 54
