Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Dorian Haarhoff

OLD WOMAN BREWING

OLD WOMAN BREWING

OLD WOMAN BREWING

in war days she moved
as heady matriarch
on powder plains,
under an airforce sky.
she mapped her way
among the trees
her grandson climbed for her
to shake the seed
for her windswept shebeen.
when war evaporated like rain,
she soaked the camouflage fruit
of the makalani palm
and funneled steam through stem,
decanting from clay pots
into old containers,
discarded by the army.
still she sits in roadside sun
fermenting in sweat,
and brews red-berried beer.
the illegal glint in her eye
shines like bottled fire.
Close

OLD WOMAN BREWING

in war days she moved
as heady matriarch
on powder plains,
under an airforce sky.
she mapped her way
among the trees
her grandson climbed for her
to shake the seed
for her windswept shebeen.
when war evaporated like rain,
she soaked the camouflage fruit
of the makalani palm
and funneled steam through stem,
decanting from clay pots
into old containers,
discarded by the army.
still she sits in roadside sun
fermenting in sweat,
and brews red-berried beer.
the illegal glint in her eye
shines like bottled fire.

OLD WOMAN BREWING

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère