Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Mxolisi Nyezwa

WALKING

WALKING

WALKING

i keep still.  in my shirt and in my element
i feel the vein’s tremor, the heart’s pulse,
the weed through the skull, through a piece of air
around my skull.

i see the unstable dark sea, furious
and on my back, my spine, the vertebral sky.
i look the cold stranger in the eye,
the looming humour, earth’s forgotten smiles.

i walk the length in an unbending street.
i knock down a bird’s wing.  i see a universe
speeding down a broken sky.  i don’t stop.
i see men circling towards an unmoving crowd.
Close

WALKING

i keep still.  in my shirt and in my element
i feel the vein’s tremor, the heart’s pulse,
the weed through the skull, through a piece of air
around my skull.

i see the unstable dark sea, furious
and on my back, my spine, the vertebral sky.
i look the cold stranger in the eye,
the looming humour, earth’s forgotten smiles.

i walk the length in an unbending street.
i knock down a bird’s wing.  i see a universe
speeding down a broken sky.  i don’t stop.
i see men circling towards an unmoving crowd.

WALKING

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