Poem
Dambudzo Marechera
Shock: for Bettina
Like meteorites, through my longIsolated heart-atmosphere, you
Burst incandescent over my platinum history.
My future in earthquake reeled; my present only on
Seismograph could point to the cataclysm – no
Evidence of you attached to my stone and flesh,
Only nightmarish passions which I can still hear
When you shake your head. Shake it vigorously.
Nuclear tests of underground love!
© Translation: 1986, Dambudzo Marechera and Bettina Schmidt
SHOCK: FOR BETTINA
© 1986, Dambudzo Marechera and Bettina Schmidt
Poems
Poems of Dambudzo Marechera
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Shock: for Bettina
Like meteorites, through my longIsolated heart-atmosphere, you
Burst incandescent over my platinum history.
My future in earthquake reeled; my present only on
Seismograph could point to the cataclysm – no
Evidence of you attached to my stone and flesh,
Only nightmarish passions which I can still hear
When you shake your head. Shake it vigorously.
Nuclear tests of underground love!
© 1986, Dambudzo Marechera and Bettina Schmidt
Shock: for Bettina
Like meteorites, through my longIsolated heart-atmosphere, you
Burst incandescent over my platinum history.
My future in earthquake reeled; my present only on
Seismograph could point to the cataclysm – no
Evidence of you attached to my stone and flesh,
Only nightmarish passions which I can still hear
When you shake your head. Shake it vigorously.
Nuclear tests of underground love!
© 1986, Dambudzo Marechera and Bettina Schmidt
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