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Gedicht

Tsitsi Jaji

O
TORTOISE

O
TORTOISE

O
TORTOISE

let me magnify your shelter
let me examine those unrepeatable
swirls of horn-rimmed
indifference
let me observe your
effortless snobbery
your half-hearted welcome
let me learn from your neck’s arc to dance a departing adagio
slothful, delicate, a balance of grace and ice.
let me go on and on about your scorn
eloquent . . . loquacious . . . circumlocuting
so that the hasty are bored, so that they
turn the page halfway (how much longer)
and only the brazen and selfish understand
your intellection. let me consider
what sort of home I would need
to be always the hidden hostess
the unseen entertainer, the echoing doorbell.
the half-muffled interior sounds never metamorphosizing to footsteps.
let them rage at my imperturbable distance
let me take my own sweet time and chew
all      day     long.
with attitude
 
!
Tsitsi Jaji

Tsitsi Jaji

(Zimbabwe, 1976)

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O
TORTOISE

let me magnify your shelter
let me examine those unrepeatable
swirls of horn-rimmed
indifference
let me observe your
effortless snobbery
your half-hearted welcome
let me learn from your neck’s arc to dance a departing adagio
slothful, delicate, a balance of grace and ice.
let me go on and on about your scorn
eloquent . . . loquacious . . . circumlocuting
so that the hasty are bored, so that they
turn the page halfway (how much longer)
and only the brazen and selfish understand
your intellection. let me consider
what sort of home I would need
to be always the hidden hostess
the unseen entertainer, the echoing doorbell.
the half-muffled interior sounds never metamorphosizing to footsteps.
let them rage at my imperturbable distance
let me take my own sweet time and chew
all      day     long.
with attitude
 
!

O
TORTOISE

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Nederlands Letterenfonds
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