大象传媒

Boikanyo

Did you know, I bet you didn't
I bet you didn't know that you have to grind your teeth for years
In order to unlearn how to dream
These are some of the things we know that you do not
In fact there was a boy who lived on that street last year who
Knew all the names of the colour of cattle
He could count to twenty five without making a mistake
When the breeze would bring a gift of old newspapers
He could read it wrong way round and tell us
Gathered ears listening, what it was saying
And when there would be no wind, just the hungry heat to carry his words he used tell us stories
He'd heard from an uncle who'd died long before the social workers came for him and his sister
Anyway he used to speak about a place he said they called Botswana
He says if a parent died, the living gathered to be given the most precious things
And that children, babies just like us were always the first gifts to be taken in and given a home
Of course we don't believe him. We are poor not stupid,
We know better than to trust a trickster and liar
Who spends more time with cows than people
Who is no longer here to explain himself or his fantasies
No such place exists

From: MINORITY REPORT 2011: prayer-poems for our young
commissioned by UNICEF Botswana for a live reading