2 Poems by Ndaba Sibanda

1

CAPITAL LETTERS

I want to be the dialogue in your heart,

The voice which you will hear

And be healed or… be high

Even if you are low or slow

I want that voice to deepen

Our understanding of the melody

Of life and love, the serenading

Of thoughts, feelings and emotions

I want to be your favorite part,

The amount which no amount

Of money or wealth can buy—

The part that is in your heart

I want to be the right punctuation--

Your punctuation, not infatuation

Whose bud blooms in my imagination

I want be the wise words of destination

I want you not only to teach me

What to say but how to say them

For your loving words are framed

In quotation marks and capital letters

2

Stha`s Chosen Dilemma

Stha says you expect me to be your lover

And keep you company, keep you happy.

But you treat me like a collapsible chair!

A chair you slump onto when there`s no softer one.

I want you to hold me in public every time –

not just when you’re tired of her

or when she’s not around

and you tiptoe to me.

Like a camp chair, you collapse me into everything:

cousin, neighbor, school mate, study mate, even spiritual sister –

depending on who we bump and where.

But when I tell other people we are chameleons,

they have no sympathy for me;

they don`t see why I cannot keep you out my life.