I Am An African - literacy project

Kids from Upendo Middle Primary School in Usa River Tanzania read Wayne Visser's poem "I am an African." Upendo Middle Primary recently received 60 Kindle E-readers as Worldreader's first e-reader project in Tanzania.

Killer Smile

She looks you in the eyes and flashes a smile

Whispers in your ears, words sound sweet

Friend… Confidant

Holding a knife behind her back

Ready to slip it into yours

Holding you in her hand, up high

Ready to let you down

She looks you in the eyes and flashes a smile

Whispers in your ears, words sound sweet

Friend… Sister

Setting a plan in her mind

Ready to make you stumble

Setting trap in her twisted mind

Ready to make you fall

She looks you in the eyes, full of pretense

Whispers in your ears, full of deceit

You see a friend, but she’s a foe

You see a confidant, but she’s an enemy

She’s ready to stab you in your back once you turn your back

She’s ready to let you down once you put your trust in her

She’s ready to make you stumble

While you’re trying to find your balance

She’s ready to make you fall just so you can remain standing

She whispers sweet nothings in your ears

She looks you in the eyes and flashes a killer smile

-Hlogi

no title

this poem has no title, these words have no identity

these ideas have no limits, they're vital

pushing the bounds of creativity, this piece has no morality

coz i do not have to rhyme my piece for it to be considered poetry

with all due respect, i write what i feel, i write what is real

i dont write for the thrill, these words pay my bills

if i had to chose the love of my life, you better not count your self in

this is the real deal,

poetry to the death of me

Its vanity.. its like chasing the wind but you cant catch it...

its not Reality tv  that has made you an addict...

no Tv screens and movie thrills...

these Wanting the life of stacking dollar bills...

am Living like a model popping all those skinny pills...

i live like a poet, one word at a time

woman in flight

Woman in flight, like a feather in the wind

I love her despite, the empty promises she uses to bind

She changes her mind, and her voice is always sweet

She leads me blind, like a fire she’s the heat

She has a pretty voice, in tears and in laughter

I have no choice, I keep on chasing after

I can’t rejoice,  I’m a slave and she’s my master

But she is always lying, always a miserable character

Who can trust her, who can ever be happy with her

Who can love her, who can ever be loving to her

I concur, i’m an amateur to her

But it will never occur, that she is the one i prefer

Woman in flight, like a feather in the wind

He has a pretty voice, always gentle always sweet

the true maning of love

La Amour...

Mapenzi...

Amore...

Love...

In every language you say,

 it sounds sweet any day

Love is an emotion of strong affection and attraction

It is the intimate addiction to the one

The one you give all your heart, the one you promised never to be apart.

Love is a virtue of kindness and compassion,

 it is the unselfish devotion with vows of passion

love unleashes a variety of different feelings, feelings so real it’s more like healing

to a heart that has been chilling,

in the depths of the cold sea.

love is passionate, it is the closeness of being together

it is the  oneness of being in love, to hold and to have

love compares to survival instincts, that keep humans together

love is less of a sexual affair,

 it’s more of a punishment that you endure over and again because you care.

in love, you never fall,

 when you fall, it does not hurt

and when it hurts, you do not cry,

 because love conqures all.

whether rich or poor, on the beach or in the shower

whether short or tall, in winter or in fall

whether blind or deaf, insecure or feeling safe

all you need is love.

love is an international language that overrides all the cultural and linguistic illusions that represent our generation

love is reciprocated, it’s a mammalian drive like hunger or thirst

 call it lust, call it attachment,

 but i call it safety,

the security to say the words ’i love you’ and feel it, to say ‘i need you’ and see it.

love has taken control of my system, stimulating my brain’s pleasure center

i am so in love i get side effects

when i can’t eat, it’s because of you

when i can’t sleep, it’s because of you

when my heart beats, it’s because of you

when i stop to stare at another woman, it’s because of you

it’s because i know, she has nothing on you

the common ground for humanity, is the need and desire for love

love is timeless,

love is kind,

love and kindness are  never wasted, and so is time

so trust me when i say,

I LOVE YOU

a victim of love

In the beginning there was love, and love was good

But love was fucked up, but not in her hood

See, it was love that brought her parents together

By the same love she was delivered

A beautiful baby girl, touched by God himself

A wonderful child, likened to a trophy upon a shelve

See, her mother treasured her,

 her father thought she was the treasure

But  was it for love that he popped her cherry, or was it his silent pleasure

Every touch made her feel lesser, her very wish to die quicker

Tears on her eyes, her story never heard

Her cries on weak ears, her story too absurd

Every word unheard, everyone unconcerned

Who would ever want to pick, her side or the dad

If love was in nature, then she would have been nurtured

Never to face the torture, victimized by this creature

He who was to be her teacher, turned out to be the creeper

Deaf still remains the preacher, no words could ever fill her

The victim of his fiction, her poetry her addiction

Not even the crusiffiction could heal her of this friction

The monster in her head, as he rose she went back in her cave

Her innocence he enslaved, secrets  she will take to the grave

Embrace Me

I’m walking I a path, a path in the middle of nowhere,

With friends around me we laugh and we smile,

What great joy within peers, but that would only last for a while.

Suddenly I see myself near a yard, no one around…but wait!

I see someone coming, some one dressed in a smile.

Could it be? No it can’t be!

Then your face appeared, you caught me off guard.

All my friends are gone and I'm filled with distress, though I’m loosing my mind,

But I run to you, you wait for me, throwing my arms around you, with tears running down my face I whisper in your ear “I LOVE YOU”

You whisper back in my ear with the sweetest voice I have ever heard “I LOVE YOU TOO, MORE THAN YOU’LL WEVER KNOW”

And all the distress is gone.

I see you holding me; our hands intertwine, immediately our spirits connect.

In my belly I feel. I feel affection.

Embrace me please keep holding me.

Motionless we stand, in one position we embrace,

Silently we both cry…pain? No!

Tears of joy, finally we are together again, in a pool of love heart-to-heart

“PLEASE DON’T LET GO” I whisper “EMBRACE ME”

You pull back with a smile on your face and say to me “I WILL NEVER LET GO”

Once again you hold me tight in your arms and still you embrace me.

Entangled in emotions time stops,

Entangled in emotions life stop?

No…no…no life finds meaning for a few seconds…minutes…hours

We moved into eternity, people around us stare but we don’t care.

We both know the moment too precious will never come again, we continue to embrace.

I wake up with tears on my face, my pillow wet and you are not there, so much pain and despair.

All I wanted was you to embrace me but I feel…all I feel…I feel your spirit around me

Realizing embrace me was just a dream, I bitterly wept

Time stooped, I’m not in eternity this time round,

But because I missed you time stopped?

When we met again, even if it lasts us hours,

All I need is for you to embrace me, yes for us to cuddle up and in silence just hold hands.

-Hlogi