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Vuvus blare
I long for the bees
of summer

–

© Sara P. Dias (South Africa)

Both first published in Asahi Haikuist Network, July 16, 2010.

First published: Asahi Haikuist Network, Feb. 19, 2010

© Sara Dias

There’s water on the moon, they say,
enough to wash the grit away
from eyes alit by this detour
mapped out by Greed’s cartographer
who mocks the herd, this way, This way …

I bled the green valley Monday,
all the veins ran dry by Sunday,
while to my children I proffer
the water on the moon, the Moon

they say, which we will reach one day -
my children and cattle today
tramp, tramp the dust even further
to the Rift Valley abattoir
where our bulldozed carcasses lay
bathed in the water on the moon.

© Sara P. Dias

The suffering of hundreds of thousands of animals dying and rotting where they fall, and the slaughter of the emaciated stock that survive being driven over long distances in search of green pasture by starving herders and their dying children, is heart-rending. The headlines are everywhere: The devastation sweeping across Kenya is but one example of prolonged drought caused by climate change, expanding populations, deforestation, overgrazing, crop failure, mismanagement of water resources, corrupt government officials who sell off emergency food, and violent ethnic conflicts over competition for resources. And still we don’t change our behaviour.

© Sara P. Dias
© Sara P. Dias

Kukumakranka (Koekemakranka)

The Geometric Tortoise (Suurpootjie Skilpad), the Ferraria crispa subsp. Crispa (Spinnekopblom), the Aristea lugens (Aristea’s) and the Kukumakranka (Koekemakranka or Koekmakranka [Khoi, Afrikaans]) are all on the disappearing Renosterveld endangered species list.

eentonige klaagliedere is vir saamsing,
en wentel om die waarheid, vasgehaak
in een groef van kwaad en kleur,
en al wat ons ken

is die dryfveer maar weer opwen -
soos Haydn se “Sewe Laaste Woorde aan die Kruis” -
sewe woorde wat langer vat as sewe sekondes,
sewe jaar, sewe dekades, om gesê te word:

“ons is arm, help ons, doen iets …”
in handgebare, lyftaal en groot oë, nooit werklik
gehoor; die politici se gepeins op elke woord
langdurig uitgerek sodat die woorde dun,

deursigtig raak, en sonder ‘n verlossende afklowing
knak en vou die stemme in die middel en met ‘n laaste
gekinkelkonkel word die woorde ‘n ewigheid
van rondtollende beloftes en wanhoop.

© Sara P. Dias

Spread around the centre of one whole-grain slice,
marmalade to sweeten a cup of Kenya and a glass of
thin orange juice, crowding a small Woolworths
jar which labels the pink hibiscus a

“sun-dried tomato tapenade”: tissue-crimped and
curled, already turning brown, with ants emerging
from the petals to walk the rim eternal -
measuring the girth of this communication:

Happy fiftieth birthday. In all this I call him
teacher: in careful thread and tiny tread I
find countless meanings, as yet unnamed,
to swell the word ‘love’.

© Sara Dias

-

Footprints in hot sand
A wave of pedestrians
wipes out yesterday

-

Her swells and
troughs linger on shore
Desk dreamer

© Sara Dias

has settled heavy stones to shape decay:
the dents defined in moss, once supple life,
her amber bracelet stains the skin turned grey

where bones show wrist aligned with womb now raped
by rock, in shallow cave – where men would not
let her be woman – this eternal girl-shaped

depression in a sandy grave; where carpal
and tarsal roll like pebbles discarded, split,
disturbed, by more than an animal

who would not leave intact the girl,
but ground, and ground her into gravel.

© Sara Dias

–

Timeless play
dawn frays the tail end
of night’s arc

First published: Asahi Haikuist Network, July 17, 2009.

–

Owl asks who?
A billion stars wink
knowingly

–

Evening dress
Milky Way girdles
dashing earth

–
© Sara Dias

–

Falling sky
Blue hydrangeas cloud
the garden

–

Blue iris
tongues uncurl to catch
water pearls

First published: Asahi Haikuist Network, June 19, 2009.

–
© Sara Dias