It is my sista da prostitute
Vonani Bila
(for hope … everyone's sista)
It is my sista
da pick-up girl
parading with nakedness
the glinting pitch-black night
bright light flashes
she lies on the pavement
she is high on crack
thighs spread apart
thighs smeared with juju
voodoo to secure payment
come sweetie, come sweetie
masihambe sizobhebhana
excruciating pain masked by
dry red lips, perfume & wig
she is a night-worker –
her nose sniffs the odious presence of danger
police lurk in brothels and street corners
she drinks and dances malunde
she sleeps in the morning
mourning the loss of innocence
at the little rose
here in hillbrow
It is my sista
da scrubber
the hooker hooked on drugs
& rands,
she dresses lavishly
smiles sheepishly
see her skimpy brassiere
& organza jacket
watch her saunter like a gazelle
on the dance floor
watch her dance s'tswetla
haughty-naughty tavern-girl
watch her dance twalatza
haughty-naughty tavern-girl
watch her dance kwasa-kwasa
haughty-naughty tavern-girl
watch her shake her bones
a man ejaculates on the dance floor
watch her see-through garment –
that tight fit on chicken feet
mihlolo ya mina
she flirts with every man
she skirts away her sordid reality
she calls on a passing lame dick
9-9, she wants a 4-5 to brush her thighs
come sweetie, come sweetie
masihambe sizobhebhana
here in hillbrow
It is my sista
da sexpot
shooting cocaine
rolling a ganja zol
guzzling booze like tired men of die hoek
she shoots pool
she shouts msunu ka nyoko
smashed beer bottles
& a pistol are drawn into a wretched face
she owes this grunting pig some sex
she owes this crude pimp some money for rent
closes her eyes – chews a cigarette
she is a chain smoker –
a porn-star in a hollywood film
fumes, like clouds, seal her mind
house on fire, blazing
she is zonked,
stoned to death,
she collapses on a table,
growling like mbengwa
black out
here in hillbrow
It is my sista
da child knave-worker
her back carries big rich heavyweights
she goes to the village
only for christmas & new year
puts on her label wear & gold jewellery
her fatherless sickly frail baby
anguish rages through her mother's face
heart in turmoil
a year ago
her father died of heart attack
hope is missing
he saw it on tv
he read it in newspapers
he lost hope
hope rolls a dagga zol
guzzles beer
my sin is
i gave birth to a hillbrow vampire
a whore, a bitch
sis!
her father died last year
he left a note on his pillow
a note of angry words – in the willow land?
bitterness knocked him down
right on the canvas
like a starving smoker-boxer
she shed no tears
nor put a flower on the grave
she lives here in hillbrow
It is my sista
that fallen sista soon to lie
in barren fields
dragged
blood dripping
strangled
she will be found in some mortuary
the stench of a human animal being in a mortuary pan
still, frigid
she will be buried
in the tranquil village
closer to her furious gods
somewhere in the rural lands
of sekhukhune
but she lived all her life
in sodom & gomorrah
here in hillbrow
LitNet: 21 March 2006
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