godtalk

Malika Ndlovu

they have spent millennia
trying to define it
make it a possession
i should say define Him
with a capital H
should
definitely a religious word

like being forced to bear the responsibility of a woman
who supposedly listened to a snake
bit an apple
cursing her species for evermore
and this now means we are all born impure
for all our lives remain stained
in debt
burdened with regret?

like a child following the flock to Easter rituals
bombarded with images of brutality zoned in on one man
like a child’s mind assaulted with
the spitting
the thorns
the lashing
the scars
the piercing
the bruising
the nailing
the tearing of palms
and now we eat from His body
drink of His blood
in holy communion?

the little girl within
relives her rebellion
she could spend ages there
not weeping
but reminding herself
of her earliest liberation
could
definitely not a religious word

she speaks of it now struck by the farce
of unquestioned rituals
tagged with ludicrous moral weights
she is in her archive
wall to wall experience
each book bound
each message has its place
plus she can lock up
whenever she feels its time
no longer is she a prisoner
of this mammoth father-figure
handing him Sunday packages of love
wrapped in guilt

LitNet: 21 March 2006

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