FOR ZIMBABWE

(My Mother)
















If this was my country or if I were a citizen here
I would on a day today spit the truth about politics
No- I wouldn’t, for politics is a dirty game
I wouldn’t point at the minister of finance
for failing to pay me in time
I wouldn’t lift a finger to the minister of home affairs
for leading a corrupt police force
I wouldn’t question why the police are a Force-Force
and not a service

If I were a citizen of this country
I wouldn’t disrespect the leadership of parastatals
I wouldn’t question their hefty salaries of millions
When we are earning cents

I say-, and I mean it by blood and water
If I were a citizen here,
I wouldn’t question why there is so much freedom of speech
And limited freedom after speech

If this country was mine
To rule and to live in
I would sit back and watch events unfold
And hope it’s a long unending dream
Praying when I wake up that a foreign writer
Will create a movie of our story
Just like Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda, Tears of the Sun, Sarafina
I will just hope that a good poet will one day like a reggae artiste
recite from a foreign land, a poem of our situation
And get awards and earn international tours
Even if they make a wrong script, exaggerate and pun of the condition

If were only a citizen of this place
I would zip my mouth just like that poet
That writer or that journalist
And only write of arts events, covering clean poets like the one on mike

If I were a citizen of another country
Other than this one we are in
I would have been live on TV
Reciting praise/curse poetry to the leaders
Naming all that they do by correct names
But since I am here
I expect more……or nothing