Gabeba Baderoon
South Africa
Gabeba Baderoon
Award-winning South African poet and academic who commands attention without needing to raise her voice, who knows half the art of poetry is pause and the space between the lines.
BIOGRAPHY
Gabeba Baderoon is a South African poet. She is the author of three poetry collections, The Dream in... More >
War Tryptich
I. AccountingThe mother asked to stay.She looked at her silent child.I was waiting for you.The quiet of the girls face was a different quietHer hands lay untouched by death.The washer of bodies cutaway her long black dress.Blue prayer beads fellto the floor in a slow accounting.The washer of bodies began to singa prayer to mothers and daughters.The mother said,who will wait for me.(written after a newspaper article on the aftermath of the bombings on a holy day in Najaf, Iraq)II. Father Receives News His Son Died in the IntifadaWhen he heard the news, Mr Karim became silent.He did not look at the cameras,nor at the people who brought their grief.He felt a hand slip from his hand,a small unclasping,and for that he refused the solace of glory.III. Always For The First TimeWe tell our stories of war like storiesof love, innocent as eggs.But we will meet memory againat the wall around our city,always for the first time.
