Poet: Tashinga Ruth Ndindana
Somebody told me that the worst and most underrated kind of pain is the pain of losing a friend
Heartache is like a slow cancer
Friend,
I know some days you wake up and your home looks like it’s been hit by a tsunami
Swept away by a high wave back to the sea
I know some nights are engulfed by darkness so thick you can touch it
I know some demons you fight are like shapeshifters
One moment they are as small as a sod of soil in a mountain
Then the next they are the mountain
On those occasions when you come home
Bleeding hands, bruised kneecaps, and crushed spine
Cold wars may take away your will to fight
I know this because there are days when you get too worn to clean out the battlefield
There are days when I’ve been stuck in a dark tunnel
I know how being lost feels like
But I also know how being found feels like
That moment when you showed up with a flashlight and led the way out of that tunnel
I won some battles because you pledged to fight back-to-back with me on my battleground
I’ve never been back-stabbed because you always had my back
- PICTURE POETRY: The Elephant’s Path
- Poem: The Unsung poet
- Title: Requited Affections
- Short Story: And Yet I Am Alive
- Poem: Don’t Race
You do not have to fight your battles alone
Being here is much better if we do it together
So we will stick around a little longer
Together, Angels of the get-through
