Poetic Synchretism by Trevor Mhlanga: Anthology of Poems

End It Now!

Written by Trevor Mhlanga    (Edited by Kudakwashe Nhlanhla Chikosi)

"Wake up sissy boy, pick up the shovel
It's not for man to cling to the kitchen,
Dancing around the fire with a kitchen towel
Wish you would for once just listen!"

The stern voice laments vocal torments.
How could I be such an embarrassment?
Make myself subject of undelightful comments,
Physical and emotional torment

My little brother didn't savor
Such odd unmanly and uncouth behaviour
He didn't for once pretend
But made my "sin" seem weightier

In need of "mental corrections"
I stand there untried yet sentenced
Even on the Pastor's perceptions
I cannot be pardoned,
There are no exceptions

Treated worse than a crook
Why all this rejection?
All because I love to cook
Is that cause for objection?

"Are you saying you'll resist those bums?
As other's wives bend to tend the fire?
Will you silence the lust drums?
That run within you like a live wire?"

The only fire I feel blazes on my cheek
In disbelief, was I really hit?
No my little bro is meek
From whence was this anger lit?

Forsooth i say i know not why
I'm scorned like a foreign spy
Everyday i don't cease to try
But we fail to see eye to eye

It's a consequence of my action
It's I who's cooking at a funeral
Causing his "real man's" reaction
A slap to "sissy boy's" burial

But who said it's only for women to cook?
Gender roles I'm certain
Why gender said man can't cook?
That I'm quite uncertain

But who defines gender?
Is breaking the gender norm an offense?
Can I be called an offender?
Do I deserve this violence?

Yet I stand without defense
And in solitude I cry,
Oh! Gender based violence!!
How I pray that your end be nigh!!!

I don't crave for more
Than the destructive paw
That will hit once and sore
And end it now!!!