SEMANA SANTA
five poems

Maneo Mohale 

MIDHEAVEN (PATER NOSTER)

Leebana la ka,
le ikaheletseng mafarung a mafika
le mahaheng a dilomo
—Sefela sa Difela 2:14

My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the
mountainside
—Song of Songs 2:14

——————

let a good story begin with palms
double thundered in meeting
double folded in twin greeting, again

let the buds whisper:
here again       here again       here
give me lilt & lyre

call ear to attention: soft-fur
& fire-buzz, creatures
of electric air

as the elder griot bows:
agree now       in bronze grass
agree now       that you are human

unrelenting unribboning song
was song that brought me
to him

in this lifetime, he finds me
velvet-backed
nestled near a narrow haunt

sunned by red light
having remade myself:
boy, neon, unthroated.

there’s he:
shadowy-stood little orpheus
all a-sniff, lyreless.

we look good in cosmic time.

graphed, we’d be spots
of starlight storming,
connected

in cassandra-red
conspiracy thread,
all constellation-like.

on wiki’s authority, muses
carried his strings to heaven
placed in dappled Black—

—lessness. star-ash.

across a field of violets
(exactly two forevers ago)
he finally tells me to hush:

just pucker your lips, honey
pray.
(okay):

heels in the moss, then, as greeting:

my matter, who is midheaven
handful of thy mane
thy shore denied
thy quantum-eyed
on earth, as exiled from heaven

teach us to crave
our daily bread
(for)give us our sin
as we forget those that sin against us
steer us not out of temptation,
but deliver us from evil

for thine is the kin [ ] dom

the power
 and the glory
forever and ever
Amen

— —

MATTHEW (The Unknot)
after Kopano Maroga

“O, Flower, one said, why
aren’t you meat?”
 —Jennifer Chang, “Dorothy Wordsworth”
  

no.
not plucked as in petal
but stole as in shawl
or scarf
or noose

depending on the fibre’s fever. 

anxiety            (and)
adjustment    (and)
disorder.

unwrap the chappies wrapper:
yellow(and)blue(and)red                    (&black)

unwrap the old south african flag:
orange(and)white(and)blue                (&black)

DID YOU KNOW? 048
a tower struck by lightning
is both epiphany and disaster

no.
I hid my knot’s beginning
somewhere in a confession
booth in bedfordview, babe.
 

if I show you, how 
can you promise me that I won’t burn
like the rest of them?
 

stained as in stained glass.
pressed as in presbyteria.
 

writer, do you know what I mean?
I don’t have to be a boy for this part.

— —

MARK (The Flood)

“And, behold, even I,
do bring a flood of waters upon the earth”
— Genesis 6:17

my fucking boots on the snow 
my toes are freezing.
we’re both arrowed by desire, though. 
double curl of a stubborn ram. 
 

while moving in night’s dead hours 
S has it in his head 
to walk to the ocean. we don’t make it far. 
comma’d at the parking lot,
 

by an ungovernable kiss. he opens 
for me: gilled//fanned. 
I don’t bother to pick 
at the fine bones. i’m too busy 

watching him gulp 
at the terrifying light, spilling.
i’m too busy
so when the cops arrive
 

we’re understandably unaware.
 

miss come with me mister
stay with my partner here
please sir, stay
 here
identification please
do you even identify as a—
do you
no why
I pulled you aside
do you //

no, why?
I don’t know anything, babe
I’m in my socratic era.
somewhere over his shoulder

The Word:
solicitation
floats
out of his partner’s mouth 
behold, babe
even I, 
do bring a flood of waters 
upon the earth.
 

something of the hex 
makes it to my face,
a deadly mistake.
as it dawns

on him: we got this one wrong
Ma’am//Sir
What you have to understand is—

—— 

LUKE (The Bone)

over//here: 
mama made oxtail gelatinous gleaming sucked at the bone. dimpled white dumplings, stewing. the day the topaz arrived, a very simple sequence unfolded now that I think about it: the ring—her face falling—the question—her rush & running—the silence—the suck & sigh—the sister—jehovah watching—the river—the false rain—the silence—the empty plate—the veiling—Judas again—my silver—spoon scooping up—the sea—the ache as echo—some brown skin­—the silence—mugabe—the wretched earth—Malome—a body in blankets—­­in love, and—DID YOU KNOW?—yellow&red&blue(&black)—what you have to understand is—I fell—what you have to understand is—
This Has Been Difficult For Everyone.

——

JOHN (The Black)

as the curl, as the threat, as the truth, as the pain, as de sade, as the boy, as the act, as the Acts, as the chest, as the church, as the turn, as the four, as the tongue, as the rope, as the ****, as the dark, as the hurt, as the light, as the knife, as the whip, as the shade, as the Shades, as the sigh, as the lie, as the role, as the dome, as the gag, as the tooth, as the grass, as the grace, as the graze, as the Good, as the bruise and the past, as the Past, as the passed, as the pick, as the star, as the scarf, as the switch, as the scar, as the strike, as the shock, as the care, as the bind, as the shame, as the Shame, as the same.