What Where How
written by: Cornelia Smith Fick
Can’t see how it helps/amends
blind groping thinking
to penetrate a wall
of slavery forgotten
history humiliated manhood
that holds me holds me holds me
snug with its hatred
no fissure of light
through the brokenness
women in the kitchen
man in the outbuilding
away from his woman
in the kitchen helpless
her body the arena of contest/
conquest
labyrinthine suffocation
losing hope in women’s ability to
call out
of a narrow dark history
diminishing
emptying out my body
my hope for a gentler tomorrow
and yet…
yet…
Cornelia Smith Fick has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of the Western Cape. Her debut collection of short stories Eye of a Needle, was published in 2017. A retired nurse, she worked as editor of a primary health care magazine and as writer for Takalani Sesame (radio and TV). Her poems and stories are in local and international magazines and anthologies such as New Contrast; Kalahari Review; African Writers magazine; Experimental Writing: Volume 1, Africa VS Latin America; Soho Square V, Bloomsbury; Spelk and Atlanta Review.
Latest posts by Cornelia Smith Fick (see all)
- Bird of Many Colours - September 7, 2024
- What Where How - May 25, 2020
