Poem

Tari Mtetwa

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Original language

GRAVE-DEEP WHISTLER

GRAVE-DEEP WHISTLER

GRAVE-DEEP WHISTLER

She whistled voices
deeper than her own
in the hollow of the night
she whistled lost graces
and embraces
that escaped her breast
she whistled shadows
longer than her long days
and a longing to be longed for
she whistled empty glances
on distant skies
and self addressed questions
to her own existence
she whistled even louder
her hoped rest in a deep grave
with the fear she may be lowered
to shallow dust covering

© 2011, Tari Mtetwa
Publisher: First published on PIW,

Tari Mtetwa

Tari Mtetwa

(Zimbabwe, 1982)

Tarisai Witness Mtetwa was born at St Augustine’s Mission near Mutare, and had a largely rural upbringing. He attended both primary and secondary school at St Augustine’s. Mtetwa began writing poetry at high school. “Even though I was not in a literature class,” he says, “I earnestly read all the books that fellow students were studying. I then developed an interest in literature, poetry in par...

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Poems of Tari Mtetwa

NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE A RIVER

First

Naked

GRAVE-DEEP WHISTLER

Rock

Here

WITHOUT-A-NAME

POTTER’S SONG

Outside

OLD SCHOOL JAM SESSION ON RADIO

Close

GRAVE-DEEP WHISTLER

She whistled voices
deeper than her own
in the hollow of the night
she whistled lost graces
and embraces
that escaped her breast
she whistled shadows
longer than her long days
and a longing to be longed for
she whistled empty glances
on distant skies
and self addressed questions
to her own existence
she whistled even louder
her hoped rest in a deep grave
with the fear she may be lowered
to shallow dust covering

GRAVE-DEEP WHISTLER

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