THEMED SECTION 2
POETRY

 

Decolonised Tongue

 

 

Flow Wellington

info@poetreepublications.co.za

 

 

Open your mouth,

w i d e...

Wider than the rounded constraints

of a stolen language

you try so hard to master.

Allow your tongue to time travel;

They say it cannot forget the language

of your Abogan¹.

Open your mouth,

w i d e r...

Feel the clicks and echoes return and

rise from your belly.

Remember! Remember when your gowab²

was yours and didn't need

colonial justification.

Vai-oa³!

Yours is the task of untangling twisted tongues

from censored silence-

Vkhlbagus sa cgaob tsi vais⁴

so the stories of old are forever told

with your mouth wide open.

KhoeKhoe Translations Provided by Flow Wellington

1. Abogan: Ancestors

2. gowab: language

3. Vai-oa: Remember

4. Vkhlbagus sa cgaob tsi vais: Reconcile your heart and mind