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Education as Change
On-line version ISSN 1947-9417
Print version ISSN 1682-3206
Educ. as change vol.24 n.1 Pretoria 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/8788
THEMED SECTION 2
POETRY
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